IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/osf/socarx/qk6xr.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Informal caregiving and quality of life among older adults: Prospective analyses from the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health (SLOSH)

Author

Listed:
  • Sacco, Lawrence B

    (Stockholm University)

  • König, Stefanie
  • Westerlund, Hugo
  • Platts, Loretta G.

    (Stockholm University)

Abstract

Providing unpaid informal care to someone who is ill or disabled is a common experience in later life. While a supportive and potentially rewarding role, informal care can become a time and emotionally demanding activity, which may hinder older adults’ quality of life. In a context of rising demand for informal carers, we investigated how caregiving states and transitions are linked to overall levels and changes in quality of life, and how the relationship varies according to care intensity and burden. We used fixed effects and change analyses to examine six-wave panel data (2008–2018) from the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health (SLOSH, n=5076; ages 50–74). The CASP-19 scale is used to assess both positive and negative aspects of older adults’ quality of life. Caregiving was related with lower levels of quality of life in a graded manner, with those providing more weekly hours and reporting greater burden experiencing larger declines. Two-year transitions corresponding to starting, ceasing and continuing care provision were associated with lower levels of quality of life, compared to continuously not caregiving. Starting and ceasing caregiving were associated with negative and positive changes in quality of life score, respectively, suggesting that cessation of care leads to improvements despite persistent lower overall levels of quality of life. Measures to reduce care burden or time spent providing informal care are likely to improve the quality of life of older people.

Suggested Citation

  • Sacco, Lawrence B & König, Stefanie & Westerlund, Hugo & Platts, Loretta G., 2020. "Informal caregiving and quality of life among older adults: Prospective analyses from the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health (SLOSH)," SocArXiv qk6xr, Center for Open Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:osf:socarx:qk6xr
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/qk6xr
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://osf.io/download/5e3834e8fa39b701541db6c6/
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.31219/osf.io/qk6xr?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Christina Matz-Costa & Jacquelyn James & Larry Ludlow & Melissa Brown & Elyssa Besen & Clair Johnson, 2014. "The Meaning and Measurement of Productive Engagement in Later Life," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 118(3), pages 1293-1314, September.
    2. Rebecca Ang & Jiaqing O, 2012. "Association Between Caregiving, Meaning in Life, and Life Satisfaction Beyond 50 in an Asian Sample: Age as a Moderator," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 108(3), pages 525-534, September.
    3. Ellen Verbakel & Silke F Metzelthin & Gertrudis I J M Kempen, 2018. "Caregiving to Older Adults: Determinants of Informal Caregivers’ Subjective Well-being and Formal and Informal Support as Alleviating Conditions," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 73(6), pages 1099-1111.
    4. Jamila Bookwala, 2009. "The Impact of Parent Care on Marital Quality and Well-Being in Adult Daughters and Sons," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 64(3), pages 339-347.
    5. van den Berg, Bernard & Fiebig, Denzil G. & Hall, Jane, 2014. "Well-being losses due to care-giving," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 123-131.
    6. Bond, Malcolm J. & Clark, Michael S. & Davies, Suzanne, 2003. "The quality of life of spouse dementia caregivers: changes associated with yielding to formal care and widowhood," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 57(12), pages 2385-2395, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Katja Möhring & Sabine Zinn & Ulrike Ehrlich, 2023. "Family care during the first COVID-19 lockdown in Germany: longitudinal evidence on consequences for the well-being of caregivers," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 1-11, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lawrence B. Sacco & Stefanie König & Hugo Westerlund & Loretta G. Platts, 2022. "Informal Caregiving and Quality of Life Among Older Adults: Prospective Analyses from the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health (SLOSH)," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 160(2), pages 845-866, April.
    2. Marie Blaise & Laetitia Dillenseger, 2023. "Informal Caregivers and Life Satisfaction: Empirical Evidence from the Netherlands," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 24(6), pages 1883-1930, August.
    3. Marie Blaise & Sandrine Juin & Hélène Le Forner & Quitterie Roquebert, 2024. "I care, you clean? Gendered effects of informal care on couple housework and leisure time," LISER Working Paper Series 2024-05, Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER).
    4. Chen, Lu & Fan, Hongli & Chu, Lanlan, 2019. "The hidden cost of informal care: An empirical study on female caregivers' subjective well-being," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 224(C), pages 85-93.
    5. Costa-Font, Joan & Vilaplana-Prieto, Cristina, 2022. "Mental health effects of caregivers respite: Subsidies or Supports?," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 23(C).
    6. Eibich, Peter & Siedler, Thomas, 2020. "Retirement, intergenerational time transfers, and fertility," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    7. McDonald, Rebecca & Powdthavee, Nattavudh, 2018. "The Shadow Prices of Voluntary Caregiving: Using Panel Data of Well-Being to Estimate the Cost of Informal Care," IZA Discussion Papers 11545, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Urwin, Sean & Lau, Yiu-Shing & Grande, Gunn & Sutton, Matt, 2021. "The extent and predictors of discrepancy between provider and recipient reports of informal caregiving," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 277(C).
    9. Yoko Niimi, 2016. "The “Costs” of informal care: an analysis of the impact of elderly care on caregivers’ subjective well-being in Japan," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 779-810, December.
    10. Wei Lin & Lung Chen & Tsui-Shan Li, 2013. "Adult Children’s Caregiver Burden and Depression: The Moderating Roles of Parent–Child Relationship Satisfaction and Feedback from Others," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 673-687, April.
    11. Howley, Peter, 2017. "Less money or better health? Evaluating individual’s willingness to make trade-offs using life satisfaction data," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 53-65.
    12. Cinzia Di Novi & Elenka Brenna, 2013. "Is caring for elderly parents detrimental for women�s mental health? The influence of the European North-South gradient," Working Papers 2013:23, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
    13. Longobardo, Luz María Peña & Rodríguez-Sánchez, Beatriz & Oliva, Juan, 2023. "Does becoming an informal caregiver make your health worse? A longitudinal analysis across Europe," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    14. repec:ctc:serie1:def4 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Miller, Ray & Sedai, Ashish Kumar, 2022. "Opportunity costs of unpaid caregiving: Evidence from panel time diaries," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 22(C).
    16. Elisa Labbas & Maria Stanfors, 2023. "Does Caring for Parents Take Its Toll? Gender Differences in Caregiving Intensity, Coresidence, and Psychological Well-Being Across Europe," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 39(1), pages 1-29, December.
    17. Coe, Norma B. & Goda, Gopi Shah & Van Houtven, Courtney Harold, 2023. "Family spillovers and long-term care insurance," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    18. Elenka Brenna & Cinzia Di Novi, 2013. "Is caring for elderly parents detrimental to women’s mental health? The influence of the European North-South gradient," DISCE - Working Papers del Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza def004, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    19. Marie Blaise & Laetitia Dillenseger, 2020. "Informal caregivers and life satisfaction: Empirical Evidence from the Netherlands," Working Papers of BETA 2020-55, Bureau d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée, UDS, Strasbourg.
    20. Guangya Liu & Matthew E. Dupre, 2016. "Health Trajectories of Women in China: The Role of Parental Caregiving," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 71(2), pages 320-331.
    21. Bom, Judith & Bakx, Pieter & Schut, Frederik & van Doorslaer, Eddy, 2019. "Health effects of caring for and about parents and spouses," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 14(C).

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:osf:socarx:qk6xr. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: OSF (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://arabixiv.org .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.