Caregiving for Older Adults During Emerging Adulthood: The Relationship Between Caregiver Identity and Caregiver Distress

Emerging adults (18-25 years) increasingly provide informal care to older adults, yet little research has investigated caregiver distress in this subgroup of caregivers. Guided by caregiver identity theory, this study examined caregiver identity’s relation to caregiver distress and whether support service utilization or ageist attitudes mediate this relationship.

A sample of 259 emerging adult informal caregivers participated in an online survey. Structural equation modeling was utilized to test hypothesized relationships between caregiver identity discrepancy, caregiver identity salience, support service utilization, ageist attitudes, and caregiver distress.

A more salient caregiver identity related to less caregiver distress in emerging adults, more service utilization, and more ageist attitudes. Greater caregiver identity discrepancy related only to more ageist attitudes. Support service utilization mediated the link between caregiver identity salience and caregiver distress.

Caregiver identity discrepancy theory may not be applicable to emerging adults given the greater identity flexibility that is more developmentally appropriate in emerging adulthood than in midlife or older adulthood. However, high salience of a caregiver identity among emerging adult caregivers was protective against caregiver distress, suggesting the importance of meaning-making within caregiving contexts for this age group. Ageist attitudes should be considered in future research on caregiving identity development. Emerging adult caregivers would benefit from targeted research and from interventions tailored to their unique needs. Interventions and policies that promote emerging adult caregivers’ caregiver identity salience would support and validate their important role in care for older adults.