Is caring for older parents detrimental to women’s mental health? The role of the European North-South gradient

In the last decades, both the lengthening of life expectancy and an\r\naccentuated decline in birth rates have reduced the consistency of the younger generational cohorts. Due to an ageing population, the burden of caregiving is expected to intensify in the next quarter of the century in Europe, especially for mature women. This paper investigates the impact of the provision of constant care\r\nfor older parents on the mental health of adult daughters, between the ages of 50 and 75, living in different European countries. Data is drawn from the Survey of Health,Ageing and Retirement in Europe. Information on mental health status is provided\r\nby Euro-D depression scale, a measure of depression standardized across European countries. We focus on differences in the effects according to the North–South gradient: we test whether the relationship between informal caregiving and mental\r\nhealth differs across European macro-regions. Our results, robust under different specifications of the propensity score model, reveal a clear North–South gradient:\r\nthe provision of informal care has a negative and significant impact on daughters’\r\nmental health in the Mediterranean countries only, where the amount of resources\r\nallocated to the Long Term Care is minimal and the local system of health and\r\nsocial services for the elderly lacks the necessary structures to meet the increasing\r\ndemand for eldercare