Introduction
Caregiver burnout, which is marked by emotional exhaustion and psychological strain, remains a critical public health issue among informal caregivers. Although racial and ethnic disparities are well-documented in caregiving experiences and health outcomes, limited research has examined these differences in caregiver burnout using nationally representative data.
Purpose
This study aims to explore racial and ethnic disparities in the prevalence of caregiver burnout and to assess whether caregivers from different racial backgrounds experience unequal burdens.
Method
We used data from the 2022 wave of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). Informal caregivers were defined as respondents who reported providing 100 or more hours of personal care to a parent or in-law over the past two years. Burnout was determined by either providing 20 or more caregiving hours per week or having elevated depressive symptoms (CES-D score ≥ 4). Survey-weighted logistic regression models were used to estimate the association between race/ethnicity and caregiver burnout, adjusting for age, sex, education, marital status, and health status.
Results
After weighing, the analytic sample represented 3,321,381 caregivers, with an overall burnout prevalence of 51.45%. Non-Hispanic White caregivers made up a larger proportion of the non-burnout group compared to the burnout group (73.51% vs. 57.47%). In the unadjusted model, non-Hispanic Black caregivers had 131.3% higher odds of experiencing burnout compared to non-Hispanic White caregivers (OR = 2.31, 95% CI: 1.24-4.33). After adjustment, they remained 57.1% more likely to experience burnout (OR = 1.57, 95% CI: 0.83-2.99), though the result was not statistically significant.
Conclusions
These findings suggest potential racial disparities in caregiver burnout, with non-Hispanic Black caregivers showing higher odds of burnout compared to non-Hispanic White caregivers. The trend highlights the need for further research and culturally tailored interventions to support diverse caregiving populations.