ADULT CHILDREN CARING FOR THEIR ELDERLY PARENTS Results from a national survey of ageing in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is the fastest ageing South Asian population. Using data from the Sri Lanka Aging Survey 2006, this paper documents the health of adult child caregivers and their elderly parents, nature of care provided, areas of caregiver concern, factors associated with caregiver stress, and caregiver attitudes towards elder care. Adult children (n = 381), defining themselves as the elderly parent's primary caregiver, and their elderly parents (n = 430), constitute the sample for this analysis. Relatively poor health among elderly parents combined with substantial time required for care-giving, and a relatively high level of stress among caregivers, is observed. Gender differences are observed in the type of elder care provided, and in the risk of being stressed/worried. Most caregivers have favourable attitudes towards home-based care, negative attitudes towards institutional care, and expect support from their children in old age. Caregiver burden will increasingly become a policy concern given Sri Lanka's ageing population and the predominant expectation that eldercare is the children's responsibility.