Supporting Family Caregivers in STEMM: A Call to Action (2024)
Chapter: Appendix C: Methodology for Selecting Causal Analyses of the Economic Impact of Caregiving
Appendix C
Methodology for Selecting Causal Analyses of the Economic Impact of Caregiving
The literature review, titled “The Economic Impact of Family Caregiving for Women in Academic STEMM: Driving an Evidence-Based Policy Approach,”1 was conducted from May 1, 2023, to July 14, 2023, using Google Scholar (papers considered from 2000 onward), papers recommended by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine committee, past evidence syntheses, book chapters on older adult caregiving (co-authored by the team), and conference or working papers identified via abstracts sourced across multiple professional associations over the last 5 years (Allied Social Sciences Association, Population Association of America, American Society of Health Economists, National Bureau of Economic Research, and Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management). Citations located within identified papers were also considered, particularly those sourced from review articles and the most recent literature, including papers emerging post-COVID-19. U.S. studies were first considered due to the context of the U.S. social safety net (e.g., no universal paid sick leave or universal maternity leave, little collective bargaining, privately paid childcare as the norm), as well as international studies. This review focused on work and thriving at work outcomes, shown in Table C-1.
Search terms were used to identify literature regarding older and disabled adult family caregiving (terms: informal car*, family caregiv*, unpaid care*, carer, and work outcomes [see Table C-1]) and child family caregiving
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1 The full review is available at https://nap.nationalacademies.org/resource/27416.
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(terms: parent*, mother*, father*, having child*, new mother*, birth, parenthood penalty, motherhood penalty, gender disparity, gender gap, and work outcomes [see Table C-1]). Parenthood literature was not limited by the age of children in the home, but instead focused on dependent minor children or disabled adult children in the home. Where possible, child and older or disabled adult caregiving are distinguished and the findings are integrated based on the preponderance of the evidence.
A focus was given to causal studies where possible; causal methods are crucial because mothers may self-select into different occupations and fields where “non-pecuniary benefits related to motherhood are larger” (Simonsen and Skipper, 2006). Causal studies considered as part of this review included laboratory, audit, and quasi-experimental studies. Parenthood timing is also often a choice and depends on many unobserved and observed factors. Nonrandom selection of caregivers for adults may arise in several ways, including the choice of an older adult sibling to enter into caregiving based on the opportunity and time cost for each sibling, comparatively. Identified high-quality studies are noted, such as those presenting longitudinal data or contributing unique data, but that are correlational. Noncausal studies that may produce correlations are stated as such.
REFERENCE
Simonsen, M., & Skipper, L. 2006. The costs of motherhood: An analysis using matching estimators. Journal of Applied Econometrics, 21(7), 919-934. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25146477
