Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-18T07:36:30.305Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Who cares? A comparison of informal and formal care provision in Spain, England and the USA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 November 2012

AÏDA SOLÉ-AURÓ  and
EILEEN M. CRIMMINS
AÏDA SOLÉ-AURÓ*
Affiliation:
RFA-IREA, Department of Econometrics, Statistics and Spanish Economy, University of Barcelona, Spain. Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA.
EILEEN M. CRIMMINS
Affiliation:
Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA.
*
Address for correspondence: Aïda Solé-Auró, Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center, University of Southern California, 3715 McClintock Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0191, USA. E-mail: aida.soleauro@usc.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper investigates the prevalence of incapacity in performing daily activities and the associations between household composition and availability of family members and receipt of care among older adults with functioning problems in Spain, England and the United States of America (USA). We examine how living arrangements, marital status, child availability, limitations in functioning ability, age and gender affect the probability of receiving formal care and informal care from household members and from others in three countries with different family structures, living arrangements and policies supporting care of the incapacitated. Data sources include the 2006 Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe for Spain, the third wave of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (2006), and the eighth wave of the USA Health and Retirement Study (2006). Logistic and multinomial logistic regressions are used to estimate the probability of receiving care and the sources of care among persons age 50 and older. The percentage of people with functional limitations receiving care is higher in Spain. More care comes from outside the household in the USA and England than in Spain. The use of formal care among the incapacitated is lowest in the USA and highest in Spain.

