Gender differences in the relationship between informal caregiving and subjective health: the mediating role of health promoting behaviors

BMC Public Health

Aeri Kim¹  Kyungmi Woo² 

[1] Center for Human-Caring Nurse Leaders for the Future By Brain Korea 21 (BK 21) four project, College of Nursing, Seoul National University, 103 Daehak-ro, Jongno-gu, 03080, Seoul, Republic of Korea;College of Nursing, Research Institute of Nursing Science, Seoul National University, 103 Daehak-ro, Jongno-gu, 03080, Seoul, Republic of Korea;

关键词: Informal caregiver;    Subjective Health;    Self-rated Health;    Health Satisfaction;    Health Promoting Behaviors;    Longitudinal study;    General estimating equations;    Fixed effects;    Gender difference;    KLoSA;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12889-022-12612-3

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundIn most of developed societies, the prevalence of informal care is on the rise due to rapid population ageing. This study investigates longitudinal associations between informal caregiving and health among caregivers and potential gender differences in this relationship. Moreover, drawing on the Health Promotion Model, this study examines the mediating role of health promoting behaviors in the link between informal caregiving and caregiver’s health.MethodsSeven waves of a large-scale (N = 9,608), a nationally representative longitudinal study of middle- and old-aged adults in Korea between 2006 and 2018, were used. To address the possibility of omitted variable bias, this study employed ordinary least squares models with lagged dependent variables (OLS-LDV) as well as fixed effects (FE) models. Univariate Sobel-Goodman mediation tests were used.ResultsFindings from OLS-LDV models showed that transition into informal caregiving is negatively associated with health satisfaction and self-rated health. FE results also suggest that our results are robust to controlling for unobserved heterogeneity. In the model where informal caregiving is interacted with gender, we found that these associations were largely driven by women caregivers. Results from Sobel-Goodman tests revealed that a decrease in regular exercise partially explains the observed association between informal caregiving and subjective health outcomes (11% for health satisfaction and 8% for self-rated health).ConclusionsAlthough informal caregiving can be a rewarding role, it poses a threat to caregiver’s subjective health. Findings of this hold important implications and provide evidence in support of a gender-conscious approach to improve the health and well-being of informal caregivers.

【 授权许可】

CC BY