This work contributes to a knowledge base that points to the development of social programs and policies that maximize the engagement of older adults in volunteer roles. The findings suggest that targeting efforts may not be warranted, in that there are not differential benefits according to personal characteristics of the volunteer. Future studies have to address the nature of the social institutions that will maximize the number of elders in these roles and the benefits that they accrue.

Consistent with previous literature, rater role was found to influence the assessment of the sufficiency of in-home care. Researchers and providers should recognize that care recipient and professional ratings are not interchangeable.

Proponents of productive aging claim that occupying productive roles is beneficial to the self and others. The authors use the role enhancement and role strain perspectives to examine the impact of multiple productive roles on the well-being of older caregivers. Using three waves of the America Changing Lives Study, the authors controlled for invariant and time-variant factors to test the effects of occupying multiple productive roles on the three well-being indicators of 270 older caregivers. Older caregivers who worked and/or volunteered reported better self-rated health, supporting the role enhancement hypothesis. No evidence of role strain was found. For caregivers without multiple productive roles, high informal social integration was related with low functional impairment. This study suggests that productive roles may have a positive effect on older caregivers and finds no evidence of any negative effects. The implications of these findings in policy, research, and program development are discussed.

Although familism is culturally and socially popular, traditional beliefs in the caregiving role can lead to negative psychological consequences for African American women caregivers. Policies that support the realistic involvement of caregivers are needed to prevent negative consequences for caregivers.

Although we found relatively high congruency rates between self-report and service records, the choice of methods depends on the purpose of the research and breadth of provider types.