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The following was taken from: Colorado State University Education Site
Characteristics of Caregivers:
Gender
National estimates confirm the findings of numerous studies of informal caregivers: caregiving is primarily a female responsibility. (See Figure 1.)
- Approximately 72 percent of caregivers of loved ones who are functionally impaired are female.
- Daughters constitute 29 percent. Sons make up only 8 percent of caregivers, and husbands account for 13 percent of the caregiver population.
- The remainder is composed of daughters- and sons-in-law, grandchildren, siblings, other relatives, friends and other unpaid helpers.
Age
The average age of the informal caregiver population is 57. However, one-quarter is 65 to 74, and another 10 percent is 75 or older. Husbands are by far the oldest caregivers, with 42 percent of them 75 or older. These estimates suggest that the informal care system is composed, in large part, of the "young-old" caring for the "old-old." (See Figure 2.)
Marital Status
In 1991, 77 percent of older men were married and 41 percent of older women were married. Forty eight percent of all older woman were widows compared to 15 percent of older men. Divorced older adults represented 5 percent (1.5 million) of all older people in 1991. (See Figure 3.)
Employment
Employment status is particularly important, not only as a source of income, but because it represents a major competing demand for the attention and energies of the caregiver. Estimates from various studies indicate that between 30 percent and 55 percent of informal caregivers assisting elderly loved ones are employed. Two out of every five daughters and a little over one-half of sons are in the labor force. (See Figure 4.)
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| Figure 3: Marital status of male caregivers by age group. | Figure 4: Percent of caregivers who are employed. |
Economic Status
Approximately one-third of the caregiving population have incomes in the "poor" or "near poor" category. This is particularly true for wives caring for husbands. Compared to their age peers in the general population, male and female caregivers are more likely to report adjusted incomes below the poverty line.
Health Status
One-third of the informal caregiver population reports that their current health status is "fair" or "poor." This percentage represents a much higher proportion than the general population. While it is impossible to draw causal conclusions from these data, one may speculate that the cumulative stress of caregiving can deteriorate the health of a caregiver.
Living Arrangements
The majority of older adults in America are in relatively good health and live independently. At any given point in time, 46 percent of those age 65 or older live with a spouse, and 20 percent live with adult children or other relatives. About 30 percent live alone. Only 5 percent of the population aged 65 or older lives in institutional settings (e.g. nursing homes).
The elderly prefer to live separate from their adult children, near but not with them. This phenomenon is referred to as "intimacy at a distance."
Although the figures above describe living arrangements for a cross-section of the older population at one point in time, they are not accurate estimates of the number and proportion of older adults who eventually end up living with the caregiver. In fact, these data probably underestimate both the number and percentage of all people 65 and over who at some time in the course of their lives are cared for in the home of the caregiver.
National estimates of people caring for very impaired older individuals indicate that a shared living arrangement is the prevalent pattern when the elderly loved one is functionally dependent. Close to 75 percent of all caregivers live with the care recipient. Sixty-one percent of both caregiving daughters and sons report sharing households with an aged parent.
Approximately one-quarter of caregivers do not live with the care recipient. Many of these caregivers face the special challenge of "long-distance" caregiving.
