Centre for Policy on Ageing



Gender roles, marital intimacy, and nomination of spouse as primary caregiver
Author(s)	Susan M Allen, Frances Goldscheider, Desirée Ciambrone
Journal title	The Gerontologist, vol 39, no 2, April 1999
Pages	pp 150-158
Keywords	Spouses as carers ; Social roles ; Personal relationships ; Social surveys ; United States of America.
Annotation	Using data from a sample of married men and women undergoing treatment for cancer, the authors tested two hypotheses regarding the unequal representation of husbands and wives as spousal caregivers, including societal gender role norms and emotional closeness in the marital relationship. Multivariate analyses support both hypotheses: wives are only one third as likely as husbands to select their spouses as caregivers; and spouses who name their mates as confidants are three times more likely than those who do not also name them as caregivers. They conclude that although gender role norms are key to caregiver selection, the intimacy inherent in the caregiving role renders an emotionally close marriage an important criterion the selection of spouse as caregiver. (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-990723207 A
Classmark	P6:SN: TM5: DS: 3F: 7T
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.