The study found that physical health was also affected, but to a lesser extent. Eliza Pavalko, IU professor of sociology, and Shari Woodbury, a graduate student and research assistant, studied data collected over a two-year period from nearly 3,000 women between the ages of 50 and 65. At least half of American women will care for a disabled family member during their lifetime. These findings also suggest caution for those considering policy changes that would increase the responsibility of family members and reduce formal support for care.
Emotional distress appears to increase as years spent care-giving increase.
Measures of emotional distress included how often study participants felt happy or sad, had restless sleep, or had crying spells. Contrary to their expectations, the researchers did not find a similar accumulation of physical limitations over the care-giving period. Instead, the moderate increases in physical limitations seen among care-givers in the early stages leveled off with longer periods of care. This finding suggests that women may adapt physically to care-giving over time. Measures of physical limitations included difficulty standing, stooping, lifting objects, sitting, walking and using stairs.