Relationships Among Caregiving, Income, Gender, and Health: A Cross-Sectional Examination of a Representative Sample of Older Americans

What is it about?

Using the nationally representative National Social life, Health, & Aging Project database, we examined whether individuals who are caring for another adult are more or less likely than their non-caregiving counterparts to go to the doctor and get screening tests as recommended by national guidelines, and whether they were more likely to have depression, anxiety, loneliness, or stress. We found that gender and income had stronger relationships with negative outcomes than caregiving did.

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Why is it important?

In an environment where we have more need than available resources, it is important to realize that negative outcomes should not be assumed just because someone is caregiving for another adult. More complex assessment is needed to understand what the actual needs and barriers to care may be for a family, in order to more efficiently target intervention. Being female and having less than $50,000 annual income in the household substantially upped the risk among caregivers.