Does the Health of Adult Child Caregivers Vary by Employment Status in the United States?
Abstract
Objective: This study investigates whether the health effects of informal caregiving for aging parents vary by employment status in the United States. Two opposing hypotheses are tested: dual role strain and role enhancement. Method: Using national longitudinal data from the U.S. Health and Retirement Study, multivariate regression models predicted self-rated health and mental health among older adult children caregiving for their parents (2009-2012) and noncaregivers. Results: A statistically significant interaction was found between caregiving duration and employment, indicating that employed caregivers had significantly worse health than retired caregivers. Caregiving duration also predicted significantly higher levels of depressive symptoms. Discussion: Our results support the dual role strain hypothesis and suggest that caregiving for a parent up to 4 years is enough to predict significantly worse health among older adult Baby Boomers, especially those in the labor force. The broader implications for public health and workplace policies are discussed.
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Employed informal caregivers were significantly more depressed than informal retired caregivers.
“However, the finding in the current study is consistent with other literature, where employed informal caregivers were significantly more depressed than informal retired caregivers [140].”
From Relationship of Psychological Flexibility and Mindfulness to Caregiver Burden, and Depressive and Anxiety Symptoms in Caregivers of People with Dementia (2023) · cites this paper as [140]
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References 38 · Cited by 27
- Authors
- Kohl, N. M., Mossakowski, K. N., Sanidad, I. I., Bird, O. T., & Nitz, L. H.
- Affiliations
- University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (US)
- Corresponding author
- Kohl, Noreen M.
- Venue
- Journal of Aging and Health
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2018-07-04
- Volume
- 31
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 1631-1651
- ISSN
- 0898-2643 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-6887
- OpenAlex
- W2810747632
- Cited by
- 27
- References
- 38
- Citations by year
- 2025: 7 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 7
- FWCI
- 8.53
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Aging and Health (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Pharmacy › Nursing care and research
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Aging, Elder Care, and Social Issues
- Keywords
- adult child caregivers, informal care, employment status, caregiver health, role enhancement, caregiving duration, depressive symptoms, self-rated health, mental health, baby boomers, retirement, workplace policies
- MeSH terms
- Depression, Employment, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Humans, Male, Mental Health, Middle Aged, Parents, Stress, Psychological, United States, Incidence, Caregivers, Adult Children
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