Caring for the Disabled: Applying Different Theoretical Perspectives to Understand Racial and Ethnic Variations Among Families

Families often provide care for disabled relatives, yet this can affect caregivers negatively. To understand how disability affects the entire family, this article reviews four theories that can be used to understand caregiving and applies each theory to understand racial and ethnic variations among families. We examine the stress process model, social ecological perspective, life course perspective, and gender role socialization hypothesis, which are useful to understand caregiver burden.