Caregiving: Sibling Influence on Care Given by Children to Older Parents

This study had a sample of 186 older parents in need of care with at least two adult children. The 186 participants consisted of 66 males and 120 female care recipients between the ages of 63 and 91 who lived independently. The study examined how  siblings' behaviors and characteristics influenced another child's level of care for their parents. The author's discuss how intergenerational solidarity framework is commonly used to explain the determinants of  parent-child caregiving (Tolkacheva, Groenou, & Tilburg, 2010;  Bengtson & Roberts, 1991 ). Some of the determinants discussed included being a daughter, being geographically close, not having a job or other competing family needs, being emotionally close, and having frequent contact with parents predicted how much children assisted their parents (Tolkacheva et al., 2010).

This study tested three hypothesis. The first hypothesis is: To the extent that siblings provide care with higher intensity, an individual child will provide care with higher intensity as well. The authors discuss literature that supports their hypothesis. They discuss how even if siblings do not have direct communication with each other, everyone normally knows what the other siblings are doing for mom and dad. They also discuss the norm of sibling solidarity which creates a sense of mutual responsibility and collaboration for their parents' care.  

Results for hypothesis 1: Their findings suggest the existence of sibling solidarity when siblings are caring for their aging parents. They found that siblings did increase the level of care they provided when prompted either by another sibling or their parent. However, the authors did suggest that the greater the parent's care needs the more difficult it is for the siblings to keep up with the level of care their siblings are providing.


Their second hypothesis is: The more siblings, but in particular the more sisters there are, the less intense each child's caregiving is likely to be, regardless of the child's own gender. Again, the author's discuss literature that supports their hypothesis. Prior research shows that a child has to provide less care for their parent in larger families. As discussed in a previous blog, daughters tend to be the primary caregivers for their aging parents. The more sisters you have the lower the number of hours of care you will have to provide for your parents. However, in only-child or single-gendered families, there appears to be equality of amount of caregiving hours and the kinds of caregiving activities provided. This suggests that both sons and daughters behave differently if there are daughters in the family who can care for their parents.

Results for hypothesis 2: The authors state that this hypothesis was partly confirmed. They did find that a child provides less care when he or she has sisters. However, the number of brothers did not seem to affect a child's caregiving. Caregiving does appear to be dependent on a child's gender. The author's state, "sibling solidarity is therefore shaped by the availability of sisters in the sibling group" (p.753). 

Their third hypothesis is: An individual child provides less care if his or her siblings have characteristics that are more conducive to caregiving. The author's state, "Sibling solidarity can be shaped by the characteristics of siblings" (p.743).  Characteristics are not defined as personality traits (That's what I first thought they were talking about). Characteristics are similar to the determinants used within the intergenerational solidarity framework. For instance an individual child will provide less care if they have siblings who do not have family or job responsibilities, live closer, or have an closer emotional relationship wit their parent.

Results for hypothesis 3: They found a strong correlation between the determinants of siblings with partners and average frequency of emotional support exchanges between siblings and a parent as significant predictors of a child's caregiving. Children appear to take on caregiving responsibilities when their siblings have other demands, such as having a partner or when they have an emotionally poor relationship with a parent. Sibling solidarity appears to corroborated in this situation, however, as the authors point out, some siblings may not feel having a partner or an emotionally poor relationship are reasons to give less care. In this case the other sibling may be providing more care not to help their sibling, but out of necessity to meet their parent's care needs. The authors state in this situation, the sibling would not be providing care due to sibling solidarity, but rather siblings' opportunities. Interesting to me, the characteristics of siblings with jobs, their own children, geographic proximity, seems to be unimportant to an individual child's caregiving. The authors do state that this contradicts previous research where these characteristics were used by children to explain their own caregiving behavior. In conclusion, the author's state, "one's own characteristics are more important than sibling characteristics in the provision of care" (p. 754).

As your parents age, do you think you and your siblings will have solidarity when caring for them? If you have a life partner or an emotionally challenged relationship with your parent, do you think your siblings would be willing to provide more care for your parents? If you are the only daughter, are you willing to provide more care than your brothers? If your parents need more help, do you think your siblings will be willing to provide more care?

Bengtson, V. L., & Roberts, R. E. L. (1991). Intergenerational solidarity in aging families: An example of formal theory construction. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 53, 856-870.



Tolkacheva, N, Groenou M.B., & Tilburg, T. (2010). Sibling Influence on Care Given by Children to Older Parents. Research on Aging, 32, 739-759