Caring For The Future
Not long after my paternal grandfather passed away, my grandmother’s health started to rapidly decline. Within a year she was diagnosed with onset dementia. Then, for five years straight, my dad (an only child) called his mom three times a day and visited her six times a week to check up on her.
In the vast majority of these calls and visits she wouldn’t have recognized him, limiting most ‘conversations' to “how are you feeling?” Still, he felt like he had to stick to his routine of being there for her. Thinking back, I’m amazed by his dedication.
My maternal grandmother, however, is 86 years old, fully functioning and independent. Even after my grandfather passed away she refused to move out of her apartment, the one in which they lived for decades, and where my mother grew up as a teenager. Over the past few years, even while maintaining physical independence (cooking, cleaning, shopping for groceries), her emotional dependence on her children and grandchildren grew and grew.
We often ignore the emotional needs of our elderly loved ones, focusing mainly on their physical wellbeing. Yet, as we all know, emotional and mental health are crucial for a fulfilled and happy life.
Even though there’s plenty to write about why elderly mental health is important, I believe an overlooked challenge is its effects on the younger population. These are the children and grandchildren who act as caregivers to elderly who are oftentimes perfectly physically healthy but could be suffering from loneliness, borderline depression, or any set of other emotional or social related challenges.
It’s true, not all elderly require support, and even those who do, don’t necessarily have family to support them. But while numbers may vary, some estimate there are 44M unpaid caregivers in the U.S., and 75% of them have another job (link). Moreover, among Americans 40 or older who expect to act as caregivers in the next five years, just 3 in 10 say they feel prepared to take on the job (link).
Why focus on the younger generation?
Having a young labor force is critical. Evan Armstrong puts succinctly, in his recent article “Tinder Is Way More Important Than You Think”:
“Almost all Nobel Prizes were awarded to researchers who discovered their results between the ages of 31–40 (41.8% and 47.4%, correspondingly). Young people make pension insurance programs like Social Security possible by paying into the deposit base. Old people take a ton of federal resources—the U.S. government currently spends 40% of its budget on people 65 and up. Young people are a malleable workforce that can be funneled toward where opportunity is.”
Yet our younger able workforce is dwindling. Total Fertility Rate (TFR) is a statistical measure that represents the average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime. Around 2010, the U.S. TFR dropped below the population replacement rate of 2.1 which is what's required for the population not to shrink without increases in immigration.
Total Fertility Rate (2006-2019)
Source: Wharton Budget Model - Measuring Fertility in the United States
Much has been written of the state of emergency this data represents. However, the conclusion, almost always matches that of Evan’s:
“Theoretically you could fix these concerns caused by shrinking populations by: 1. Enabling the elderly to work for longer and be healthier for more years. 2. Decreasing the level of government support to the elderly. However, option one feels very distant, and option two feels deeply cruel. The best remaining option is probably to make more babies.“
Where conclusions like this fall short is in recognizing the emotional and mental health burden placed on the younger generation who are currently tasked with caring for their aging loved ones. This ‘burden’ is an opportunity - by dealing with it, we can strengthen our younger workforce.
“Nearly 70% of working caregivers must make workplace accommodations including modifying hours, taking a leave of absence, choosing early retirement or turning down a promotion.” (link)
The Cost of Caring.
Taking care of elderly loved ones can be both rewarding and intense. In many cases, younger caregivers need to balance this role with their professional career and personal life, leading to a tremendous amount of anxiety, stress, and even burnout. This responsibility, along with the need to establish their own careers and families, undoubtedly contributes to a decline in productivity, and even a potential reluctance or inability in having more children (quite the vicious circle).
Even outsourcing care to professional caregivers doesn't guarantee freedom from the emotional toll of guilt and frustration.
What’s more is that this issue isn’t going away anytime soon. With baby boomers about to retire, the share of 65+ in the total population is projected to increase in an unprecedented manner (by 2030, 1 in 5 will be 65+). And despite the growing demographic of aging adults requiring greater support, mental and emotional health resources available to caregivers remain limited.
Share of 65+ population in the U.S. (1950 to 2050) - source
While caring for the mental wellbeing of seniors might seem ethical on its own, I believe society as a whole should have a vested interest in it. With a significant chunk likely to end up as caregivers (despite having zero training for it), we must consider ways of improving those relationships (between caregivers and seniors).
Unfortunately, today, services for caregivers remain mostly focused on seniors’ physical needs. Yet, providing innovative tools to help caregivers care for their physically-healthy senior loved ones, and thereby reducing the burden placed on caregivers, could give rise to:
Increasing employee productivity
Reducing employee absenteeism
Increasing fertility rates (by reducing caregivers’ financial and emotional toll)
While there are those who consider what can be done to increase fertility rates, there ought to be those who focus on dealing with the new current status quo. This distinction is similar to current approaches of dealing with global warming by reducing carbon emissions on one side (long-term), while increasing carbon capture on the other (short-term).
Don’t get me wrong. My father’s sacrifice still inspires me. And caring for my grandmother today is extremely fulfilling. But I think that aligning seniors' interests with the rest of society's may hold the key to unlocking healthy aging.
Instead of strictly focusing on physical health, we should all strive to help our senior loved ones maintain (and potentially develop) healthier lives in terms of social and mental health.
Perhaps then, we can create a more balanced environment where the younger generation has the capacity and mental wellbeing to build their own families and careers, without being overwhelmed by the responsibilities of caregiving.