Life course partnership and employment trajectories and parental caregiving at age 55: prospective findings from a British Birth Cohort Study

Abstract

We investigate whether work and partnership life courses between ages 16 and 54 predict the likelihood of providing care to a parent or parent-in-law at age 55, and whether these associations differ by gender or early life socio-economic circumstances. In the National Child Development Study (NCDS), fully adjusted models showed that strong life course ties to marriage were linked with a greater likelihood to provide parental care for both men and women. The longer women spent in part-time employment the more likely they were to provide care to a parent, while stronger life course ties to full-time employment were linked with a greater likelihood of providing care to a parent for men. The importance of part-time employment among women and long-term marriage for both men and women for uptake of parental care may imply a reduced pool of potential informal caregivers among subsequent generations for whom women have much stronger life course labour-market ties and life course partnerships have become more diverse.