What does this research mean for the field?

Socioeconomic status shapes informal caregiving among mature European women in complex ways, with higher-SES women more likely to provide sporadic and weekly care, while intensive daily care shows no clear gradient and co-residence is more common among lower-SES women. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.INCREMENTAL. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.NEUTRAL.

What question did this study set out to answer?

To examine how socioeconomic status influences the exposure, occurrence, intensity, type, and living arrangements of informal care provided by mature European women to aging parents.

September 3, 2026Research in Social Stratification and MobilityOpen Access

The social stratification of informal caregiving among mature European women. Patterns in caregiving occurrence, intensity and type

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To examine how socioeconomic status influences the exposure, occurrence, intensity, type, and living arrangements of informal care provided by mature European women to aging parents.
Analyzed cross-national survey data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) collected between 2004 and 2022.
Assessed caregiving to parents and parents-in-law across dimensions of frequency (sporadic, weekly, daily), task variety (personal care, household chores, paperwork), and residential co-residence.
Higher-socioeconomic status women are more likely to have surviving parents and, conditional on survival, exhibit higher rates of sporadic and weekly support across personal care, household help, and paperwork.
No clear socioeconomic gradient appears for intensive daily caregiving, while intergenerational co-residence is moderately higher among lower-socioeconomic status women.
Own educational attainment and personal income exhibit stronger associations with care patterns than parental education.

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Implication

Survey analysis reveals socioeconomic gradients in informal caregiving among mature women, indicating that care intensity and type diverge across educational and income levels.

Cite This Study

Zanasi et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a9935d8636c6408cfa7e701 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rssm.2026.101193

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Implication

Survey analysis reveals socioeconomic gradients in informal caregiving among mature women, indicating that care intensity and type diverge across educational and income levels.

The social stratification of informal caregiving among mature European women. Patterns in caregiving occurrence, intensity and type

Key Points

Discussion

Implication

Cite This Study

The social stratification of informal caregiving among mature European women. Patterns in caregiving occurrence, intensity and type

Key Points

Discussion

Implication

Cite This Study

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