More than 3 million people have taken the unselfish act of caring for children who are related to them but not their own biological children. These individuals are called kinship caregivers (e.g., grandparents raising grandchildren) and they often experience high levels of stress related to providing care for children. Because stress, in turn, has been associated with a number of negative health outcomes, research must focus on ways to lessen kinship caregivers’ stress to ensure their health and overall well-being. This brief will discuss financial and nonfinancial contributors to caregivers’ stress levels, the potential health consequences of stress, and possibilities for reducing stress.
Kinship caregivers may provide care under the supervision of the child welfare system (formal) or without such oversight (informal). For every child raised in kinship care in the foster care system, 18 are being raised outside of the foster care system in informal kinship. The vast majority of all kinship caregivers are grandparents, while other relatives—such as aunts, uncles, or siblings—and close family friends, including godparents or church members, make up the remainder. Approximately 63 percent of grandparent caregivers are women, 60 percent are over age 60, and 26 percent of them have a disability. Compared to their peers, kinship caregivers disproportionately experience social disadvantages: They are more likely to be single, less formally educated, unemployed, and living in poverty, placing them at significant risk for high stress levels. As a matter of fact, several research studies have confirmed that many kinship caregivers suffer from elevated levels of stress.
Defining and Categorizing Stress
Stress refers to the impact of stimuli on an individual’s psychological, emotional, and physical well-being. While stress can occasionally manifest as “good stress”—such as short-term motivation or heightened alertness—it is more commonly associated with “bad stress,” which is the focus of this brief. Stress often arises from financial pressures, systemic inequities, or interpersonal and family conflicts. Stressors activate the body’s stress response system, a biologically adaptive mechanism that historically enabled humans to respond to threats by preparing for either “fight or flight.” Once a threat subsides, the body typically receives an “all-clear” signal, allowing it to return to a relaxed, balanced state known as homeostasis. However, chronic stress, an ongoing state in which the brain struggles to return to a baseline of calm, may negatively affect multiple systems in the body, including cognitive function and cardiovascular health.