Health, anxiety and self-esteem in middle-aged-female caregivers and non caregivers

The aim of this study is to analyse variations in physical health among different groups of women according to their work situation: formal or informal caregivers, women employed outside the home who are not carers, and housewives. Three hundred and eight middle class women, over the age of 46, were chosen to take part in this study. Findings show that informal caregivers reported worse health than workers; there are no differences in health between the two types of carers. There is a significant correlation with a moderate to high effect size between anxiety and physical health (measured according to number of physical complaints) in female caregivers versus non caregivers. Regarding self-esteem, there are significant differences in self-esteem between caregivers and the other two participating groups, with significantly lower levels in the former and high effect sizes. The conclusion is that, in the case of women, care giving seems to have a negative effect on health (measured according to number of physical complaints), regardless of where the specific caring takes place, when compared to other women who are not carers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)