Grant Description:
This research will promote understanding of life course processes and the health conditions under which adult children provide care to their older parents under various conditions of vulnerability, especially those related to Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. In light of changing family structures and growing uncertainty about reliable sources of care in later life, the study will inform researchers and public policy professionals about the state of family functioning across generations as it unfolds from early in the family life-cycle to parents’ growing frailty as they approach the end of life. In particular, the countdown model (time-to-death) will be tested as an alternative approach to measuring change in various forms of vulnerability experienced by older adults and their escalating demand for care.