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; health inequalities; long-term care; migrant health; panel analysis.