Comparative Analysis of Gender and Age Patterns in Informal Care Received among Disabled Older Adults: A Cross-National Study across the United States, Mexico, China, and Indonesia

This paper examines cross-national differences by gender and age in receipt and sources of help for limitations with activities of daily living or instrumental activities of daily living among older adults in the United States, Mexico, China, and Indonesia. Respondents aged 50 + from the Health and Retirement Study, Mexican Health and Aging Study, China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, and Indonesia Family Life Survey are included. Descriptive methods, logistic and multinomial regression analyses are used to examine patterns in any help received and main source of help respectively. After controlling for age, marital status, and co-residence with child(ren), it is found that men in all four countries overwhelmingly relied on their spouse for care, while children are more likely to be the main source of care for women. Children as the main source of care increased with age in each country and among men and women, surpassing spouse in China and Indonesia, and to a lesser extent in Mexico, but not in the United States where spouse was found to be more likely to be main caregiver even among the oldest age groups. Caregiving for the disabled is important for the well-being of the care recipient and for caregivers. Our results shed light on the asymmetric burden of caregiving on female spouses, across four diverse and aging countries.