Doubling up: A gift or a shame? Intergenerational households and parental depression of older Europeans

Abstract

The Great Recession has brought along a rearrangement of living patterns both in the U.S. and in Europe. This study seeks to identify the consequences of a change in intergenerational coresidence on the depression level of the elderly. Using data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) and a difference-in-difference propensity score matching approach, this study finds robust evidence of a positive effect of coresidence on the mental health of the older generation in those European countries historically marked by a Catholic tradition. In contrast with previous literature, the present program evaluation setup accounts for non-random selection bias and heterogeneous treatment effects. Though heterogeneous across Europe, the results highlight that, in a time marked by increasing demographic aging, intergenerational living arrangements can lead to significant improvements in the quality of life of older individuals.