Social Science Japan Journal Advance Access published online on January 9, 2009
Social Science Japan Journal, doi:10.1093/ssjj/jyn064
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Does It Matter Who Cares? A Comparison of Daughters versus Daughters-in-Law in Japanese Elder Care
Susan Orpett LONG is a professor of anthropology specializing in contemporary Japanese society and culture. Her recent publications include: Final Days: Japanese Culture and Choice at the End of Life (University of Hawaii Press, 2005) and ‘Social Change and Caregiving of the Elderly’, in The Demographic Challenge: A Handbook about Japan, Florian Coulmas, Harald Conrad, Annette Schad-Seifert and Gabriele Vogt, eds. (Brill, 2008). She teaches anthropology and East Asian Studies at John Carroll University and can be reached by e-mail at long{at}jcu.edu
Ruth CAMPBELL is currently a Visiting Scholar at the Program of Gerontological Research at the University of Tokyo. She retired in 2006 as Associate Director for Social Work and Community Programs at the University of Michigan Geriatrics Center. Her publications include: ‘Teidan: Choukoureikashakai ni okeru Successful Aging’ (Trialogue: Successful Aging in the Super-Aging Society), with John Campbell and Hiroko Akiyama, Kikan Kakei Keizai Kenky
70: 2–10 (Spring, 2006). She can be reached by e-mail at rcampbel{at}umich.edu
NISHIMURA Chie is a research assistant at the Human Care Research Team, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology. Her research focuses on the life experiences of the elderly and the meaning of health. She can be reached by e-mail at juniorddchie{at}hotmail.com
Japan's mass longevity has led to significant changes regarding the care of frail older people. In 2000, the state created a mandatory Long-Term Care Insurance program designed to provide home-based and institutional services. It has not, however, eliminated the centrality of family assistance and the question for many families remains: who will do what for frail elderly relatives? This paper examines the widespread notion that caregiving by a daughter is a better option for family care than caregiving by a daughter-in-law. As part of a larger study of family care under the new long-term care insurance system, we interviewed 14 caregiver–care recipient pairs in which the caregiver was a daughter or a daughter-in-law. In this paper, we compare the two groups regarding how they became the caregiver, their use of long-term care services and the difficulties and positive outcomes of caregiving they have experienced. We find that what the caregivers do and the difficulties of providing support to their relative are largely similar, but that they differ in the emotional and relational aspects of the caregiving experience.