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Parental health limitations, caregiving and loneliness among women with widowed parents: longitudinal evidence from France

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  • Thijs van den Broek

    (London School of Economics and Political Science)

  • Emily Grundy

    (London School of Economics and Political Science
    University of Essex)

Abstract

We investigate how daughters’ feelings of loneliness are impacted when widowed parents develop health limitations, and when daughters take on personal care tasks in response. Using longitudinal data from daughters of widowed parents drawn from the French Family and Intergenerational Relationships Study (ERFI, 1485 observations nested in 557 daughters), we assess (a) whether health limitations of widowed parents are associated with daughters’ feelings of loneliness regardless of whether or not daughters provide personal care and (b) whether there is an effect of care provision on loneliness that cannot be explained by parental health limitations. Fixed effect regression analyses show that widowed parents’ health limitations were associated with raised feelings of loneliness among their daughters. No significant additional effect of providing personal care to a widowed parent was found. Prior research on the impact of health limitations of older parents on the lives of their adult–children has focused mostly on issues related to informal caregiving. Our findings suggest that more attention to the psychosocial impact of parental health limitations—net of actual caregiving—on adult children’s lives is warranted.

Suggested Citation

  • Thijs van den Broek & Emily Grundy, 2018. "Parental health limitations, caregiving and loneliness among women with widowed parents: longitudinal evidence from France," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 15(4), pages 369-377, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:eujoag:v:15:y:2018:i:4:d:10.1007_s10433-018-0459-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s10433-018-0459-2
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Thomas Hansen & Britt Slagsvold & Reidun Ingebretsen, 2013. "The Strains and Gains of Caregiving: An Examination of the Effects of Providing Personal Care to a Parent on a Range of Indicators of Psychological Well-Being," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 114(2), pages 323-343, November.
    2. Norma B. Coe & Courtney Harold Van Houtven, 2009. "Caring for mom and neglecting yourself? The health effects of caring for an elderly parent," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(9), pages 991-1010, September.
    3. Anna A. Amirkhanyan & Douglas A. Wolf, 2006. "Parent Care and the Stress Process: Findings From Panel Data," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 61(5), pages 248-255.
    4. White, Halbert, 1980. "A Heteroskedasticity-Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimator and a Direct Test for Heteroskedasticity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(4), pages 817-838, May.
    5. Martin Pinquart & Silvia Sörensen, 2003. "Associations of Stressors and Uplifts of Caregiving With Caregiver Burden and Depressive Mood: A Meta-Analysis," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 58(2), pages 112-128.
    6. Thijs van den Broek & Emily Grundy, 2017. "Loneliness among Polish migrants in the Netherlands: The impact of presence and location of partners and offspring," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 37(23), pages 727-742.
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