The purpose of this research was to explore whether gender differences in parent care (i.e., the greater participation of daughters) persisted after controlling for additional caregiver and care-receiver characteristics known to affect the provision of care. Assistance with activities of daily living (ADLs) was examined separately from assistance with instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs). A multivariate analytical framework was employed to account for the effects of a wide range of variables. Moreover, data on all of the living children (N = 13,172) of a sample of impaired elders (N = 4,371) were used, not just data on those children who were known to be providing help. Net of other caregiver and care-receiver characteristics, daughters were 3.22 times more likely than sons to provide ADL assistance and 2.56 times more likely to provide IADL assistance. Although these results are not substantively different from previous research, the methodological approach taken provides a better empirical base for estimating the effect of gender on the probability of being involved in parent care.

Urinary incontinence (UI) is a commonly underreported and underdiagnosed condition. The purpose of this trial was to implement and evaluate behavioral management for continence (BMC), an intervention to manage symptoms of UI with older rural women in their homes. Participants were randomized into BMC or a control group, and 178 were followed for between 6 and 24 months. The intervention involved self-monitoring, bladder training, and pelvic muscle exercise with biofeedback. The primary outcome variable-severity of urine loss-was evaluated by pad test. Secondary variables were episodes of urine loss, micturition frequency, voiding interval, quality of life, and subjective report of severity. Urine loss severity at baseline evaluation was not significantly different in the two groups. But using the generalized linear mixed model analysis, at the four follow-ups, severity of urine loss, episodes of urine loss, quality of life, and subjective report of severity were significantly different. At 2 years the BMC group UI severity decreased by 61%; the control group severity increased by 184%. Self-monitoring and bladder training accounted for most of the improvement. The results support the use of simple strategies based on bladder diaries before implementing more complex treatments.

This study tested the hypothesis that, when aging parents are assisted in the tasks of daily living by their adult children, the gender of the child providing care depends in part upon the gender of the parent requiring care. Data on 4,371 infirm elders and their 13,172 adult children from the National Long-Term Care Survey were analyzed by means of logistic regression. Separate analyses show that adult children are more likely to provide care to a parent of the same gender, and infirm elders are more likely to receive care from a child of the same gender. Because the substantial majority of elderly parents requiring care from children are mothers, this tendency toward gender consistency in the caregiving relationship partially accounts for the fact that daughters are more likely than sons to be involved in parent care.