FCRP Policy Statement

The overall proportion of elderly persons in the U.S. living with their adult children has steadily declined. However, due to women living longer and often being widowed or disabled, they are more likely than men to move in with their adult children when they become chronically ill or disabled.

To address this issue, 107 adult daughters who were new to caregiving (those who had begun to care for a family member for the first time during the past month) participated in this study. Changes in their living arrangements were examined for a portion of the study.

Findings

Living Arrangements:

• Of the 107 mothers and daughters, 22% lived together prior to caregiving and an additional 36% moved together following the mother' s, discharge from the hospital. Thus, following the onset of caregiving, 58% of the mothers and daughters lived together.
• Thirty eight percent of the daughters who moved together to care for their mothers had at least one child under 18 years of age.
• Forty two percent of the daughters maintained separate residence during caregiving and, in so doing, assumed responsibility for managing two homes and the care of an elderly mother.

Impact on Employment:

• Sixty two percent of the daughters were employed at the time they commenced caregiving and only 12% had quit work three months later. Working daughters averaged 7.8 missed work days during the first three months of caregiving. Far more frequently they reported being late for work, leaving early, and taking unpaid sick and personal days to provide care. Thus, most adult daughters took on caregiving in addition to parental obligations and work outside the home. For those who left the work force, some retired or took unpaid leaves of absence. Some turned down promotions to more demanding position in order to have more time to care for their mothers.

Policy Implications:

• Women continue to provide care across the generations, resulting in major disruptions in living arrangements and employment. Families want to care for their aging parents and go to great lengths to do sot However, they often cite lack of available respite resources (for relief from the daily workload) as an obstacle to caregiving.
• The strain of these competing demands on multi-generation families can be enormous. In addition, lack of Family Leave Policies make it particularly difficult for daughters to care for their parents.

1. Further research should be conducted to find specific ways of alleviating some of the burden of caregiving while allowing daughters to continue to assist their elderly parents.
2. Information could be made available to daughters about to begin caregiving regarding resources they may utilize.
3. Educational programs could be available to help women learn to balance the competing demands of their new roles in charge of dual households.
4. Counseling should be targeted to encourage women not to make hasty decisions to quit work or move prematurely.
5. Legislatures may need to consider policies that allow for assistance to be targeted to this population which would include employment leaves.
6. In-home services and respite care needs to be Made available during critical times.

This research was supported by Grant 11 RO AG06584, Caregiver Responses to Managing Elderly patients at Home," funded by the National Institute on Aging, C.W. Given and Barbara A. Given, Principal Investigators; and #NR 06658 "Daughter's Commitment to Caregiving for Elderly Mothers," funded by the National Center for Nursing Research, Joanne Pohl, Principal Investigator. Correspondence to Dr. C.W. Given or Joanne Pohl B109 Clinical Center, MSU, College of Human Medicine & Department of Family Practice, East Lansing, MI 48824.