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Race and Income Impact on Older Adult Caregivers
Jasmine Spearman
Ithaca College

Race and Income impact on Older Adult Caregivers

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Race and income are two of the differences that divide the individuals in our society.
People may observe that these categories aren’t great predictors for individual’s lifestyle,
but these two differences among cultures seem to be factors that affect the caregivers of
older adults. There are many factors that play a role in caregiving, such as education, age,
geographic location, resources (outside of income), and many more. However, this paper
will focus on race and income as the primary differences impacting caregiving.
Caregivers are the ones who tend to the needs of older adults, they make their healthcare
appointments, advocate for their needs. It is important to realize the importance of
caregivers and their overall health and what contributes to that, which is the primary
reason for this research
Taking care of an older adult can be an additional stressor that is added onto ongoing
life situations, and having limitations makes it more challenging. Having a caregiver with
all of the resources, without any limiting factors is ideal but it usually doesn’t end up that
way. Taking into account that there are some older adults with disabilities, increasing the
caregiver’s responsibilities to twice as much as a caregiver taking care of an older adult
without any health issues. To decrease the burden on caregivers, carefully analyzing the
differences among the caregiving population is necessary which brings me to the effects
of income.
The value of unpaid family caregivers will likely continue to be the largest source of
long-term care services in the U.S., and the aging population 65+ will more than double
between the years 2000 and 2030, increasing to 71.5 million from 35.1 million in 2000.

Race and Income impact on Older Adult Caregivers

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This represents the amount of family members who voluntarily take care of their loved
ones and are working for no pay. There are a very large percentage of these individuals
who dedicate so much time and money into the person they are caring and their personal
needs aren’t being taken care of. This is partially because if they don’t have the income to
have help outside of the informal setting then they take on the responsibility for
themselves and in result abandoning their needs (Family Caregiving Alliance, n.d).
The higher income one has, the more they're able to seek out help and other
resources to assist them with the caregiving process. This is an idea that is true but in
comparison to lower socioeconomic status individuals they have more mental health
issues and they seem to have a harder time assuming the role of a caregiving. Studies has
shown that individuals with lower socioeconomic reported less negative effects of
caregiving than those of a higher socioeconomic status in mental health, such as stress
and depression. However, those with higher socioeconomic status report less negative
effects of caregiving in physical health, such as hypertension, and higher mortality rates.
White caregivers compared to other races are more likely to use paid help (43%
compared to 29% African Americans) (Family Caregiving Alliance, n.d).
Without focusing on how income can be spent with assisting in caregiving, some
research has stated that, the lower the income and education of an individual, the more
likely he or she is to be a caregiver. In reference to that, those with a high school
education or less (20%) take on a caregiver role verses (15%) of college graduates and
(16%) of postgraduates. This could be a consequence of a person who has less education
and therefore having a reduced chance of getting or seeking employment. The effect of
education on income and that they assume the role because they are the ones in the home

Race and Income impact on Older Adult Caregivers

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with older adult family members while others are working.
In most research it was found that income is a secondary stressor, but it also exist as
a independent hardship that challenges the caregiver. In a cross-sectional community
based study, the relationships between income, subjective health and caregiver burden in
caregivers of people with dementia in-group living care was measured. In the results it
showed that, caregivers with low income and low health profile which is, especially the
children who were adults, are associated with a higher feeling or burden from caregiving
(Andrén & Elmståhl, 2006). Caregivers of people with dementia characteristics that
predicted depression included low levels of financial resources; which was measured by
the self-report of personal income. Many of the caregivers in the present study had a low
income compared to the average income in Sweden. A high proportion of the family
caregivers had an annual income far below the mean annual income for retired persons in
Sweden according to the study. The study also stated that it is important to note the
influence on a caregiver’s inability to work or those who has had a loss of income, “Loss
of income due to health can affect a caregiver’s social function to some extent, such as
interaction with others (Andrén & Elmståhl, 2006, p. 10).
Race for some people is important in their identity and in general it gives some
information about one’s family traditions and religious beliefs. One’s race can also
correlate with specific behaviors or habits that affect caregiving and the health of the
caregiver. African Americans: “African Americans and persons of lower socioeconomic
status have been reported to be less adversely affected than whites and upper SES persons
in mental health, which changes when the indicator is physical health”(Siegler et al.,
2010) This means that both lower income and African American caregivers when strictly

Race and Income impact on Older Adult Caregivers

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looking at mental health, like depression, and stress report less negative effects of
caregiving. In comparison Whites may report more negative mental health but better
physical health effects in caregiving.
In the study done by Siegler and his colleagues they were looking at the relationship
between caregiver’s race, residence, and depressive symptoms. It argued that the possible
reason for them being less affected was because of the different cultural meanings
attached to caring for a loved one or friend. For this specific study done it focused on
older adults with dementia of the Alzheimer type and the amount level of depression their
caregiver’s experience. More time needed for care depended on the number of years the
older adult had Alzheimer’s. The finding of this particular study showed that there are
conditions when intergenerational caregivers are living together, when the lower levels of
depression isn’t being looked at (Siegler et al., 2010).
There are many ethnics within the white race, and they all have different views ad
attitudes towards family support systems and according to Ernst, elder Polish Americans
felt like there wasn’t anyone to provide aid, and the felt socially isolated and it is due to
the tradition of privacy, self-containment and being formal in social situation of the
Polish people. In comparison to this group Italians have an emphasis on “family
centeredness” and their elders tend to reach out to their family and close friends for
support when they need it. This shows that all races even, ethnicities have their way of
dealing with family issues, which can determine exactly how they handle dealing with
elders in their family needing to be taken care of (“Selected Caregiver Statistics”, 2012).
In some findings it was noted that, “Caucasian caregivers reported higher spiritual
strain than caregivers of color (87% of whom were African American) is consistent with a

