U.S. women can expect to provide seven years of caregiving over their lifetimes as of 2023, up from an estimated six in 2011, while men’s average remains steady at four years, a new study finds. The gap in lifetime caregiving between women and men has widened over the past decade, according to researchers from the University of Michigan.
Lifetime Caregiving Years
The study was published on Oct. 20 in the Journals of Gerontology: Series B. It analyzed nearly 8,500 responses to the National Study of Caregiving, an ongoing survey of Medicare enrollees 65 and older. They reported women’s lifetime caregiving increased by one year since 2011, while men’s figures remained unchanged.
“These findings are not limited to one type of assistance,” said lead researcher Vicki Freedman, a professor at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research. “Rather, for each type of care we examined, from bathing or dressing to providing rides, we found women could expect to spend more years over their lifetimes than men caring for an older adult,” she said in a news release.
Spousal Care and Other Relationships
The caregiving gap does not apply to spouses, they noted. Men and women both expect to spend about 1.5 years on average during their lifetime caring for a husband, wife, or partner. However, Women can expect to provide more than one extra year of care for a parent and several more months for a grandparent, according to the study. Women also can expect to spend more than an additional year caring for extended family and friends, the findings showed. Overall, the number of family caregivers assisting seniors 65 and older rose from 18 million in 2011 to more than 24 million in recent years.
Rising Number of Caregivers
Millions of adults help an older relative or friend manage their daily activities and the numbers of men and women in this role are growing rapidly in the U.S.,” Freedman said. Despite attention to the growing number of men taking on caregiving responsibilities, the gap in lifetime family caregiving has not closed between men and women in recent years, she added.
It’s likely that more and more caregivers will be needed in the coming years, researchers said. “Given growing numbers of older adults without close kin and increasing care needs among those reaching later life, we may see these gaps between men and women continue to grow in the future,” Freedman said. “But future caregiving patterns will depend on many factors, including changes to families, the availability and affordability of paid care, and social norms that may influence who provides support.”