WEDNESDAY, Aug. 18, 2004 (HealthDayNews) -- Women who become caregivers to elderly parents are more likely to end up living in poverty later in life, claims a study by researchers at Rice University in Houston.
"If women assumed caregiver roles, they were 2.5 times more likely than non-caregivers to live in poverty and five times more likely to receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI)," the study authors wrote.
They analyzed data from the 1992 and 2000 Health and Retirement Study to analyze the long-term effects on women of caring for elderly parents.
The study also found that, compared with those who completed high school, women caregivers with less than a high school education were three times more likely to live in poverty and 10 times more likely to be SSI recipients.
Single women caregivers were four times more likely to live in poverty and 46 percent more likely to rely on SSI when they were older than married women. Non-white caregivers had a 29 percent predicted probability of living of living in poverty, compared with 9 percent for white caregivers.
The study was presented Aug. 14 at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association in San Francisco.
The authors noted that about 80 percent of elder care is provided by family members, mostly women.
The potential economic and social consequences may be enormous for women who act as caregivers. About 45 percent of women 18 and older aren't married and many have to juggle the demands of work and providing care for elderly parents.
The time demands of being a caregiver often limit job opportunities, resulting in reduced working hours and wages. Over time, this can increase a woman's risk of living in poverty later in life.
In 2002, 14 percent of women aged 75 and older lived in poverty, compared with 8 percent of men in the same age group, the study authors noted.
More information
The American Academy of Family Physicians has information about caregiver stress.
