History of Care Work and Labor Market Participation as Determinants of Depressive Symptoms in Older Adults in Mexico

Olinca Páez, Inegi

Objective: To analyze whether gender inequalities in the persistence of depressive symptoms in adults are associated with social patterns of time use experienced during the life course. Material and methods: An indicator of persistence of high depressive symptomatology (PHDS) is calculated for 9428 persons using data from three waves of the Mexican Health and Aging Study. Then, it is used in multivariate logistic regression models to estimate its association with care work and labor market participation. Results: The persistence of symptoms occurs in 16 % of women and 5 % of men and it is related to a history of single parenting and illness care. Conclusion: It is necessary to focus attention on the mental health of those who assumed the responsibility of raising their children in single-parent homes, and to develop compensatory measures to reduce the economic and emotional burden of women who face caregiving tasks alone.

Keywords: Health and Morbidity, Gender Dynamics, Longitudinal studies , Inequality, Disadvantage and Discrimination

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