Table 1.
Descriptive statistics for informal caregivers (N = 489) during the second wave of the pandemic differentiated by gender
| M (SD)/N (%) |
p value | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| female informal caregivers (N = 301) | male informal caregivers (N = 188) | ||
| Age, years | 57.61 (9.85) | 59.12 (9.30) | ns |
| Highest educational degree | |||
| Upper secondary school | 70 (23.49) | 56 (30.27) | |
| Qualification for applied upper secondary school | 35 (11.74) | 18 (9.73) | |
| Polytechnic secondary school | 22 (7.38) | 18 (9.73) | ns |
| Intermediate secondary school | 114 (38.26) | 59 (31.89) | |
| Lower secondary school | 57 (19.13) | 34 (18.38) | |
| Marital status | |||
| Married/partnership | 215 (71.67) | 130 (69.52) | |
| Divorced | 31 (10.33) | 23 (12.30) | |
| Widowed | 18 (6.00) | 6 (3.21) | ns |
| Single | 36 (12.00) | 28 (14.97) | |
| Living situation | |||
| Living alone in private household | 70 (23.33) | 44 (23.78) | |
| Living with others in private household | 228 (76.00) | 140 (75.68) | ns |
| Living in assisted living, retirement home or nursing home | 2 (0.67) | 1 (0.54) | |
| Children in one's household | |||
| No, no children in household | 230 (76.67) | 155 (84.24) | |
| Yes, children in the household (<14 years) | 31 (10.33) | 12 (6.52) | ns |
| Yes, children in the household (14–18 years) | 39 (13.00) | 17 (9.24) | |
| Employment status | |||
| Employed (full-time) | 82 (27.33) | 107 (57.22) | |
| Employed (part-time) | 94 (31.33) | 10 (5.35) | |
| Marginally employed | 18 (6.00) | 1 (0.53) | <0.001 |
| Retired | 71 (23.67) | 57 (30.48) | |
| Unemployed | 35 (11.67) | 12 (6.42) | |
| Monthly household net income1 | 6.59 (2.72) | 7.08 (2.78) | ns |
| Self-rated health | 3.46 (0.88) | 3.39 (0.92) | ns |
| Chronic physical illnesses | 1.98 (1.59) | 2.04 (1.51) | ns |
| Outcomes | |||
| Depressive symptoms | 5.85 (4.75) | 4.86 (4.74) | <0.05 |
| Anxiety symptoms | 5.23 (4.28) | 4.07 (4.19) | <0.01 |
| Quality of life | 35.02 (6.65) | 37.07 (6.07) | <0.01 |
| Caregiver burden | 9.18 (7.92) | 7.35 (6.97) | <0.05 |
| Additional covariates | |||
| Perceived impairment in daily life by the pandemic | 3.05 (1.04) | 2.85 (1.03) | <0.05 |
| Perceived danger of the pandemic to themselves | 2.90 (0.98) | 2.76 (0.97) | ns |
| Perceived impairment in their caregiving routine by the pandemic | 2.16 (1.11) | 2.23 (1.02) | ns |
| Perceived danger to their care recipients | 3.19 (1.18) | 3.24 (1.14) | ns |
| Caregiving time, h/week | 12.62 (21.01) | 11.52 (17.01) | ns |
| Caregiving task − personal hygiene | 88 (29.24) | 34 (18.09) | <0.01 |
| Caregiving task − dressing | 78 (25.91) | 31 (16.49) | <0.05 |
| Caregiving task − feeding | 126 (41.86) | 71 (37.77) | ns |
| Caregiving task − household help | 240 (79.73) | 131 (69.68) | <0.05 |
| Caregiving task − supervision | 82 (27.24) | 52 (27.66) | ns |
| Caregiving task − transportation | 205 (68.11) | 132 (70.21) | ns |
| Caregiving task − medication intake | 105 (34.88) | 56 (29.79) | ns |
| Caregiving task − help with financial matters | 148 (49.17) | 92 (48.94) | ns |
Depressive symptoms (PHQ-9, Range: 0–27), higher scores indicate more depressive symptoms; anxiety symptoms (GAD-7, Range: 0–21), higher scores indicate more anxiety symptoms; quality of life (CASP-12, Range: 12–48), higher scores indicate higher quality of life; caregiver burden (BSFCs, Range: 0–30), with higher scores indicating higher caregiver burden; self-rated health (Range 1–5), higher scores indicate better health; number of chronic physical illnesses (Range: 0–13), higher scores indicate worse health; perceived impairment in daily life/in their caregiving routine (Range: 1–5), higher scores indicate higher levels of perceived impairment; perceived danger to themselves/to their care recipients (Range: 1–5), higher scores indicate higher levels of perceived danger. 1 Monthly household net income was assessed with 13 consecutive categories (e.g., <500 EUR, 500 EUR to <1.000 EUR, 1,000 EUR to <1.500 EUR, 1.500 EUR to <2.000 EUR) and is treated as a continuous variable in the analyses of this study.