Abstract
[Machine translation] Over the last few decades, the decline in births and the simultaneous lengthening of the average lifespan have changed the demographic balance of Europe and most industrialized countries. The new structure involves a reduction in the size of younger generation cohorts, more than offset by an increase in the number of elderly people. The percentage of elderly people out of the entire population in Europe has reached 19.2%, making our continent gain primacy over any other continent, while within Europe it is Italy that ranks first in terms of the number of people over 65, with 22 elderly people per 100 inhabitants, followed by Greece (21.3%) and Germany (21.1%)., Aging is associated with a progressive deterioration in people's state of health: with increasing age, the onset of chronic and degenerative diseases increases, which limit the individual's autonomy and increase his need for treatment. These can be provided formally, that is, by qualified and remunerated personnel, or informally, by relatives, friends or neighbors who dedicate their time to assist the person who is not self-sufficient. The term used to designate those who provide informal care is caregiver, or 'care giver'., Within the family unit, women are mainly responsible for the care of the most fragile individuals (Viitanen, 2005; Henz, 2006; OECD, 2011). In particular, with regard to the care of the elderly, the most represented category is that of female daughters (Spillman and Pezzin, 2000; Crespo and Mira, 2010; Brenna and Di Novi, 2015), often crushed between responsibilities for children who are not yet autonomous and care for elderly parents and for this reason defined, together with their peers, a “sandwich generation”. Providing informal care to elderly parents can be particularly burdensome in terms of allocation choices because the time dedicated to caring for a relative is taken away, voluntarily or out of necessity, from other activities such as work, dedication to their home and to their children or grandchildren, free time. On the financial front, having to give up income from work and/or career progress can cause long-term economic insecurity (Pavalko and Artis, 1997; Fahle and McGarry, 2017). Furthermore, if this choice is made necessary by an institutional context unable to take care of an elderly person who is not self-sufficient, there may be problems of isolation and burn-out for the caregiver daughter, especially if the care role is prolonged over time (Coe and Van Houtven 2009; Brenna and Di Novi, 2013)., Analyzing women's choices in terms of caregiving, two different trends, starting in the sixties, assume a decisive weight: the delay of fertility in adult women and their greater attachment to work and career. These circumstances suggest that in the coming decades, when the first baby boomers (those born between the Second World War and the mid-1960s) begin to request assistance, there will be fewer children available for each elderly person and with limited free time due to the commitment required to care for the children still in charge. , The chapter is inspired by these considerations to analyze, through the contribution of literature, individual and family allocation choices in providing assistance to elderly parents or relatives in Europe and Western countries. In particular, the effects on the work level and the possible repercussions on health related to the most represented category of caregivers, that of female daughters, are studied. Since this category falls within the age group where there is a trade-off between employment and parental care, and therefore contextualizes an environment where it is possible to implement targeted interventions, the attention of many researchers has focused on it (Pagani and Marenzi, 2008; Crespo and Mira, 2010; Brenna and Di Novi, 2016)., In the following pages, paragraph 2 describes the phenomenon of ageing in Europe and the informal response to the need for care, paragraph 3 explains the work choices of those who care for an elderly parent and paragraph 4 describes the possible health effects attributable to the status of caregiver. Discussion and conclusions follow.
Translated title of the contribution | [Machine translation] Elderly Care, Work Choices and Health |
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Original language | Italian |
Title of host publication | Invecchiamento attivo, mercato del lavoro e benessere: analisi e politiche attive |
Publisher | Il Mulino |
Pages | 1-17 |
Number of pages | 17 |
ISBN (Print) | 9788815279217 |
Publication status | Published - 2018 |
Keywords
- Cure informali
- donne caregiver
- generazione sandwich