Social roles as process: caregiving careers and women's health

Is involvement in multiple roles beneficial for women's health or do the often noted health benefits of multiple roles reflect an ongoing process of role management? We address this question by looking at two roles, caregiving and employment, and by investigating changes in women's health as they move into and out of both roles. We examine changes in physical health limitations and psychological distress over a two-year period with data from a nationally representative sample of 2,929 late-midlife women. Looking first at health changes associated with caregiving, we find that psychological distress increases as women move into and continue caring for an ill or disabled person in their household. Caregiving has a weaker effect on physical health, but increases in physical limitations prompt exists from caregiving. Increases in physical limitations also appear to be greater for non-employed women, but some or all of this difference reflects selection out of the labor force for women having difficulty combining both roles. Our findings provide further evidence that care work has implications for women's health, while also suggesting a need for further attention to the ways that women actively manage problematic role combinations.