Irish mothers who saw their adult children emigrate during the recession experienced a decline in their mental health, a new report has shown.

Some 36,000 people emigrated from Ireland between 2005 and 2006. However by 2009, this figure had jumped to 72,000 and in 2013, it peaked at 89,000.

This latest report by The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA), which is an ongoing study of people over the age of 50, has found that the mental health of mothers was negatively impacted by their adult children's emigration.

These mothers experienced increased depressive symptoms and more loneliness than mothers whose children did not emigrate.

With the exception of those over the age of 65, fathers did not appear to experience the same decline in mental health following the emigration of their children.

According to one of the study's authors, Dr Irene Mosca, of Trinity College Dublin, emigration is often discussed ‘in terms of the people who leave', however this study shows that there are ‘real impacts on the people left behind'.

"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 wellbeing of mothers in particular," she noted.

The research took into account other factors which could have affected the mental health of the study's participants, such as becoming a widow, the loss of close friends, retirement and disability.

"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," Dr Mosca said.

Meanwhile according to the study's other author, Prof Alan Barrett of the ESRI (Economic and Social Research Institute), while it is widely acknowledged that the recession has impacted directly on younger generations as a result of issues such as unemployment and problems paying mortgages, this study suggests that ‘we need to be more aware of the pressures which older people have faced through emigration'.

"To the extent that mental health difficulties can lead to subsequent physical health difficulties, there are public health implications from the large-scale exodus from Ireland in recent years," he insisted.

He added that if some people anticipated that their emigration could negatively affect the mental health of their parents, ‘they may decide against going'.

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