Page 65 - IJPS-8-1

International Journal of

Population Studies

REVIEW ARTICLE
Intergenerational relationships and caregiving

burden among family caregivers of older
adults: A systematic review

Xiachun Ke, and Yuanyuan Fu*

School of Social Development and Public Policy, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China

Abstract

Although intergenerational relationships play a significant role in maintaining the
well-being of both caregivers and care recipients, few studies have examined how
intergenerational relationships influence caregiving burden, especially for adult-
child caregivers. A systematic search of electronic databases, including Scopus, Web
of Science, and PsycINFO, was conducted across quantitative studies published in
English in 2012 – 2022 to provide a summary of (1) the operationalization of caregiver
burden and intergenerational relationships used in this field and (2) the effect of
intergenerational relationships on caregiver burden. Intergenerational relationships
are rarely defined, and they are operationalized in multiple and diverging ways.
The eight included papers showed varying results but generally indicated that
intergenerational relationships exert a great influence on caregiver burden. Further
examination of the impact of intergenerational relationships on caregiver burden is
an indispensable prerequisite for interventions that could positively influence the
*Corresponding author:
Yuanyuan Fu health outcome of adult-child caregivers.
(fuyuanyuan00@163.com)
Citation: Ke X, Fu Y. (2022). Keywords: Adult-child caregivers; Caregiver burden; Caregiving burden; China;
Intergenerational relationships Intergenerational relationship; Older adults; Systematic review
and caregiving burden among
family caregivers of older
adults: A systematic review.
International Journal of Population
Studies, 8(1):59-69. 1. Introduction
https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.v8i1.1320
Received: April 22, 2022 Demographic aging, as a result of the decline in fertility rates and the increase in
life expectancies, has brought serious economic and health challenges globally. The
Accepted: July 25, 2022
United Nations has reported that the proportion of the world’s population over 60 years
Published: August 12, 2022 or old is projected to increase from 14% in 2022 to 22% in 2050 (United Nations, 2022),
Copyright: © 2022 Author(s). which will undoubtedly create a huge care demand worldwide. However, in many
This is an Open Access article countries, institutional care and community-based care have not been well developed,
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution and family caregivers still bear the primary responsibility for providing long-term care
License, permitting distribution, for older adults (Hoffmann and Rodrigues, 2010).
and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is Family members, as untrained informal caregivers, are faced with practical challenges
properly cited. related to learning new skills and adopting new responsibilities, including providing
Publisher’s Note: AccScience practical help, personal care, psychological support, transport, and coordination of
Publishing remains neutral with treatment (Stenberg, Ruland, and Miaskowski, 2010), which may strain caregivers’
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional physical, financial, and psychosocial resources (Pearlin, Mullan, Semple, et al., 1990).
affiliations Caregiver burden has been the most commonly reported negative outcome in caregiving

Volume 8 Issue 1 (2022) 59 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.v8i1.1320