Women's Kin Caregiving Burden across Race-Ethnicity in the United States

Elena Pojman, Pennsylvania State University

Women’s race-ethnicity shapes their kin caregiving burden, i.e., the number of kin for whom they provide care. Previous literature has identified differences in caregiving across women’s characteristics, yet these studies still lack an explicitly demographic approach which considers the number and age of kin for whom a woman may provide care based on mortality, fertility, and kin proximity differentials. To address this gap, the present study considers a woman’s kinship network to quantify disparities in the kin caregiving burden using kinship matrix models and time-use data on for which kin women provide child- and adultcare. I estimate the number, age, and relationship of kin for whom racialized women provide care across their life course. Building on previous work identifying disparities in women’s family lives, this study contributes to our understanding of the demographic origins of family inequality.

Keywords: Families, Unions and Households, Mathematical demography , Gender Dynamics

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