Table 1.
Descriptive Characteristics of Family and Other Unpaid Caregivers and the Types of Assistance they Provide
| Characteristic | Weighted Mean (SE) or % |
|---|---|
| Total sample, weighted na | 14,977,000 |
| Caregiver characteristics | |
| Age | 57.1 (0.7) |
| Female | 62.2 |
| Education, college graduate (n=1728) | 26.1 |
| Married | 36.6 |
| Relationship to care recipient | |
| Spouse, husband, wife | 22.9 |
| Child, daughter, son | 46.2 |
| Other, relative, friend | 31.0 |
| Self-rated health, fair or poor (n=1718) | 21.1 |
| Depressive symptoms, score of ≥3 on PHQ-2b (n=1712) | 12.7 |
| Anxiety symptoms, score of ≥3 on GAD-2c (n=1691) | 12.8 |
| Received training for caregiving (n=1730) | 7.0 |
| Used respite care (n=1726) | 10.4 |
| Attended caregiving support group (n=1726) | 4.4 |
| Hours per week spent caregiving (n=1638) | 18.3 (0.8) |
| Has family/friends to help with caregiving (n=1731) | 70.4 |
| Caregiver burdend | 56.1 |
| Type of assistance | |
| Instrumental/activity of daily living-related | 4.0 (0.1) |
| Health management | 1.3 (0.0) |
| Health systems logistics | 2.5 (0.1) |
Note. Data weighted using NSOC analytic weights. All variables without a sample size reported have no missing data.
a
Based on an unweighted sample of 1742 caregivers.
b
A score of ≥3 on the PHQ-2 is the suggested threshold for distinguishing normal ranges from probable cases of depression.
c
A score of ≥3 on the GAD-2 is the suggested threshold for distinguishing normal ranges from probably cases of anxiety.
d
Caregiver burden is a composite measure of caregivers’ emotional, physical and financial difficulties (dichotomized into any vs. no burden).