Abstract
Using the data of the 2006 Japanese Survey on Time Use and Leisure Activities, we perform cluster analysis and identify seven unique patterns of daily time-use patterns of co-resident family elder caregivers: (1) ‘Overworkers’, (2) ‘Full-time Workers’, (3) ‘Part-time Workers’, (4) ‘Intensive Caregivers’, (5) ‘Houseworkers’, (6) ‘Leisurely’, and (7) caregivers, who needed medical attention on the diary day (‘Emergency Diaries’). Our results show that the ‘Houseworkers’ and ‘Intensive Caregivers’ spend the most time on adult caregiving activities. Care activities for ‘Houseworkers’ are more likely to coincide with longer housework hours, increasing the total unpaid work volume. The analysis of demographic profiles suggests that similar daily patterns on weekdays and weekends do not belong to people with the same demographic characteristics. For instance, although on weekdays, ‘Leisurely Caregivers’ are mostly represented by the elderly taking care of other elderly, people of any age can belong to this category on weekends. Among all types of caregivers, only 'Intensive Caregivers' are as likely to be men as they can be women, suggesting that when the need for eldercare increases, family caregivers of any gender will step in.
Highlights
Elder caregivers may enjoy the emotional rewards of taking care of elderly parents and spouses (Folbre 2012; Silverstein and Giarrusso 2010), they hardly receiveK
It is worth noting that non-caregivers, presented in Tables 1 and 2 for comparison, spend substantially less time on adult care—2 min versus almost 50 min a day on average for family caregivers
The caregivers, whose daily activities are dominated by housework (‘Houseworkers’), comprise the largest share of Japanese elder caregivers
Summary
Elder caregivers may enjoy the emotional rewards of taking care of elderly parents and spouses (Folbre 2012; Silverstein and Giarrusso 2010), they hardly receive. Y. Kan any economic benefits (Bianchi et al 2006; Wolf and Soldo 1994; Zuba and Schneider 2013). When caregiving is assumed to be the responsibility of specific groups more than others, these groups may accumulate substantial disadvantages. Negative consequences for well-being are reported for caregivers, who accumulate a greater share of the disadvantages which come together with care provision, such as having to quit paid work or having to take up part-time and low-paid jobs (Bookman and Kimbrel 2011; Freedman et al 2019)
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