A comparison of early boomer women in caregiving, socioeconomic deprivation, and depressive symptomatology across countries

Background. Despite international support for improving mental health over the past few decades, the health consequences associated with depression remain a concern, particularly for women living in countries with greater socioeconomic deprivation. Evidence suggests caregiving as a risk factor of depressive symptoms; however, socioeconomic disparities of this association remain unclear. Growing evidence of the socioeconomic influence on individual health leads us to posit that these characteristics may disproportionally affect the association between caregiving and depressive symptomatology among women, depending on socioeconomic deprivation of countries.

Methods. We analyze survey data from several population-based samples (e.g., ELSA, HRS, JSTAR, KLSA, SHARE, and TLSA), with an attention to early boomer women, a rapidly growing segment of the population around the world. Multilevel logistic regressions are used to model the relationships between caregiving, country-level deprivation measures, and depressive symptomatology.

Results. Results indicate caregiving is significantly associated with an increased level of depressive symptomatology (OR=1.39; p<0.001). Yet, these early boomer women living in a country with a high rate of female labor force participation are more likely to have a lower level of depressive symptomatology. In contrast, living in socioeconomic vulnerable countries (e.g., a higher rate of vulnerable employment and adolescent fertility) appears to increase odds of depressive symptomatology.

Conclusions. The cross-country examinations contribute to the understanding of country similarities and differences in risk and resilience for depressive symptomatology, which in turn will benefit policy and programmatic strategies aimed at promoting mental health among women.