Social Science Japan Journal Advance Access originally published online on January 9, 2009
Social Science Japan Journal 2009 12(1):1-21; doi:10.1093/ssjj/jyn064
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Social Science Japan Journal 12:1-21 (2009)
© 2009 Oxford University Press
Does It Matter Who Cares? A Comparison of Daughters versus Daughters-in-Law in Japanese Elder Care
Susan O. 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.
* Data for this manuscript come from the interdisciplinary research project, ‘Care for the Elderly Since the Enactment of Public Long-Term Care Insurance in Japan’. The co-principal investigators are Suda Y
ko and Takahashi Rytar
. Other researchers involved in the interviewing portion of the project are Asakawa Noriko, Asano Yko, Izumo Yji, Kodama Hiroko, Muraoka Kko, Nishida Masumi, and Yamada Yoshiko. The authors are grateful for their skills and ideas, without which this paper could not have been written. The editorial board of SSJJ and three anonymous reviewers offered important suggestions for improving the manuscript. We especially want to express our appreciation to the caregivers and care recipients who spoke with us about their lives.