Independent variables

As explanatory variables in this study, we used socioeconomic factors as follows: age in years, sex (women; men), living situation (living with partner or spouse; others (living alone; living with other family members; living with other individuals), region (West Germany; East Germany), education (without a vocational degree; apprenticeship, full-time vocational school; professional school or trade and technical school for vocational education; University, school of engineering), place of birth (born in Germany; born abroad), having children (yes; no), status of health insurance (statutory health insurance; private health insurance). In addition, it was assessed whether the respondent provided informal care for family or friends (yes; no).

Furthermore, the current need of care was quantified by recording the level of care according to the German long-term care insurance: In order to claim for benefits of the long-term care insurance, individuals must need daily a minimum of 90 min of assistance with basic (instrumental) activities of daily living. Depending on the extent of care required, recipients are categorised into 3 levels after an assessment by a nurse or a physician of the medical service of the German statutory health insurance system. Need of care was dichotomized (0 = no level of care; 1 = level 1 to 3).

Subjective health was measured by using self-rated health, ranging from 1 (“very bad”) to 5 (“very good”). Moreover, the involvement in the issue of need for care (“How much have you thought about the issue of ‘need for care’”) was assessed by using a 5-point Likert scale (from 1 = “very little” to 5 = “very much”).