Sharing in Caring: Perceptions of (In)Equality and Mental Health Among Siblings Caring for a Parent With Dementia

Care for a parent with dementia is often shared among multiple adult children, yet it is not always evenly distributed. Guided by the family stress process model, this study examined associations between perceptions of care equality, depressive symptoms, loneliness, and positive affect among 208 adult children caring for a parent with dementia within 110 families from the Siblings Caring for a Parent with Dementia Study (mean age = 58.36, SD = 9.38; 89% women), and mediating roles of caregiver burden and social support. When adult child caregivers perceived that they were contributing more to parental care than their sibling, they reported greater depressive symptoms than participants who reported equal care. Unequal care was linked to depressive symptoms, loneliness, and positive affect via caregiver burden but not social support. Perceptions of (un)equal divisions of care are associated with adult children’s mental health, representing potential caregiving intervention targets.