Emigration is more likely to cause depression in parents than other major events, such as their children becoming divorced, widowed or unemployed.
A new report from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) also finds that mothers of emigrants are more likely than fathers to suffer from depression as a result of their children emigrating.
The study shows that the mental health of mothers of children who emigrated during the recession suffered more than that of mothers whose children had not left Ireland.
Fathers over the age of 65 suffered similarly from depression following a child’s emigration, but at lower ages fathers did not suffer at the same level as mothers.
In 2006 36,000 people emigrated from Ireland. By the time the study began collecting data, in 2009, that number had doubled. Emigration peaked in 2013 when 89,000 people left the country. As a result, the TILDA researchers found that a lot of those people who responded to their survey had seen their children emigrate.
Respondents to the study were asked a series of questions relating to symptoms of depression, their self-rated mental and emotional health, and feelings of loneliness. The results from parents whose children had emigrated were then compared with those of parents whose children remained in Ireland.
The study found that despite the negative effect on people over 50 in financial terms, this had not negatively affected the mental health and well-being of this age group.
It was data from Mexico, compiled over the first few years of this decade, that led the researchers to question if there might be another factor that would put a strain on the over 50s in Ireland.
The Mexican study found that emigration left behind a less visible effect in the form of loneliness and depression for the parents of emigrated children, and so the Irish researchers decided to explore this angle. With this thesis in mind the research found that previous studies, which found little or no negative effect on the mental health of Ireland’s over 50s as a result of the recession, had missed the emigration element of mental health in Ireland’s older age groups.
Speaking about the significance of these findings, one the study’s authors Dr Irene Mosca, TILDA Research Fellow in Economics at Trinity Dr Mosca said: “Earlier studies on the impact of the recession in Ireland suggested that older people had been relatively insulated from many of the negative effects of the recession.
“Our report, however, shows a channel through which the recession has significantly affected the mental health and well-being of mothers in particular.
“Emigration is often discussed in terms of the people who leave, but our study shows that there are also real impacts on the people left behind.”
The study not only found that parents of emigrants were more prone to be depressed, they also found that parents of emigrating children were likely to be younger, better educated and, in the early stages of the study had had better mental and physical health.
Dr Mosca continued: “It is particularly striking that our research did not find evidence that other major events affecting the adult children of these parents such as the child becoming unemployed, divorced, separated or widowed had an impact on the mental health of the parent, whereas emigration negatively affected mothers as measured by symptoms of depression, loneliness and self-reported emotional/mental health.
“This gives some indication as to the extent of that negative mental health impact on mothers relative to other major life changes for their adult children.”
Discussing the implications of these findings, Professor Alan Barrett, Research Professor at the ESRI and TILDA, and author of the study said: “The recession has impacted directly on the younger generation in terms of unemployment and mortgage default and so much of the discussion of recession-related health impacts have focussed on younger people. Our study suggests that we need to be more aware of the pressures which older people have faced through emigration.”
Prof Barrett suggests that these findings might make us see emigration as more of a family level decision process, and one that affects others than just the emigrant.
“This study strengthens the view that emigration can be a family-level decision process as opposed to a purely individual-level choice, as if people anticipate that their emigration could have a negative effect on the mental health of their parents, they may decide against going,” he said.
