IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/geronb/v72y2017i3p510-521..html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Unequal Inequalities: The Stratification of the Use of Formal Care Among Older Europeans

Author

Listed:
  • Marco Albertini
  • Emmanuele Pavolini

Abstract

Objectives:The general aim of the article is to incorporate the stratification perspective into the study of (long-term) care systems. In particular, 3 issues are investigated: the extents to which (a) personal and family resources influence the likelihood of using formal care in later life; (b) the unequal access to formal care is mediated by differences in the availability of informal support; (c) the relationship between individuals’ resources and the use of formal care in old age varies across care regimes and is related to the institutional design of long-term care policies.Method:Data from Waves 1 and 2 of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe for 4 countries: Denmark, Germany, France, and Italy, and population aged at least 65 (N = 9,824) were used. Population-averaged logit models were used.Results:Logit models revealed that in terms of access to formal care: an individual’s educational level plays a limited role; family networks function similarly across the countries studied; in general, financial wealth does not have a significant effect; there is a positive relation between income and the use of formal care in Germany and Italy, and no significant relation in France and Denmark; home ownership has a negative effect in Germany and Denmark. On accounting for informal care, inequality associated with individuals’ economic resources remains substantially unaltered.Discussion:The study shows that care systems based on services provision grant higher access to formal care and create lower inequalities. Moreover, countries where cash-for-care programs and family responsibilities are more important register inequalities in the use of formal care. Access to informal care does not mediate the distribution of formal care.

