1 University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, Honolulu, USA.
J Aging Health. 2019 Oct;31(9):1631-1651. doi: 10.1177/0898264318782561. Epub 2018 Jul 4.
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. 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. 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. 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.
本研究考察了在美国，照顾年迈父母的非正式照料对就业状况的健康影响是否不同。测试了两种相反的假设：双重角色紧张和角色增强。本研究使用美国健康与退休研究的全国纵向数据，多元回归模型预测了照顾父母（2009-2012 年）和非照顾者的老年子女的自我评估健康和心理健康。发现照料时间和就业之间存在显著的交互作用，这表明在职照料者的健康状况明显比退休照料者差。照料时间也预示着抑郁症状显著升高。我们的结果支持双重角色紧张假设，并表明照顾父母长达 4 年足以预测老年婴儿潮一代的健康状况显著恶化，尤其是那些在职场的人。还讨论了对公共卫生和工作场所政策的更广泛影响。
