Gender Differences in Caregiving for Older Parents

1
Gender Differences in Caregiving for Older
Parents

• Presentation at
• The 55th Annual Meeting for
• The Gerontological Society of America, Boston, MA
• November of 2002

2
Presentation

• Introduction
• Aging population and changing family structures
• Cultures about caring older parents in Korea
• Theoretical Framework
• Feminist Perspective
• Literature Review
• Gender differences in caregiving
• Research Methods
• Results
• Implications

3
Korean Older Adults

• Most vulnerable, traumatic, sacrificing, but
  resilient generation (World War I II /
  Japanese Ruling period / Korean War)
• Proportion 12.5 (6.333 mil., 2020)
• Dependency ratio 9.4 (2000), 17.5 (2020)
• Living arrangements
• 12 living alone, 29 living with spouse
• 54 living with children, 5 others.

4
Cultural Influences in Caregivng

• Korean
• Interdependence
• Son daughter in-laws
• Informal family supports
• Lower gratitude (strongly expected social
  obligation)

• Western Culture
• Individualistic view
• Wives and daughters
• A variety of options to use formal services
• Higher gratitude

5
Woman as Caregivers (1)

• Gender-divided social values are still persistent
  
• To accommodate care responsibilities, women
• more likely to move in and out of the workforce
• modify their work schedules or give up employment
• forgo promotion or career development
  opportunities
• Costly to the caregivers and their families and
  even employees

6
Women as Caregivers (2)

• Social policies and practice intervention have
  defined the problems faced by women as personal
  or private concerns.
• Women experience more burden, stress, lower life
  satisfaction, and depression than men as a result
  of their adult responsibilities. (e.g.,Yee and
  Schulz, 2000)

7
Needs for Research

• Relying on old tradition of women as family
  caregiver does not seem to work today
• Needs for a collective response for enhancing the
  quality of life of both the caregivers and care
  recipients
• Eliminate gender-based inequalities in caregiving
  and provision of caregiver choice

8
Research Questions

• Is gender difference associated with
  socio-economic status ?
• Is gender difference associated with use of
  formal and informal support ?
• Is gender difference associated with life
  distress level?
• Is gender difference associated with attitude
  toward long term care provision for older
  parents?
• Is gender difference associated with caregiving
  burden ?

9
Research Methods (1)

• Sample
• A cross-sectional study (August, 2001)
• Married and employed Korean adult from two
  business companies
• 417 subjects selected from a total of 925 survey

10
Research Methods (2)

• Measures
• Socio-demographic information
• Use of formal services - 5 possible programs
• Family Support Scale (FSS) - 10 items
• Life Distress Scale (LDS) - 7 areas (e.g.,child
  education, elder care, personal/family health)
• Attitude Toward the Provision of Long-term Care
  (LTC) - 16 items
• Zarit Burden Interview (K-ZBI) - 22 items
• Marital Happiness (MHP) - 10 items

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Results (1)

• Variables Male (N244) Female (N174)
• Age
• 30 and below 4.5 8.1
• 30-39 39.3 50.9
• 40-49 44.7 37.6
• 50-59 10.7 2.9
• 60 and over .8 .6
• Income (Family)
• Below 19,999 19.2 19.7
• 20,000 39,999 56.2 46.9
• 40,000 59,999 16.4 27.7
• Over 60,000 8.2 5.7
• Education
• Under HS 35.3 53.2
• 2-Year college 11.5 13.3
• 4-Year college 41.4 31.2
• Graduate school 11.9 2.3
• Primary caregiver
• Yes My parent 34.4 9.2

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Results (2)

• Female Male
• Variables Range Mean (SD) Mean (SD) F
  P-value
• FSS 0-55 13.2 (11.2) 15.5(11.8) 4.12
  .043
• LDS 0-35 19.8 (4.9) 18.7 (4.7) 4.90
  .027
• MHP 0-55 33.1 (7.2)
  35.0 (7.4) 6.83 .009
• ZBI 0-88 34.6 (13.3)
  27.9 (13.9) 38.62 .000
• LTC 0-90 47.8 (10.4)
  45.2 (10.6) 23.49 .000
• 
  
• FSS - Family Social Support (alpha .85)
• MHP - Marital Happiness (alpha .80)
• LDS - Life Distress Scale (7 single items)
• ZBI - Zarit Burden Interview (alpha .92)
• LTC - Attitude toward Long term care provision
  (alpha .82)

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Results (3)

• Correlations among Outcome Variables
• 1 2 3 4 5
• LDS - . 066 -.252 .135
  .313
• FSS - .032 .027 -.144
• MHP - -.146 - .137
• LTC - .389
• ZBI -
•   p lt.05 LDS Life Distress
• p lt .01 FSS Family Social Support
• p lt .001 MHPMarital Happiness
• LTC Attitude Toward Long Term Care
• ZBI Zarit Burden Interview

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Results (4)

• Use of Formal Services ()
• Program Current Use Not Usable
• Male Female Male Female
• Information/education 25.3 17.9 19.3 10.4
• Professional consultation 15.5 12.3 18.4 15.6
• Support groups 18.5 12.2 20.5 20.8
• Short-term respite care 11.8 10.4 34.0 23.1
• Long-term care 13.9 10.4 31.6 21.4
• _________________________________

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Results (5)

• Gender Differences of Personal Life Distress
  Level
• Distress Area Men Female F P-value
• Self-health 2.52 2.77 6.031 .014
• Family health 2.59 2.82 6.146 .013
• Child care 2.73 3.11 11.604 .013
• Elder care 2.29 2.48 3.897 .098
• Family finance 2.85 2.94 .880 .349
• Job security 3.17 2.93 6.351 .017
• Family relation 2.44 2.75 9.896 .002

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Results (6)

• Model Predicting Caregiving Burden
• Model R² F Change Sig F-Change
• 1 Life Distress .100 45.432 .000
• 2 Family Support .115 6.993 .008
• 3 Attitude (LTC) .237 65.790 .000
• 4 Gender .254 8.959 .003
• 5 Primary Caregiver .262 4.489 .035
• 6 Parents health .270 4.635 .032
• 7 Parentsdependancy.315 26.469 .000
• ------------------Stepwise Multiple
  Regression--------------------

17
Conclusions

• Women reported to have more negative attitude
  toward long-term care provision than men
• Women reported to feel more burden when they are
  primary caregivers for their in-law parents
• Women wished to use more formal programs than men

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Discussion

• Equal responsibilities in caregiving for aging
  parents
• Societal appreciation for womens unique
  contributions in caregiving
• Expanded formal services and programs for frail
  older parents
• Not out of duty, but out of love