Arbeitsbereich
Bevölkerungsdynamik und Nachhaltiges Wohlbefinden
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Projekt
Informelle Pflegezeit: Transfers zwischen den Generationen nach Kontext und soziodemographischen Merkmalen
Daniela Veronica Negraia, Emilio Zagheni, Risto Conte Keivabu; in Zusammenarbeit mit Denys Dukhovnov (University of California, Berkeley, Vereinigte Staaten)
Ausführliche Beschreibung
This project seeks to document the direction and volume of nonmonetary resource flows between generations, genders, and population subgroups. Informal care time is a prevalent form of nonmarket transaction that impacts macroeconomic development, the financial potential of families and households, and individual well-being.
Transfers of informal care time are an understudied component of national and subnational resource flows, with repercussions for the functioning of economic support systems. These transfers are mostly associated with the unpaid time caregivers spend providing physical help or other unpaid assistance to co-residing family members. However, some nonmonetary care transfers are more distant or atypical relationship transactions, or they are simultaneous/multi-directional in nature. The first aim of this project is to factor in all kinds of informal care in order to produce more accurate population-level estimates and projections of dependency and potential support. The second aim is to evaluate the social and individual impact of the production and consumption of nonmonetary resources.
In one study, we found substantial differences among unpaid caregivers based on their gender (women versus men), both within and outside the caregivers’ households. Our results showed that, on average, women spend substantially more time than men on informal care activities within the household and beyond. With changes in societal norms regarding women’s involvement in the labor force and men’s involvement in child care and household production, we expect this gender gap to shrink in the future.
In another study, we tested whether the gap in time spent on childcare between mothers and fathers narrows or closes during weekends, when fathers – who, on average, work more hours for pay than mothers – should have substantially more time available to spend with their children than they do during the work week. To test this question, we used time diary data from the American Time Use Survey (2003–2018). Preliminary results showed that the gender gap in time spent with children persists during weekends: Fathers were found to spend less time with their children during weekends than mothers, and this pattern was observed across the eight key activities we tested.
Further studies explored the interdependence of the formal and informal care support mechanisms and the impact of the intensity and prevalence of transfers on caregivers’ well-being. Notably, we found that childcare is regarded by caregivers as a predominantly positive experience, even though it is physically tiring. However, our results also indicated that adult care is largely seen as an unavoidable necessity or obligation in later life that induces higher levels of negative emotions such as pain and stress, and places additional psychological burdens on family caregivers.
Average Daily Care Transfer Patterns in the U.S.
Average daily care transfer matrices by age and sex of caregivers and care recipients in the caregiver-only subset of the ATUS 2011-2013 sample. © Dukhovnov et al. (2022)
intergenerationelle Beziehungen, Wirtschaft, Erwerbstätigkeit, Ruhestand
Publikationen
Dukhovnov, D.; Ryan, J.; Zagheni, E.:
Population Research and Policy Review 41:6, 2419–2446. (2022)
Negraia, D. V.; Yavorsky, J. E.; Dukhovnov, D.:
Journal of Marriage and Family 83:3, 820–844. (2021)
Dukhovnov, D.; Ryan, J.; Zagheni, E.:
MPIDR Working Paper WP-2020-022. (2020)
Dukhovnov, D.; Zagheni, E.:
Vienna Yearbook of Population Research 17, 163–197. (2019)