Race and Income impact on Older Adult Caregivers

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number of studies documenting the protective functions of spiritual and religion coping
among African American caregivers (Townsend et al., 2010). This may be due the fact
that African Americans use more spiritual outlets than Whites do, and this contributes to
their ability to have greater satisfaction with being a caregiver. Spirituality and religion is
one of African Americans most influential resources where as Whites use other formal
resources that may require money. This in part is due to the fact that, African Americans
view caregiving as a more favorable experience. They adopted a greater sense of mastery
when it comes to caregiving, a stronger ideology of taking care of close ones and seemed
to report a greater satisfaction when it came to the responsibility of caregiving. I addition
to having a lesser sense of intrusion on their lives from caregiving, African American
caregivers were less depressed than Whites (Lawton et al., 1992).
Race and socioeconomic status of the caregiver has less effect on the older adult.
However, the outcomes of these two factors contribute to the emotional feelings of the
older adults. When a caregiver is stressed and has a down mood it is more likely for the
older adult’s attitude to resemble the one of the caregiver. It is common for a caregiver to
feel depressed based off of previous research. The lower an individual socioeconomic
status is a direct relationship with whether they develop depression and feel burden by
their role and there is a possibility for that leading to elder abuse and neglect.
The results of factors such as race and socioeconomic status lead to limited details
into whether these factors had a big effect on caregiving or were there accompanying
factors. While there were limited research done on these individual factors alone there
was a dense amount of research with them along with other factors contributing to
depressive symptoms, problems coping, and also compromised physical health. Race

Race and Income impact on Older Adult Caregivers

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played a role in the acceptance of assuming the caregiving role; African Americans have
a greater satisfaction and less sense of intrusion on their lives from the responsibility of
caregiving than their White counterparts. In relation, some expiation for the difference
between race and ethnic background is the family-structure (Lawton et al., 1992).
It appears that in a broader sense, individuals with a lower socioeconomic status are
more at risk for poor health compared to their White counterparts. In some studies it
revealed that African Americans are more likely to have a lower socioeconomic status,
and that it was difficult to determine if differences among physical and mental health
outcomes are related to one’s race and socioeconomic status. The same can be said for
caregiving, when these factors are being looked at individually its difficult make
relationships and determine if they alone have any effect on caregiving, and the older
adult. Also, little was discovered about another races, and ethnic backgrounds, so there is
a lack in knowledge on the effects of race and socioeconomic status amongst these
groups.
Due to the large growing population of older adults in our society there has been an
increase in the amount of services provided for the elderly. Some programs that are
available are adult day programs, and according to the California Department of Aging,
there are community based adult services as well as family caregiver support programs,
Nutrition programs and the list is endless. The resources are out there to be used, and
based off of the research discovered on the impact of money and race and others these are
needed. To lessens the load on the informal caregiver, the adult day program is something
to consider, because it allows individuals with an occupation that has to be away during
the day to have the older adult needs being met while giving them a chance to interact

Race and Income impact on Older Adult Caregivers

with others (California Department of Aging, 2015). There are resources for social
support groups and counseling for caregivers, which gives them the opportunity to
express their implicit feelings about caregiving and leads to the possibility of receiving
advice and other resources those other caregivers may use sine they share similar
responsibilities.

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Race and Income impact on Older Adult Caregivers

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Bibliography:
Andrén, S., & Elmståhl, S. (2006). Relationships between income, subjective health and
caregiver burden in caregivers of people with dementia in group living care: A crosssectional community-based study. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 435-446.
McLoyd, Vonnie C., Dodge, Kenneth A., and Hill, Nancy E., eds. African American
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Majonica, Ernst. Cultural Context of Aging (3rd Edition). Santa Barbara, CA, USA:
ABC-CLIO, 2008. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 23 March 2015.
Hinojosa, Melanie Sberna, Ramon Hinojosa, and Maude Rittman. "Predictors Of Health
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Siegler, Ilene C., et al. "Caregiving, Residence, Race, And Depressive Symptoms."
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Selected Caregiver Statistics. (n.d.). Retrieved April 24, 2015, from
https://caregiver.org/selected-caregiver-statistics
Townsend, Aloen L., et al. "Levels, Types, And Predictors Of Family Caregiver Strain
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Friedemann, Marie-Luise, et al. "Patterns Of Caregiving Of Cuban, Other Hispanic,
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ProQuest. Web. 24 Mar. 2015.

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