Kinship, gender, and the social networks of caregivers for older adults.
Background and Objectives Caregiving for older adults falls disproportionately on women and family members, but little research addresses how gender and kinship intersect to shape caregiver social support. This study generates an empirical typology of caregiver social networks and examines the types...
| Publicado en: | Gerontologist Vol. 66; no. 7; pp. 1 - 12 |
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| Autores principales: | , , |
| Formato: | Artículo |
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Oxford University Press / USA
Jul2026
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=195281410&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 195281410 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00169013 GET jtl: Gerontologist issn: 00169013 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Jul2026 vid: 66 iid: 7 pid: 622 pub: Oxford University Press / USA artinfo: ui: 195281410 10.1093/geront/gnag072 ppf: 1 ppct: 11 formats: tig: atl: Kinship, gender, and the social networks of caregivers for older adults. aug: au: Murphy, James P Friedman, Esther M Kennedy, David P affil: Economics, Sociology, and Statistics, RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, California, United States Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States Independent Researcher, Los Angeles, California, United States su: United States Elder care Cross-sectional method Sex distribution Spouses Family relations Caregivers Social networks Social support Friendship Social isolation Research funding Multiple regression analysis Structural equation modeling Descriptive statistics Data analysis software sug: subj: Elder care Cross-sectional method Sex distribution Spouses Family relations Caregivers Social networks Social support Friendship Social isolation United States Continuing Care Retirement Communities Other Individual and Family Services Research funding Multiple regression analysis Structural equation modeling Descriptive statistics Data analysis software keyword: aged caregivers Caregiving copyrightHolder:The Gerontological Society of America copyrightYear:2026 Family gender https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnag072 inLanguage:en Latent profile analysis publisher:Oxford University Press sameAs:https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42097297/ social capital social networks social support aged caregivers Caregiving copyrightHolder:The Gerontological Society of America copyrightYear:2026 Family gender https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnag072 inLanguage:en Latent profile analysis publisher:Oxford University Press sameAs:https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42097297/ social capital social networks social support ab: Background and Objectives Caregiving for older adults falls disproportionately on women and family members, but little research addresses how gender and kinship intersect to shape caregiver social support. This study generates an empirical typology of caregiver social networks and examines the types' association with caregiver gender, relationship to the recipient, and their interaction. Research Design and Methods We collected personal network data from a nationally representative sample of 2,824 caregivers in December 2020 and January 2021. We used zero-inflated negative binomial regressions of network size and latent profile analysis to identify network types based on their size, density, family composition, and proportion sharing in caregiving responsibilities. We used multinomial logistic regressions to examine associations between network type and caregiver and care recipient characteristics. Results We identified three network types: close-knit kin (CKK) based networks; larger networks sharing caregiving activities; and small networks in which few or no contacts assisted with caregiving. Women caring for a spouse/partner were more likely to have larger networks with broader care-sharing than either married men or other women; non-kin caregivers disproportionately had smaller networks lacking care-sharing. Discussion and Implications The results highlight the vulnerability of unpaid non-kin caregivers and suggest that interventions should consider the intersection of gender and kinship. This is important because the proportion of kinless older adults is expected to grow significantly, which may increase older adults' reliance on non-kin informal caregivers. Future work should examine whether differences in network type lead towards different outcomes by gender and caregiver-recipient relationship. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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