Martina Brandt

Data Resource Profile: The Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE)

SHARE is a unique panel database of micro data on health, socio-economic status and social and family networks covering most of the European Union and Israel. To date, SHARE has collected three panel waves (2004, 2006, 2010) of current living circumstances and retrospective life histories (2008, SHARELIFE); 6 additional waves are planned until 2024. The more than 150 000 interviews give a broad picture of life after the age of 50 years, measuring physical and mental health, economic and non-economic activities, income and wealth, transfers of time and money within and outside the family as well as life satisfaction and well-being. The data are available to the scientific community free of charge at www.share-project.org after registration. SHARE is harmonized with the US Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) and has become a role model for several ageing surveys worldwide. SHAREs scientific power is based on its panel design that grasps the dynamic character of the ageing process, its multidisciplinary approach that delivers the full picture of individual and societal ageing, and its cross-nationally ex-ante harmonized design that permits international comparisons of health, economic and social outcomes in Europe and the USA.

Gendered support to older parents: do welfare states matter?

The aim of this study is to examine the association of welfare state policies and the gendered organisation of intergenerational support (instrumental help and personal care) to older parents. The study distinguishes between support to older parents provided at least weekly, i.e. time-intensive and often burdening support, and supplemental sporadic support. Three policy instruments were expected to be associated with daughters’ and sons’ support or gender inequality in intergenerational support respectively: (1) professional social services, (2) cash-for-care payments and (3) legal obligations to provide or co-finance care for parents. The analyses based on the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe showed that daughters provided somewhat more sporadic and much more intensive support than sons throughout Europe. While about half of all children who sporadically supported a parent were men, this applied to only one out of four children who provided intensive support. Logistic multilevel models revealed that legal obligations were positively associated with daughters’ likelihood of giving intensive support to parents but did not affect the likelihood of sons doing so. Legal obligations thus stimulate support in a gender-specific way. Both legal obligations and cash-for-care schemes were also accompanied by a more unequal distribution of involvement in intensive support at the expense of women. Social services, in contrast, were linked to a lower involvement of daughters in intensive support. In sum, the results suggest that welfare states can both preserve or reduce gender inequality in intergenerational support depending on specific arrangements.

The Individual and the Welfare State

Our health, our income and our social networks at older ages are the consequence of what has happened to us over the course of our lives. The situation at age 50+ reflects our own decisions as well as many environmental factors, especially interventions by the welfare state. This book explores the richness of 28,000 life histories in thirteen European countries, collected as part of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Combining these data with a comprehensive account of European welfare state interventions provides a unique opportunity to answer the important public policy questions of our time – how the welfare state affects people’s incomes, housing, families, retirement, volunteering and health. The overarching theme of the welfare state creates a book of genuinely interdisciplinary analyses, a valuable resource for economists, gerontologists, historians, political scientists, public health analysts, and sociologists alike.

INTERGENERATIONAL HELP AND PUBLIC ASSISTANCE IN EUROPE

ABSTRACT The comparative analysis of intergenerational support patterns based on SHARE, the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe, with about 30,000 respondents from 11 European countries reveals a distinct geographical distribution of private support patterns: in Northern Europe help between parents and children is very common, but typically little time-consuming. The contrary is true for Southern Europe, where comparably few support relations are very intense in terms of time. Central Western Europe lies in-between with average transfer rates and intensities. Using multilevel modeling, these different support patterns can be explained by the prevalence of public assistance according to the specialization hypothesis: with increased public transfers and social services, sporadic help is more likely (crowding in), and less time consuming support between generations (crowding out) occurs. Accordingly, most support is provided voluntarily in Northern Europe, whereas it is more often perceived as obligatory in Continental and Mediterranean countries.

