Table 5.

Characteristics of Primary Family and Unpaid Caregivers, Stratified by Dementia Status of Older Adult Receiving Self-Care or Mobility Help

	Older adult without dementia		Older adult with dementia
Primary caregiver characteristics	1999	2015b	1999	2015b
Percent of total (row %)a	70.3%	73.2%	29.7%	26.8%
Age (%)b
< 65 years	49.0	42.5	56.1	59.1
65–74 years	24.5*	34.2	23.5	24.4
75+ years	26.6	23.3	20.4	16.5
Mean age in years	63.7	64.0	63.0	61.4
Gender (%)
Male	33.6*	41.8	27.6	21.4
Female	66.4*	58.2	72.4	78.6
Relationshipb
Spouse	46.8*	55.6	32.9	30.7
Child	35.5	29.5	46.2	54.2
Other	17.7	15.0	20.9	15.1
Duration of caregiving, in years (%)b
< 1 year	21.5*	9.5	19.1*	8.6
1–3 years	34.7	29.5	33.7	31.9
4+ years	43.8*	60.9	47.3	59.5
Mean hours per week	33.8*	23.5	44.8	47.5
Hours of care provided per week (%)b
≤ 10 hr	29.5*	41.8	20.7	16.4
11 -20 hr	15.9*	23.2	12.7	19.4
21 - 40 hr	29.9*	15.9	29.4	23.7
> 40 hr	24.7	19.1	37.2	40.4
Competing responsibilities
Co-residing child < 18 years (%)	8.5	11.6	9.1	13.5
Employed (%)	27.8	26.8	29.4	29.4
Experience of providing help
Substantial emotional difficulty (%)c	16.8*	11.2	34.8	24.9
Substantial physical difficulty (%)c	10.7*	7.1	30.3*	17.0
Substantial financial difficulty (%)c	10.8	8.6	22.2*	8.9
Help from others (%)
Support group use	4.3	4.4	7.8	4.8
Respite care use	6.4*	11.5	13.4*	26.9

Notes: ICS = Informal Caregiver Survey; NSOC = National Survey of Caregivers.

^aUnweighted n = 529, 790, 413, 472 without dementia and n = 262, 361, 323, 274 with dementia in 1999, 2004, 2011, and 2015, respectively.

^bTests of statistical significance using reference period of 2015 and each category in comparison with all others.

^cRefers to rating of “4” or “5” on a 5-point scale where 1 is “not difficult at all” (in the ICS) or “a little difficult” (in NSOC) and 5 is “very difficult”.

^dRefers to “a lot” (in the ICS) or “very much” (in the NSOC).

*Denotes statistical significance at p < .05.