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Recent research in social gerontology has highlighted the importance of the family, particularly adult daughters, as caregivers for the impaired and chronically ill communitybased elderly. This paper explores the impact of employment and competing familial responsibilities on the level of assistance provided to elderly parents by adult children. Data were collected through personal interviews with a probability sample of noninstitutionalized elderly persons (N = 753) and their informal helpers (N = 502). Analysis is restricted to informal helpers who are sons or daughters of the older respondent. Hours of assistance varied in response to the level of parental impairment. The presence of the older parent's spouse was negatively related to hours of help. Competing demands on the helpers' time, particularly marital status, had a significant impact, with married children providing less help. Being employed significantly decreased the hours of assistance provided by sons but did not have a significant impact on the hours of assistance provided by daughters.
Eleanor Palo Stoller (Tue,) studied this question.