Health effects of informal caregiving across Europe: A longitudinal approach

Due to an expected increase of people in need of care, sound knowledge about health effects of informal care provision is becoming more and more important. Theoretically, there might be positive as well as negative health effects due to caregiving to relatives. Moreover, we suppose that such health effects differ by national context - since care is differently organized in Europe - and depend on the social setting in which the care relationship takes place. Using data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement (SHARE, waves 1, 2, 3, and 5) and from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA, waves 2-5) we examined the connection between informal caregiving and self-perceived as well as mental health in a country comparative perspective. Taking advantage of the longitudinal structure of the data, pooled ordinary least squares (OLS) and fixed-effects models (FEM) were estimated. Our results show distinct differences in the relationship between reported health and the provision of informal care depending on whether individuals give care to someone inside or outside the household. Caregivers inside the household reported worse health, caregivers from outside the household reported better health than non-caregivers. We find that this correlation is largely due to selection into caregiving: people in worse health took up care inside while people in better health took up care outside the household. However, in most countries people who started caregiving inside the household experienced a decline in their mental health. This suggests that caregiving inside the household results in psychological stress irrespective of the type of welfare state. The results regarding self-perceived health and caregiving outside the household are less distinct. All in all our results show that health consequences of caregiving vary not only between different welfare regimes but also between countries of similar welfare state types.

Scars that will not disappear: Long-term associations between early- and later-life unemployment under different welfare regimes

Exploiting retrospective data from the SHARELIFE project, we investigate long-term associations between early and later life unemployment spells of at least six months in a sample of more than 13,000 men and women from eleven European countries. Our findings provide, first, evidence for significant differences in the life-course pattern of unemployment occurrence between welfare state regimes. Second, childhood conditions are shown to bear significant associations with the odds of experiencing periods of unemployment throughout ones employment career. Third, and finally, our analysis confirms previous research in that we provide clear evidence for long-term scarring effects, showing that they are indeed permanent ones, as we observe them even among older workers close to retirement. The paper concludes with a discussion of perspectives for future research.

Reziprozität zwischen erwachsenen Generationen

ZusammenfassungGenerationenbeziehungen zeichnen sich durch Solidarität und wechselseitige Unterstützung aus. Einerseits helfen und pflegen Kinder ihre betagten Eltern, andererseits unterstützen diese ihre erwachsenen Kinder, z.B. während der Ausbildung oder bei der Familiengründung. In diesem Beitrag greifen wir aus einer Lebenslaufperspektive folgende Fragen auf: Ist der Austausch zwischen Eltern und ihren Kindern in Europa über die verschiedenen Lebens- und Familienphasen ausbalanciert? Lassen sich Muster direkter oder indirekter Reziprozität finden? Welche Faktoren begünstigen die Unterstützung zwischen den Generationen, und welche stehen ihr im Weg? Anhand von multinomialen Mehrebenenanalysen auf Basis des Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) können zeitliche und finanzielle Transfers zwischen Eltern und erwachsenen Kindern auf Bedürfnis-, Opportunitäts- und Familienstrukturen zurückgeführt werden. Gleichzeitig bestehen deutliche Unterschiede zwischen den Ländern, die durch kulturell-kontextuelle Strukturen, hier: familienpolitische Leistungen, erklärt werden können. Außerdem zeigen die Befunde, dass der Austausch szwischen den Generationen über den Lebenslauf hinweg reziproken Charakter aufweist, auch wenn die gegenseitige Unterstützung in einzelnen Lebensabschnitten nicht immer ausbalanciert ist.AbstractIntergenerational relations are characterised by reciprocal transfers and solidarity over the shared life span. Children care for their elderly parents, and parents support their adult children financially, for example, during their education or when they start their own household and family. From a life course-perspective, we analysed mutual transfers between parents and their adult children: Are transfers balanced over the life course and family-stages? Do we find patterns of direct or indirect reciprocity? Which factors facilitate exchange, and which do not? Using multinomial multilevel regression analyses based on the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) we trace transfers of time and money between parents and adult children back to opportunity, need and family structures. Remaining differences between European countries are explained by cultural contextual structures, here: family expenditures. The exchange between generations is reciprocal, but not necessarily balanced in various phases of family life.Intergenerational relations are characterised by reciprocal transfers and solidarity over the shared life span. Children care for their elderly parents, and parents support their adult children financially, for example, during their education or when they start their own household and family. From a life course-perspective, we analysed mutual transfers between parents and their adult children: Are transfers balanced over the life course and family-stages? Do we find patterns of direct or indirect reciprocity? Which factors facilitate exchange, and which do not? Using multinomial multilevel regression analyses based on the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) we trace transfers of time and money between parents and adult children back to opportunity, need and family structures. Remaining differences between European countries are explained by cultural contextual structures, here: family expenditures. The exchange between generations is reciprocal, but not necessarily balanced in various phases of family life.

