Remember the ‘caregiving kills’ study? Reality is more nuanced

When social and affective neuroscientist Naomi Eisenberger’s dad developed dementia, she knew the popular wisdom. Caring for him could shave years off her life. But Eisenberger, of UCLA, was skeptical.

Caring for her dad, who died in January, was stressful but also meaningful, she says. Distressed caregivers were 63 percent more likely to die within four years than non-caregivers, psychiatrists Richard Schulz and Scott Beach reported in 1999 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The finding has since been cited almost 5,300 times, including almost 300 times in the past two years.

But researchers have largely failed to replicate that finding, with considerable research showing instead that caregiving links with living longer, Eisenberger and colleagues report in September in Biopsychosocial Science and Medicine. Caregiving stress may be softened by humans’ hardwired propensity to help others in need, the researchers suspect. Silence surrounding caregiving’s positives is probably well-intentioned.

In 2025, almost one-quarter of all adults in the United States, some 63 million people, provided care to adults or children with a medical condition or disability, according to a 2025 report by AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving. Almost 65 percent of caregivers surveyed reported experiencing moderate or high emotional stress and almost half reported financial difficulties. Yet financial and emotional support for caregivers remains limited, the report notes.

Highlighting caregiving’s pros could jeopardize what little help is available, says sociologist and gerontologist Rebecca Utz of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Most stressors, such as work-related burnout, link with chronic inflammation. Caregiving is less likely to show that link.

Understanding that caregiving paradox could reveal how the body can withstand stress, Eisenberger says. Moreover, helping a loved one may bring unexpected benefits, Eisenberger says. She cites a 2003 study in The Gerontologist showing that adult children who did not care for a parent with severe disabilities experienced more depression than those who did, though the researchers could not show causation.