A Summary Brief on Canadians Living with Elderly Parents

Written By Mental Health Research Canada

This research brief examines the self-rated levels of depression and anxiety of Canadians who are living with elderly parents in a caretaking capacity. To obtain this information, we compared the self-rated levels of anxiety and depression pre-COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 for those who are living solely with an elderly parent/parents or those who are living with a combination of spouse/child(ren) as well as at least one elderly parent.

  • There’s a major increase in high levels of anxiety within Canadians aged 34-54 living with elderly parents, from 9% pre-COVID-19 to 31% post-COVID-19. In comparison, 7% of those in the same age group not living with parents reported high levels of anxiety pre-pandemic, with an increase to 26% post-pandemic.

  • In comparing self-rated levels of depression in the same age group (35-54) of those living with elderly parents versus those who are not, those living with elderly parents increased from 10% to nearly 25% and those not living with parents increased from 7% to 16%, marking a correlation between living with an elderly parent and heightened levels of high-rated depression during COVID-19 for this age group.

Mental Health Research Canada https://www.mhrc.ca
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