Informal care and mental health in Germany: What are the differences between non-migrants and ethnic German immigrants? A longitudinal comparative analysis

Abstract

Objective

In aging Germany, a large part of care is provided by informal caregivers. We aimed to analyze the main drivers of the mental health of caregivers and their intersection with migration status.

Methods

Using panel data covering 18 years (n = 25,659 individuals, aged 16 to 103 years; mean age of 49.5 years) and applying linear regression models we investigated the association between informal caregiving and mental health. We compared non-migrant Germans (NMG) and ethnic German immigrants (EGI), who are the oldest immigrant group in Germany. Informal caregiving was defined as living with a person in need of care or by providing care for ≥2 h per day; the main health outcomes were mental health and mental health changes, measured by a metric scale of six items.

Results

Even accounting for selection into caregiving, short-term care seemed to be disadvantageous only for NMG, while long-term care was generally associated with poorer mental health, with a particular disadvantage for EGI. Socio-economic characteristics and personality traits affected mental health changes, but only weakly the caregiving-health association.

Conclusion

Informal caregiving presents a health burden which is not explained by socio-economic characteristics and personality, but by migration status. Policies to promote health in an aging society need to consider differences in short- and long-term care provision and between migrants and the non-migrants.

Keywords:

• Health disparities
• long-term care
• panel analysis
• health inequalities
• migrant health

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethical approval

The data from the GSOEP were collected in accordance with the data protection regulations of the Federal Republic of Germany. All participants provided free and informed consent to participate in the survey. Because this study involved the secondary analysis of anonymized data, no further ethical approval was required.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from DIW Berlin (German Institute for Economic Research) at https://www.diw.de/en/diw_02.c.222829.en/access_and_ordering.html. The data are not publicly available, because they are personal data that are subject to special protections. Signing a data distribution contract with DIW Berlin is a precondition for working with GSOEP data. After this contract is signed, the data will be available upon request.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.