Multiple roles and subjective well-being of middle-aged women who are caregivers of elderly people in Chile

ABSTRACT

Women who fulfill many roles, particularly caregivers who fulfill other social responsibilities, risk their well-being. Using a nationally representative sample, we studied the association between being a caregiver to elderly people, performing other social roles, and subjective well-being in middle-aged women in Chile. Using ordinary least squares models, we found that being a caregiver was negatively associated with life satisfaction, which significantly decreased if the caregiver was also head of household. Economic and health conditions were also related to well-being. Thus, policies that improve the living conditions of the elderly and mitigate the role overload experienced by caregivers are important.

KEYWORDS:

• Caregivers
• middle-aged women
• subjective well-being

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

¹ The target population included people who normally reside in homes identified as private housing (CASEN, 2013b).

² In Chile, the poverty line is $368,389 for an average household of 4.43 people (US$553). The poverty line in terms of equivalent person is $129,964, which is equivalent to US$195 (Ministerio de Desarrollo Social, 2018).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the FondoNacional de Desarrollo Científico y Tecnológico [Fondecyt Regular1171071]. Government of Chile.