Keywords

informal careformal carelong-term careSpainEnglandUSAdisabilitySHAREELSAHRS
Type
Articles
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 34 , Issue 3 , March 2014 , pp. 495 - 517
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Banks, J., Berkman, L., Smith, J. P., Avendano, M. and Glymour, M. 2010. Do cross-country variations in social integration and social interactions explain differences in life expectancy in industrialized countries? In Crimmins, E. M., Preston, S. H. and Cohen, B. (eds), International Differences in Mortality at Older Ages: Dimensions and Sources. National Academies Press, Washington DC, 217–56.Google Scholar
Bolin, K., Lindgren, B. and Lundborg, P. 2008. Informal and formal care among single-living elderly in Europe. Health Economics, 17, 3, 393–409.Google Scholar
Bonsang, E. 2009. Does informal care from children to their elderly parents substitute for formal care in Europe? Journal of Health Economics, 28, 1, 143–54.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Börsch-Supan, A. 2007. European Welfare State Regimes and Their Generosity Toward the Elderly. Levy Economics Institute, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Börsch-Supan, A., Hank, K. and Jürges, H. 2005. A new comprehensive and international view on ageing. European Journal of Ageing, 2, 4, 245–53.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Branch, L. G., Wetle, T. T., Scherr, P. A., Cook, N. R., Evans, D. A., Hebert, L. E., Masland, E. N., Keough, M. E. and Taylor, J. O. 1988. A prospective study of incident comprehensive medical home care use among the elderly. American Journal of Public Health, 78, 3, 255–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Broese van Groenou, M., Glaser, K., Tomassini, C. and Jacobs, T. 2006. Socio-economic status differences in older people's use of informal and formal help: a comparison of four European countries. Ageing & Society, 26, 5, 745–66.Google Scholar
Charles, K. K. and Sevak, P. 2005. Can family caregiving substitute for nursing home care? Journal of Health Economics, 24, 6, 1174–90.Google Scholar
Comas-Herrera, A., Wittenberg, R., Costa-Font, J., Gori, C., Di Maio, A., Patxot, C., Pickard, L., Pozzi, A. and Rothgang, H. 2006. Future long-term care expenditure in Germany, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom. Ageing & Society, 26, 2, 285–302.Google Scholar
Crimmins, E. M. and Ingegneri, D. G. 1990. Interaction and living arrangements of older parents and their children. Past trends, present determinants, future implications. Research on Aging, 12, 1, 3–35.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crimmins, E. M., Kim, J. K. and Solé-Auró, A. 2011. Gender differences in health: results from SHARE, ELSA and HRS. European Journal of Public Health, 21, 1, 81–91.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Donovan, R., Williams, A., Stajduhar, K., Brazil, K. and Marshall, D. 2011. The influence of culture on home-based family caregiving at end-of-life: a case study of Dutch reformed family care givers in Ontario, Canada. Social Science & Medicine, 72, 3, 338–46.Google Scholar
Doty, P. 1986. Family care of the elderly: the role of public policy. The Milbank Quarterly, 64, 1, 34–75.Google Scholar
EDAD. 2008. Survey on Disability, Personal Autonomy and Dependency Situations. http://www.ine.es/jaxi/menu.do?type=pcaxis&path=/t15/p418&file=inebase&L=1Google Scholar
Elwert, F. and Christakis, N. A. 2008. The effect of widowhood on mortality by the causes of death of both spouses. American Journal of Public Health, 98, 11, 2092–8.Google Scholar
Feder, J., Komisar, H. L. and Niefeld, M. 2000. Long-term care in the United States: an overview. Health Affairs, 19, 3, 40–56.Google Scholar
Gans, D. and Silverstein, M. 2006. Norms of filial responsibility for aging parents across time and generations. Journal of Marriage and Family, 68, 4, 961–76.Google Scholar
García, J. R., Prieto-Flores, M.-E. and Rosenberg, M. W. 2008. Health services use by older people with disabilities in Spain: do formal and informal care matter? Ageing & Society, 28, 7, 959–78.Google Scholar
Glaser, K. 1997. The living arrangements of elderly people. Reviews in Clinical Gerontology, 7, 1, 63–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greene, V. L. 1983. Substitution between formally and informally provided care for the impaired elderly in the community. Medical Care, 21, 6, 609–19.Google Scholar
Guillén, M., Albarrán, I., Alcañiz, M., Ayuso, M., Blay, D. and Monteverde, M. 2006. Longevidad y dependencia en España: consecuencias sociales y económicas. Fundación BBVA, Madrid.Google Scholar
Himes, C. L. 1992. Future caregivers: projected family structures of older persons. Journal of Gerontology, 47, 1, S17–26.Google Scholar
Holden, K. C. and Kuo, H. H. D. 1996. Complex marital histories and economic well-being: the continuing legacy of divorce and widowhood as the HRS cohort approaches retirement. The Gerontologist, 36, 3, 383–90.Google Scholar
Huber, M., Rodrigues, R., Hoffmann, F., Gasior, K. and Marin, B. 2009. Facts and Figures on Long-term Care Europe and North America. European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research, Vienna.Google Scholar
IMSERSO. 2004. Situación y evolución del apoyo informal a los mayores en España. Informe de resultados. Madrid. <http://www.imsersomayores.csic.es/documentacion/biblioteca/registro.htm?id=51002>>Google Scholar
Jiménez-Martín, S. and Prieto, C. 2012. The trade-off between formal and informal care in Spain. The European Journal of Health Economics, 13, 4, 461–90.Google Scholar
Kemper, P. 1992. The use of formal and informal home care by the disabled elderly. Health Services Research, 27, 4, 421–51.Google ScholarPubMed
Lafortune, G. and Balestat, G. 2007. Trends in Severe Disability Among Elderly People Assessing the Evidence in 12 OECD Countries and the Future Implications. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Paris.Google Scholar
Litwin, H. and Attias-Donfut, C. 2009. The inter-relationship between formal and informal care: a study in France and Israel. Ageing & Society, 29, 1, 71–91.Google Scholar
Macunovich, D., Easterlin, R., Schaeffer, C. and Crimmins, E. M. 1995. Echoes of the baby boom and bust: recent and prospective changes in living alone among elderly widows in the United States. Demography, 32, 1, 17–28.Google Scholar
Mentzakis, E., McNamee, P. and Ryan, M. 2009. Who cares and how much: exploring the determinants of co-residential informal care. Review of Economics of the Household, 7, 3, 283–303.Google Scholar
Murtaugh, C. M., McCall, N., Moore, S. and Meadow, A. 2003. Trends in Medicare home health care use: 1997–2001. Health Affairs, 22, 5, 146–56.Google Scholar
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) 2005. Health at a Glance OECD Indicators, 2005. OECD, Paris.Google Scholar
Palloni, A. (ed.) 2001. Living Arrangements of Older Persons. Population Bulletin of the United Nations, New York.Google Scholar
Reher, D. S. 1998. Family ties in western Europe: persistent contrasts. Population and Development Review, 24, 2, 203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schaefer, C., Quesenberry, C. P. and Wi, S. 1995. Mortality following conjugal bereavement and the effects of a shared environment. American Journal of Epidemiology, 141, 12, 1142–52.Google Scholar
Silverstein, M., Gans, D., Lowenstein, A., Giarrusso, R. and Bengtson, V. L. 2010. Older parent–child relationships in six developed nations: comparisons at the intersection of affection and conflict. Journal of Marriage and Family, 72, 4, 1006–21.Google Scholar
Statistical Office of the European Commission 2010. Europe in Figures – Eurostat Yearbook 2010. European Commission, Luxembourg.Google Scholar
Tomassini, C., Glaser, K., Wolf, D. A., Broese van Groenou, M. I. and Grundy, E. 2004. Living arrangements among older people: an overview of trends in Europe and the USA. Population Trends, 115, 24–34.Google Scholar
United States Bureau of the Census 2009. Census of Governments. Available online at http://www.census.gov/govs/cog [Accessed October 2011].Google Scholar
Van Houtven, C. H. and Norton, E. C. 2004. Informal care and health care use of older adults. Journal of Health Economics, 23, 6, 1159–80.Google Scholar
Wolf, D. A. 1995. Changes in the living arrangements of older women: an international study. The Gerontologist, 35, 6, 724–31.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yeandle, S. and Steill, B. 2007. Issues in the development of the direct payments scheme for older people in England. In Ungerson, C. and Yeandle, S. (eds), Cash for Care in Developed Welfare States. Palgrave, Basingstoke, UK, 104–36.Google Scholar