Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, Vol 52, Issue 4 S170-S179, Copyright © 1997 by The Gerontological Society of America

ARTICLES

Women's caregiving and paid work: causal relationships in late midlife

EK Pavalko and JE Artis
Department of Sociology, Indiana University, Bloomington, USA.

Care of an ill or disabled family member or friend is disproportionately done by women and typically is done in late midlife. Because this is-also a time in the life course when women's labor force participation peaks, many women faced with caregiving demands have to decide how to balance them with their employment. In this study we use the National Longitudinal Survey (NLS) of Mature Women to examine the causal relationship between employment and caring for an ill or disabled friend or relative over a three-year period. We find that employment does not affect whether or not women start caregiving, but that women who do start are more likely to reduce employment hours or stop work. Thus, the causal relationship between employment and caregiving in late midlife is largely unidirectional, with women reducing hours to meet caregiving demands.

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