Abstract
Objectives
With extended life expectancy, middle-aged and older adults have become more involved in multiple caregiving. This study aimed to investigate the patterns of multiple caregiving, and whether these patterns predicted follow-up depressive symptoms.
Methods
Data were obtained from the 2011–2015 waves of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. A total of 11,422 participants aged 50 and older in 2011 were included in the latent class analysis to identify the patterns of multiple caregiving. A regression model was used to analyze the association between baseline caregiving patterns and subsequent depressive symptoms.
Results
Four caregiving patterns were established: “part-time care for all”, “parent care and full-time grandchild care”, “part-time spouse care and full-time grandchild care” and “full-time spouse care”. Compared with the “part-time care for all” group, the “full-time spouse care” group and “part-time spouse care and full-time grandchild care” group reported significantly greater depressive symptoms four years later.
Conclusion
The use of categorizing multiple caregiving could vividly describe middle aged and older adults’ engagement in caregiving activities and provide a comprehensive prediction of mental health outcomes. Social services should be tailored to sandwiched caregivers in certain caregiving patterns.