A LONGITUDINAL ANALYSIS OF NURSING-HOME PLACEMENT FOR DEPENDENT ELDERS CARED FOR BY SPOUSES VS ADULT CHILDREN

Five-wave panel data from 531 informal caregivers and frail elders wer e analyzed using an event history framework to identify how changes in the caregiving situation are related to nursing home placement. The r esults indicate that the predictors of placement differ,substantially for elders cared for by spouses vs those cared for by adult children. In addition, the findings suggest dramatically different descriptions of the caregiving role over time for the two groups of caregivers. The re were differences not only in the conditions under which caregiving ends, but also apparent differences in when caregiving begins and how it is perceived by the caregiver. Differences in the probability of pl acement of elders cared for by spouses vs adult children are interpret ed within the framework of these contextual differences in the caregiv ing role.