RACE/ETHNICITY, CAREGIVING AND THE HEALTH OF US WOMEN

There are multifaceted responses to the varied stressors associated with “caregiver burden,” the stress or strain individuals experience due to the challenges of caregiving. And previous research has shown that race is associated with health consequences of stress in the United States, in which stress manifests physically in individuals of color and mentally in White individuals. Women account for 60-70 percent of the 48 million Americans providing unpaid care to an adult with health or functional needs, and they are at two times greater risk than men to experience high caregiver burden. Thus, this project focuses on women to assess if there are disparities in the health among caregivers in different racial/ethnic groups in the United States. With consideration for the extent these disparities are affected by the sociodemographic and economic characteristics of the caregivers, this dissertation examines if racial/ethnic disparities are patterned differently for physical, mental, and general health.Both cross-sectional and longitudinal data are used in this dissertation to examine racial/ethnic health disparities among US women who are caregivers to an older adult. The first chapter, presents analysis of the mental, physical, and general health of caregiving women across three different racial/ethnic groups. The second chapter focuses on “sandwich caregivers” (those caring for an older adult and dependent children simultaneously), with regards to racial/ethnic disparities in mental, physical, and general health in these subgroups of caregivers. The health of sandwich caregivers is examined in comparison to their counterparts in other racial/ethnic groups, as well as their same race/ethnicity non-sandwich caregivers. The third chapter utilizes longitudinal data to observe if there are racial/ethnic disparities in changes in mental, physical, and general health of caregiving women over time. Collectively, the three analytic chapters provide a thorough examination of racial/ethnic disparities in health among caregiving women in the United States.Consistent with previous sociology of health literature, caregiving women display differential health consequences of stress processing. Black/African American caregiving women exhibited physical health inequities and their White counterparts displayed mental health detriments. Hispanic/Latina caregiving women displayed better physical health than the referent group of White caregivers, in multiple models, particularly when socioeconomic factors were included in analysis. In addition to socioeconomic factors, caregiving environment, care recipient characteristics, and social support/health services utilization show observable associations with the health of caregiving women in the United States, and should be taken into consideration with regards to policymaking.