Caregiving, health status and total family net worth among men and women approaching retirement age

ABSTRACT

Background and Objectives: Building on opportunity cost theory and an understanding of how gender impacts household labor decisions, this study examines how family net worth may be impacted by three variables (having a work-limiting health condition, caregiving inside the home, caregiving outside of the home) while controlling for demographic and employment-related variables for married and unmarried male and female caregivers. Research Design and Methods: This study uses a nationally representative sample of 5,173 older adults ages 51-60 from the 2016 round of 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79). Results: Findings from the weighted sample suggest having a limiting health condition is significantly and negatively related to total family net worth: people with a work limiting health condition experience a $55,000-$180,000 decline in total family net worth. Further, caregiving inside the home had a significant negative relationship with total family net worth for two subgroups: married males and unmarried females. Providing care to someone outside the home was significantly and positively related to total family net worth only for unmarried males. Discussion and Implications: Findings from this study reinforce the need for policies and programs to help employees manage their own health conditions and caregiving responsibilities for family members with financial preparedness for retirement.

KEYWORDS:

• Net worth
• caregiving
• retirement
• gender
• health status

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

LeaAnne DeRigne

LeaAnne DeRigne is a full Professor in the Phyllis and Harvey Sandler School of Social Work at Florida Atlantic University. She earned her Ph.D. (2006) and MSW (1999) in Social Work from the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis, MO. Her BS degree is in Psychology from Missouri State University. She started her academic career as an Assistant Professor at FAU in 2009, received tenure and was promoted to an Associate Professor in 2015 and was promoted to Professor in 2021. She worked as a lobbyist and policy analyst in Washington, DC and the Missouri State Capitol for 5 years following completion of her MSW. Her area of research expertise is in employment policy and health care policy, specifically analyzing how having paid sick leave increases access to health care services and stabilizes financial security in working-class families. She is committed to a broad array of social justice issues including living wage campaigns, access to employment benefits, increasing racial and gender equality, increasing fairness in our criminal justice system, overturning the death penalty, and tackling the problems of police misconduct and brutality. She loves teaching and hopes to inspire social work students to be involved in social change movements throughout their careers. She is also the advisor to the student organization, Students of Social Work, and chaperones a trip to Tallahassee every year for a Student Legislative and Education Advocacy Day taking over 100 students each year. She has won multiple teaching, mentoring and service awards at the University. She is an active citizen in Delray Beach serving on the Policy Advisory Board and the Education Policy Board. She moved to South Florida from St. Louis in 2009 with her husband and two children. Her hobbies include fitness, swimming, reading, and traveling.

Shirley L. Porterfield

Shirley L. Porterfield is a full Professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

Linda M. Quinn

Linda M. Quinn is a Professor of Practice in the Mathematics Department of Cleveland State University.

Miyuki Fukushima Tedor

Miyuki Fukushima Tedor is an Associate Professor in the Department of Criminology, Anthropology and Sociology at Cleveland State University.

Patricia Stoddard-Dare

Patricia Stoddard-Dare is a full Professor in the School of Social Work at Cleveland State University.

Rong Bai

Rong Bai is doctoral candidate at the Jack, Joseph and Morton School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University.

Cyleste Collins

Cyleste Collins is an Associate Professor in the Department of Social Work at Cleveland State University.