Spouses, Adult Children, and Children-in-Law as Caregivers of Older Adults: A Meta-Analytic Comparison

The present meta-analysis integrates the results from 168 empirical studies on differences between caregiving spouses, adult children, and children-in-law. Spouses differ from children and children-in-law significantly with regard to sociodemographic variables; also, they provide more support but report fewer care recipient behavior problems. Spouse caregivers report more depression symptoms, greater financial and physical burden, and lower levels of psychological well-being. Higher levels of psychological distress among spouses are explained mostly-but not completely-by higher levels of care provision. Few differences emerge between children and children-in-law, but children-in-law perceive the relationship with the care recipient as less positive and they report fewer uplifts of caregiving.