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Economic Estimates of Family Caregiving Value
To estimate the whether the number of hours of monthly help and the value of caregiving varies by whether family help is provided by a son, daughter, or spouse.
Design
Retrospective multivariate regression analysis of longitudinal survey data. Poisson models to predict hours of monthly caregiving and two step generalized linear models to predict the monthly value of caregiving.
Participants (including the sample size)
Respondents in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a nationally representative study of adults age 50+ living in the U.S fielded every 2 years. We include only individuals who reported at least one limitation of an activity of daily living (ADL) or an instrumental activity of daily living (IADL) were asked about whether they had help with their limitation(s). Our sample of 13,782 individuals includes survey waves 1996 to 2010.
Measurements
We estimated the value of paid and unpaid caregiving received among individuals who reported having a limitation to daily living. We examined the association between having a son, a daughter, or a spouse provide any help and then examined the related value of caregiving, both paid and unpaid, using a two-part model to account for those who reported no help at all. We did not distinguish between daughters and daughters-in-law, or sons and sons-in-law.
Results
Adult daughters were more likely to provide both paid and unpaid help relative to adult sons. Provision of unpaid help by daughters was associated with the parent receiving fewer hours of paid help (0.55 hours per month), thus providing measurable value; this was not the case for unpaid help by sons. Having a spouse who provided help was associated with 0.75 fewer hours of paid help received each month. In cases where just a son was providing help, the value of monthly paidcaregiving help was $3,286, which was significantly higher than when only a daughter ($1,533) or only a spouse ($556) provided help and was higher than for individuals who had no family help ($2,405). There were no statistical differences in the value of monthly unpaidcaregiving help whether a son or a daughter provided help.
