The Relation Between Multiple Informal Caregiving Roles and Subjective Physical and Mental Health Status Among Older Adults: Do Racial/Ethnic Differences Exist?
- Authors
- Kim, Giyeon; Allen, R.S.; Wang, S.Y.; Park, S.; Perkins, E.A.; Parmelee, P.
- Issue Date
- Jun-2019
- Publisher
- NLM (Medline)
- Keywords
- Caregiver health; Caregiving; Multiple Caregiving Roles; Race/ethnicity
- Citation
- The Gerontologist, v.59, no.3, pp 499 - 508
- Pages
- 10
- Journal Title
- The Gerontologist
- Volume
- 59
- Number
- 3
- Start Page
- 499
- End Page
- 508
- URI
- https://scholarworks.bwise.kr/cau/handle/2019.sw.cau/26458
- DOI
- 10.1093/geront/gnx196
- ISSN
- 1758-5341
1758-5341
- Abstract
- PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: The present study examined whether race/ethnicity moderated the relation between type of caregiving role (none, one, or multiple care recipients) and subjective physical and mental health among older adults. DESIGN AND METHODS: The sample was drawn from the 2009 California Health Interview Survey. Racially/ethnically diverse adults aged 55 and older (n = 24,241) were categorized into 3 groups by caregiving roles: noncaregivers (n = 18,626; referent), caregivers with a single caregiving role (n = 4,023), and caregivers with multiple caregiving roles (n = 1,772). A 2-way analysis of covariance was conducted to test main and interaction effects. RESULTS: After adjustment for covariates, noncaregivers reported significantly worse self-rated health and lower psychological distress than caregivers with any type of role. The interaction between race/ethnicity and caregiving roles was significant only for self-rated health (p < .05). Blacks with multiple caregiving roles had poorer self-rated health than those with a single caregiving role and better self-rated health than noncaregivers, whereas other racial/ethnic groups with multiple caregiving roles had better self-rated health compared to both noncaregivers and those with a single caregiving role. Our sensitivity analysis showed that controlling caregiving-related variables present only among caregivers eliminated the differences in self-rated health between the two types of caregivers. IMPLICATIONS: Findings suggest that caregivers report better self-rated health than noncaregivers and that the relation of multiple caregiving roles with self-rated health differs by race/ethnicity, with blacks differing from other racial/ethnic groups. This implies that caregivers experience gain, or are selected into the role of caregiving by virtue of having good health. © The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.
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Collections - College of Social Sciences > Department of Psychology > 1. Journal Articles
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