Almeida-Meza, Pamela;
Di Gessa, Giorgio;
Lacey, Rebecca;
McMunn, Anne;
Xue, Baowen;
(2025)
Care provision and social participation among older adults in Europe: longitudinal evidence from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.
European Journal of Ageing
, 22
, Article 24. 10.1007/s10433-025-00856-y.
Preview |
Text
s10433-025-00856-y.pdf - Published Version Download (644kB) | Preview |
Abstract
Providing care to family members and friends in older age is common, but it can impact the carers’ time and energy for social participation. This study explores the relationship between care and social participation in 16 European countries, considering factors like care status, care frequency, relationship to the care recipient, gender, socioeconomic status, and country care regimes. The study utilised pooled data from the Survey of Health Ageing and Retirement in Europe and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Multiple regression models assessed the association between care status (non-carer, carer, and former carer) and social participation measured through volunteering frequency and group membership. The models adjusted for various demographic and socioeconomic covariates. The study found that carers, especially those doing so more frequently (daily and weekly care), were more likely to volunteer and belong to groups compared to non-carers. Furthermore, compared to non-carers individuals caring for their partner, parent, or non-relatives were more likely to engage in social participation. The association between care and social participation appeared stronger for carers in countries with supportive care regimes. The findings support the idea that care and social participation are complementary activities, where engagement in one represents an avenue for greater participation in the other.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Care provision and social participation among older adults in Europe: longitudinal evidence from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing |
| Location: | Germany |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s10433-025-00856-y |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1007/s10433-025-00856-y |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
| Keywords: | Care, Caregiving, Social participation, Volunteering, Older age |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health > Epidemiology and Public Health |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10213090 |
Archive Staff Only
 |
View Item |