Suggested Citation

  • Marco Albertini & Emmanuele Pavolini, 2017. "Unequal Inequalities: The Stratification of the Use of Formal Care Among Older Europeans," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 72(3), pages 510-521.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:geronb:v:72:y:2017:i:3:p:510-521.
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/geronb/gbv038
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Annamaria Simonazzi, 2009. "Care regimes and national employment models," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 33(2), pages 211-232, March.
    2. Esping-Andersen, Gosta, 1999. "Social Foundations of Postindustrial Economies," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198742005.
    3. Theobald, Hildegard, 2005. "Social exclusion and care for the elderly: Theoretical concepts and changing realities in European welfare states," Discussion Papers, Research Group Public Health SP I 2005-301, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    4. Gaétan Lafortune & Gaëlle Balestat, 2007. "Trends in Severe Disability Among Elderly People: Assessing the Evidence in 12 OECD Countries and the Future Implications," OECD Health Working Papers 26, OECD Publishing.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ginevra Floridi & Ludovico Carrino & Karen Glaser & Candace Kemp, 2021. "Socioeconomic Inequalities in Home-Care Use Across Regional Long-term Care Systems in Europe [Demography of informal caregiving]," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 76(1), pages 121-132.
    2. Inés Calzada & Virginia Páez & Rafael Martínez-Cassinello & Andrea Hervás, 2023. "The Best Welfare Deal: Retirement Migrants as Welfare Maximizers," Societies, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-18, April.
    3. Erwin Stolz & Hannes Mayerl & Éva Rásky & Wolfgang Freidl, 2019. "Individual and country-level determinants of nursing home admission in the last year of life in Europe," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(3), pages 1-10, March.
    4. Maria Gabriella Melchiorre & Sabrina Quattrini & Giovanni Lamura & Marco Socci, 2022. "Role and Characteristics of Personal Care Assistants of Frail Older People with Functional Limitations Ageing in Place in Italy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(7), pages 1-25, March.
    5. Maria Gabriella Melchiorre & Sabrina Quattrini & Giovanni Lamura & Marco Socci, 2021. "A Mixed-Methods Analysis of Care Arrangements of Older People with Limited Physical Abilities Living Alone in Italy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(24), pages 1-35, December.
    6. Javier Lera & Marta Pascual-Sáez & David Cantarero-Prieto, 2020. "Socioeconomic Inequality in the Use of Long-Term Care among European Older Adults: An Empirical Approach Using the SHARE Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(1), pages 1-14, December.
    7. Albuquerque, Paula C., 2022. "Met or unmet need for long-term care: Formal and informal care in southern Europe," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 23(C).
    8. Nekehia T. Quashie & Melanie Wagner & Ellen Verbakel & Christian Deindl, 2022. "Socioeconomic differences in informal caregiving in Europe," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 621-632, September.
    9. Georgia Casanova & Mirian Fernández-Salido & Carolina Moreno-Castro, 2023. "The Risk of Household Socioeconomic Deprivation Related to Older Long-Term Care Needs: A Qualitative Exploratory Study in Italy and Spain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-15, October.
    10. Ricardo Rodrigues & Stefania Ilinca & Maša Filipovič Hrast & Andrej Srakar & Valentina Hlebec, 2022. "Care Task Division in Familialistic Care Regimes: A Comparative Analysis of Gender and Socio-Economic Inequalities in Austria and Slovenia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-18, August.
    11. Maja Matanic Vautmans & Marijana Oreb & Sasa Drezgic, 2023. "Socioeconomic inequality in the use of long-term care for the elderly in Europe," Public Sector Economics, Institute of Public Finance, vol. 47(2), pages 149-176.
    12. Changyong Yang & Jianyuan Huang & Jiahao Yu, 2023. "Inequalities in Resource Distribution and Healthcare Service Utilization of Long-Term Care in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-17, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Albertini,Marco, 2016. "Ageing and family solidarity in Europe : patterns and driving factors of intergenerational support," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7678, The World Bank.
    2. Rie Miyazaki, 2019. "Migrant care workers and care-migration policies: a comparison between Italy and Japan," Asia Europe Journal, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 161-177, June.
    3. Kotsadam, Andreas, 2009. "Effects of informal eldercare on female labor supply in different European welfare states," Working Papers in Economics 353, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    4. Elisa Labbas & Maria Stanfors, 2023. "Does Caring for Parents Take Its Toll? Gender Differences in Caregiving Intensity, Coresidence, and Psychological Well-Being Across Europe," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 39(1), pages 1-29, December.
    5. Karen Christensen & Shereen Hussein & Mohamed Ismail, 2017. "Migrants’ decision-process shaping work destination choice: the case of long-term care work in the United Kingdom and Norway," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 14(3), pages 219-232, September.
    6. Ngai, L. Rachel & Pissarides, Christopher A., 2009. "Welfare policy and the distribution of hours of work," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 28698, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. Sam Hickey & Tom Lavers & Miguel Niño-Zarazúa & Jeremy Seekings, 2018. "The negotiated politics of social protection in sub-Saharan Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2018-34, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    8. Frances McGinnity & Emma Calvert, 2008. "Yuppie Kvetch? Work-life Conflict and Social Class in Western Europe," Papers WP239, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    9. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/8807 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Erik Stam & Roy Thurik & Peter van der Zwan, 2010. "Entrepreneurial exit in real and imagined markets," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 19(4), pages 1109-1139, August.
    11. Seán Ó Riain & Amy Erbe Healy, 2024. "Workplace regimes in Western Europe, 1995–2015: Implications for intensification, intrusion, income and insecurity," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 45(2), pages 415-446, May.
    12. Mahmud Rice, James & Goodin, Robert E. & Parpo, Antti, 2006. "The Temporal Welfare State: A Crossnational Comparison," Journal of Public Policy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 26(3), pages 195-228, December.
    13. Spies-Butcher, Ben & Bryant, Gareth, 2024. "The history and future of the tax state: Possibilities for a new fiscal politics beyond neoliberalism," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    14. Simone Schneider, 2012. "Income Inequality and its Consequences for Life Satisfaction: What Role do Social Cognitions Play?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 106(3), pages 419-438, May.
    15. Anna Baranowska-Rataj & Anna Matysiak, 2016. "The Causal Effects of the Number of Children on Female Employment - Do European Institutional and Gender Conditions Matter?," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 37(3), pages 343-367, September.
    16. Anna Garriga & Sebastià Sarasa & Paolo Berta, 2015. "Mother’s educational level and single motherhood: Comparing Spain and Italy," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 33(42), pages 1165-1210.
    17. Thomas Leoni & Margit Schratzenstaller, 2020. "Senkung der Lohnnebenkosten und Finanzierungsvarianten. Bisherige Erkenntnisse und internationale Reformbeispiele," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 66851.
    18. Randy Albelda & Diana Salas Coronado, 2014. "Expanding Women's Healthcare Access in the United States: The Patchwork “Universalism†of the Affordable Care Act," Working Papers 2014_02, University of Massachusetts Boston, Economics Department.
    19. Clemens Tesch-Römer & Andreas Motel-Klingebiel & Martin Tomasik, 2008. "Gender Differences in Subjective Well-Being: Comparing Societies with Respect to Gender Equality," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 85(2), pages 329-349, January.
    20. Chris Wilson, 2013. "Thinking about post-transitional demographic regimes," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 28(46), pages 1373-1388.
    21. Christina Behrendt, 2000. "Holes in the Safety Net? Social Security and the Alleviation of Poverty in a Comparative Perspective," LIS Working papers 259, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:oup:geronb:v:72:y:2017:i:3:p:510-521.. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Oxford University Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://academic.oup.com/psychsocgerontology .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.