ABSTRACT
This chapter presents informal caregiving to the aged needs to be understood within the context of social and ethnic cultural variations. Caregiving and its effects are probably quite sensitive to cohort differences and to the life-course locations of the caregiver and care recipient. Caregiving is often stressful enough in its own right but when it is also embedded in the context of other stressors, it may become even more demanding. Studies of caregiver stress are typically aimed at assessing the costs of caregiving, costs to psychological well-being, physical health, and material stability. Studies, including those that are longitudinal in design, tend to focus their attention on the period of active residential caregiving. For many reasons, family caregiving is a pivotal issue of later life. Indeed, caregiving to older members of a family is becoming an increasingly normative experience.
