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Older Caregiving Parents: Division of Household Labor, Marital Satisfaction, and Caregiver Burden *
Author(s) -
Lehr Essex Elizabeth,
Hong Jinkuk
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
family relations
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1741-3729
pISSN - 0197-6664
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-3729.2005.00330.x
Subject(s) - division of labour , psychology , caregiver burden , marital status , medicine , population , environmental health , economics , dementia , disease , pathology , market economy
Based on a sample of 126 families, this study investigated how division of household labor is related to marital satisfaction and caregiving burden among older married parents caring for adult children with intellectual disabilities. For mothers, greater spousal participation in household work and satisfaction with the division of labor were positively related to marital satisfaction. Satisfaction with division of labor also appeared to buffer maternal caregiving stress, decreasing the relationship between behavior problems of the adult child and caregiver burden. For fathers, there was no relationship between division of household labor and marital satisfaction. Behavior problems of the adult child predicted paternal caregiving burden only when men were satisfied with the labor division. Practice implications for professionals working with older caregiving parents are discussed.