Wahrendorf, Morten;
McMunn, Anne;
Xue, Baowen;
Schaps, Valerie;
Deindl, Christian;
Di Gessa, Giorgio;
Lacey, Rebecca E;
(2025)
Mental Health Trajectories of Men and Women Who Start Providing Personal Care: European Findings From SHARE Using Propensity Score Matching.
The Journals of Gerontology: Series B
, 80
(6)
, Article gbaf053. 10.1093/geronb/gbaf053.
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Abstract
Objectives: We examine the mental health trajectories of people who start providing personal care and compare their trajectories with matched controls who remain non-carers. We also investigate whether trajectories vary by gender, financial resources, and supportive long-term care policies. Methods: Using 9 waves of the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe, collected in 28 European countries from 2004 to 2022, we analyze longitudinal data from 68,075 men and women aged 50 or older. We identify transitions into regular personal care within the household and use depressive symptoms from up to 4 waves before and after transitioning into care to measure mental health trajectories. Financial resources are measured by household wealth, whereas 3 macro indicators assess (1) support for caregivers, (2) support for care recipients, and (3) public care service availability. Propensity score matching, applied separately for men and women, identifies matched noncaregivers from the same country, and we use piecewise growth curve models to examine changes before, during, and after becoming a carer. Results: Both men and women have a clear increase in depressive symptoms when becoming a regular carer, and this increase even begins before the transition. The increase during the transition is slightly more pronounced for women and those with lower wealth, but we find no systematic differences by policy indicators. Discussion: Our study highlights the need for improved support for carers. Although national policies may influence the likelihood of becoming a carer, their effectiveness in mitigating the mental health impact of caring remains unclear.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Mental Health Trajectories of Men and Women Who Start Providing Personal Care: European Findings From SHARE Using Propensity Score Matching |
| Location: | United States |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1093/geronb/gbaf053 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbaf053 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © The Author(s) 2025. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Gerontological Society of America. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Keywords: | Science & Technology, Social Sciences, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, Geriatrics & Gerontology, Gerontology, Psychology, Psychology, Multidisciplinary, Caring, Depressive symptoms, Europe, Long-term care policies, SOCIALLY-PRODUCTIVE ACTIVITIES, DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS, FAMILY, PARTICIPATION, CAREGIVERS, POLICIES, GENDER, LIFE |
| 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/10215672 |
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