Who are the Care Recipients?
Key Takeaways
- Most care recipients face multiple health challenges simultaneously, creating complex caregiving situations that extend well beyond basic physical assistance.
- Younger caregivers typically manage short-term conditions, whereas older caregivers more often provide sustained care for chronic conditions, reflecting different caregiving journeys across the lifespan.
- Although “old age” and dementia are primary reasons for care, the broad range of conditions requiring care highlights the varied skills and adaptability family caregivers must develop.
Understanding the profile of care recipients is important for developing effective support systems and policies. Age and gender characteristics not only shape the nature of care needed but also influence relationship dynamics between caregivers and recipients. These factors can significantly affect caregiving intensity, duration, and the specific challenges caregivers face in their roles.
Family caregivers provide care to family, friends, and relatives across all stages of life. Most family caregivers care for someone in their 70s, as shown in figure 4. Nearly half of all caregivers (48 percent) support individuals ages 75 and older, whereas 38 percent care for those ages 50 to 74. These figures are consistent with 2020 findings.
Care Recipient Age
Gender patterns among care recipients track with earlier Caregiving in the US findings, with 61 percent of care recipients being women and 38 percent being men. Male care recipients are more often living with their caregiver (47 percent) compared with female recipients (36 percent).
Family caregivers provide care for recipients who face complex health conditions, requiring caregivers to learn to assist with varied physical, emotional, and behavioral health needs (see figure 5). More LGBTQ+ caregivers than non-LGBTQ+ caregivers care for someone with an emotional or mental health problem (37 percent) or behavioral issues (13 percent). African American/Black family caregivers more often care for someone with a developmental or intellectual disorder (17 percent), a behavioral issue (15 percent), or a memory problem (39 percent). Nearly three-quarters of their care recipients experience at least two categories of health conditions (73 percent), highlighting the multifaceted nature of caregiving. This complexity has remained consistent since 2020.
Types of Care Recipient Conditions
The type of condition managed by family caregivers varies significantly by age. Younger caregivers (ages 18 to 49) more frequently provide care for someone with a short-term physical condition (38 percent) compared with caregivers ages 50 and older (29 percent). Younger caregivers are also more often caring for someone with an emotional or mental health condition (33 percent) than older caregivers (24 percent). Conversely, younger caregivers less often care for someone with a long-term physical condition (59 percent) than their older counterparts (66 percent). This age-related pattern suggests different caregiving trajectories and challenges across the lifespan, with older caregivers more frequently managing chronic conditions requiring sustained care and younger caregivers facing more episodic care.
When asked to identify the main condition requiring care, family caregivers most commonly cite “old age” or aging (13 percent), followed by Alzheimer’s or other dementias (11 percent), mobility issues (8 percent), cancer (7 percent), and surgery or wounds (6 percent). Together, these top five conditions account for nearly half of all primary reasons for care (see figure 6).
Mental or emotional illness ranks seventh at 5 percent, with younger caregivers twice as likely to provide this type of care (7 percent of caregivers under age 50 compared with 4 percent of caregivers age 50 or older). The COVID-19 pandemic has also left its mark on the caregiving landscape, with 1 percent of caregivers reporting it as the main condition necessitating care for their recipient. These caregiver perceptions may differ from clinical diagnoses or population health statistics.4
Care Recipient’s Main Condition or Illness
Memory issues and/or dementia among care recipients are reported by more than one-quarter of caregivers: 11 percent cite Alzheimer’s or other dementias as the main problem or illness requiring caregiver’s help, and an additional 19 percent indicate their care recipient is living with a cognitive impairment. More female family caregivers care for someone with a memory problem (36 percent) than do male family caregivers (32 percent). Notably, 17 percent of caregivers report they are “not sure” whether their care recipient has a memory issue. This high number points to the opportunity for improving clinical detection and communication of specific cognition diagnoses (Burgdorf and Amjad 2023; Liss, 2021).