Support networks of childless older people: informal and formal support in Europe

ABSTRACT Western societies are ageing rapidly. Today people do not only live longer, they also have fewer children. These developments exert considerable pressure on welfare states. Children have usually been the mainstay of old age support, especially when there is no partner. We thus face new challenges: On which support networks can a growing number of childless older people rely? (How) can the lack of children be compensated in the informal social network? What role does the state play and how is informal and formal support linked? Our comparative analyses of the support networks of childless elders are based on the first two waves of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe, including 14,394 people with (instrumental) activities of daily living limitations aged 50 and over from 12 European countries. On average, 10 per cent of older Europeans today have no children. Sporadic informal support for these elders is often taken over by the extended family, friends and neighbours, and thus the lack of children is compensated within the social network. Intense care tasks, however, are more likely provided by professional providers, especially in the case of childless older people. In countries with low social service provision, childless elders are therefore likely to experience a lack of (formal) support, especially when depending on vital care.

Generationen in Europa: Theoretische Perspektiven und empirische Befunde

Die Beziehungen zwischen Eltern und ihren Kindern gehoren zu den wichtigsten und langlebigsten in der Familie. In seiner Auseinandersetzung mit verschiedenen Definitionen des Begriffs ‚Familie‘ schlagt Schneider (2008, S. 13) vor, diese als „eine exklusive Solidargemeinschaft, die auf relative Dauer angelegt ist“ zu begreifen. Damit wird Familie aus einer Mikroperspektive als sozialer Interaktionsrahmen fur Individuen beschrieben, der seinen exklusiven Charakter durch eine spezifische, in der Regel generationenubergreifende Rollenstruktur (Vater – Mutter – Kind) und die Solidarbeziehungen zwischen den Familienmitgliedern erhalt.

Tracing the Origins of Successful Aging: The Role of Childhood Conditions and Societal Context

This study investigates the role of childhood conditions and societal context in older Europeans’ propensity to age successfully, controlling for later life risk factors. Successful aging was assessed following Rowe and Kahn’s conceptualization, using baseline interviews from the first two waves of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). These data were merged with retrospective life-histories of participants from 13 Continental European countries, collected in 2008-09 as part of the SHARELIFE project. Our sample consists of 22,474 men and women, who are representative of the non-institutionalized population aged 50 or older (mean age: 63.3) in their respective country. Estimating multilevel logistic models, we controlled for demographics (age, sex), childhood conditions (SES, health, cognition), later life risk factors (various dimensions of SES and health behaviors), as well as country-level measures of public social expenditures and social inequality. There is an independent association of childhood living conditions with elders’ odds of aging well. Higher parental SES, better math and reading skills, as well as self-reports of good childhood health were positively associated with successful aging, even if contemporary characteristics were controlled for. Later-life SES and health behaviors exhibited the expected correlations with our dependent variable. Moreover, higher levels of public social expenditures and lower levels of income inequality were associated with a greater probability to meet Rowe and Kahn’s successful aging criterion. We conclude that unfavorable childhood conditions exhibit a harmful influence on individuals’ chances to age well across all European welfare states considered in this study. Policy interventions should thus aim at improving the conditions for successful aging throughout the entire life-course.