Doubling up: A gift or a shame? Intergenerational households and parental depression of older Europeans

Luis Aranda

Social Science & Medicine, 2015, vol. 134, issue C, 12-22

Abstract: The Great Recession has brought along a rearrangement of living patterns both in the U.S. and in Europe. This study seeks to identify the consequences of a change in intergenerational coresidence on the depression level of the elderly. Using data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) and a difference-in-difference propensity score matching approach, this study finds robust evidence of a positive effect of coresidence on the mental health of the older generation in those European countries historically marked by a Catholic tradition. In contrast with previous literature, the present program evaluation setup accounts for non-random selection bias and heterogeneous treatment effects. Though heterogeneous across Europe, the results highlight that, in a time marked by increasing demographic aging, intergenerational living arrangements can lead to significant improvements in the quality of life of older individuals.

Keywords: Europe; Doubling up; Mental health; Aging; DID; Matching; Wellbeing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:socmed:v:134:y:2015:i:c:p:12-22

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DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.03.056

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