The prevalence of informal care and its association with health

Evandrou, Maria; Falkingham, Jane; Robards, James; Vlachantoni, Athina

doi:10.4324/9781315564777-22

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“…Previous research has shown that mid-life (i.e. between ages 45 and 55) is the age at which one's risk of providing informal care peaks across the lifecourse, with implications for individuals' health and economic participation (Dykstra and Komter, 2012;Evandrou et al, 2015;Bardoel and Drago, 2016;Hanson and Starr, 2017). Since the inclusion of a question regarding informal care provision in the UK Census 2001, repeated in 2011, and the increased availability of longitudinal data internationally such as the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), a substantial body of literature has examined patterns of informal care provision across different age groups, as well as the more detailed nature of the care-giving activity such as the number of hours dedicated to care, the relationship between the person caring and the person cared for, and whether they live in the same household (Dahlberg et al, 2007;Norman and Purdam, 2013;Robards et al, 2015).…”

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confidence: 99%

Caring trajectories and health in mid-life

et al. 2022

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Previous research has found varied effects of informal care provision on the carer's health status. Few studies have, however, examined this relationship dynamically. This paper is the first to analyse trajectories of care among men and women in mid-life and their impact on health outcomes using a nationally representative prospective cohort study. Data from three waves of the United Kingdom (UK) National Child Development Study (N = 7,465), when the respondents were aged 46, 50 and 55, are used to derive care trajectories capturing the dynamics of care provision and its intensity. Logistic regression investigates the impact of caring between the ages of 46 and 55 on the carers' report of depression and poor health at age 55. At age 46, 9 per cent of men and 16 per cent of women provided some level of informal care; rising to 60 per cent for both genders at ages 50 and 55. Just 7 per cent of women and 4 per cent of men provided care at all observation points, with the most common trajectory being ‘starting to care’ at ages 50 or 55. New carers experienced a lower risk of depression at age 55, reflecting that they may not have experienced the caring role long enough to have an adverse impact on their wellbeing. The findings highlight that the majority of individuals with surviving parents experience caring at some point during mid-life, underlining the need for further longitudinal research to better understand the complex relationships between care-giving and health for different groups of cares.

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