2011 Volume 32 Issue 4 Pages 413-421
The aim of this paper is to analyze the relationship between women’s work status and the attitude toward nursing care for elderly parents. This research examines the determinants of attitude toward caregiving for the wife’s or husband’s parents. This study uses a sample of married women whose parents are under 65 years of age from the Japanese Panel Survey of Consumers, Wave 10 (2002). The wife’s work status and income were treated as main independent variables of the hypothesis. Other variables such as the wife’s age, presence or absence of children, sibling structure, husband’s income, parental support, and size of the city of residence are used as control variables.
The analysis revealed that women’s work status and income influence the attitude toward caregiving for the wife’s elderly parents, but not for the husband’s parents. The wife’s employment status and high income have positive effects on the intention of caring for the wife’s parents. This result can be interpreted by assuming that the conjugal power structure influences the relationship with respondent’s parents.
