Prevalence and Social Support Networks of Underrepresented Caregivers: Sandwich,Millennial,Non-kin,and Male Caregivers

Abstract

As the country’s demographics continue to change, it is important to explore variation in social support of family caregivers beyond traditionally studied groups. We examined the prevalence and demographics of millennial, non-kin, male, and sandwich caregivers, their social support networks, and changes in those networks during the COVID-19 pandemic among a nationally representative sample of adults (n = 1,954) from the Care Network Connections over Time (CNCT) study. In 2020–2021, a quarter of caregivers were millennials, 28% were sandwich caregivers, 44% were male, and 14% were non-kin. Social support networks were relatively stable during COVID-19 for all groups other than non-kin caregivers who both lost and gained network support during this period. This work suggests that the experience of caregivers during COVID-19 was not universal across all caregiver types.