ATLANTA – Southern hospitality, it seems, extends to the elderly: A higher percentage of Southerners care for the old and ailing than do people in other parts of the country, according to a new study.

Nearly 17 percent of Southerners said in survey that they provide regular care to a friend or family member 60 who has a long-term illness or disability, according to University of Florida researchers.

Caregiving prevalence was about 15 percent in the Midwest, Northeast and Rocky Mountain states, about 14 percent in New England and the Southwest, and just 13 percent in the Pacific states.

“People in the South have always just taken care of their own,” said Rosalynn Carter, the former first lady, who is president of the governing board of the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregiving at Georgia Southwestern State University.

The institute was established in her honor in 1989 on the campus of her alma mater in Americus, Ga. It commissioned the University of Florida study.

The study was based on results from a national telephone survey, which included questions on a range of health behaviors and life circumstances, including caregiving. The study included responses from about 180,000 people.

The survey was done in 2000, but the results on the caregiving questions have never before been reported, said Richard Birkel, executive director of the Rosalynn Carter Institute.

The study is the first to demonstrate the regional variations, said Elena Andresen, a study co-author who is chief of epidemiology at the University of Florida’s College of Public Health and Health Professions.

The results also offered state-specific findings that indicated the highest caregiving rates were in Mississippi (21 percent), West Virginia (20 percent), Arkansas (18 percent) and Georgia (17 percent).

Richard Birkel, executive director of the Rosalynn Carter Institute, suggested several possible reasons for the region’s high ranking.

• Survey results show Southerners were more likely to rely on themselves for arranging short- or long-term care for a loved one, while people in other regions were more likely to use medical agencies. “There’s a cultural acceptance or belief system (in the South) that caregiving is a family affair,” Birkel said.
• Relatively low incomes in the South make it difficult for many families to afford nursing home care. One year in a Georgia nursing home costs more than the average Georgia family earns annually, according to a recent study released by Genworth Financial, an insurance holding company.
• The South not only has a large concentration of retirees, but also the nation’s largest percentage of disabled people, according to unpublished survey data compiled by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

CDC officials said they are still finalizing the data from 2001 and 2003 national surveys, and would not release specifics until next month.

University of Florida researchers also reported results of a 2005 in-depth survey of about 370 North Carolina caregivers.

There were several indicators of coping difficulties. About 84 percent said they turned to prayer to cope with caregiving stress. About 21 percent said they did not know as much as they need to about the prescription medicine their care recipient takes.

“This is a very vulnerable group” to future health problems, Birkel said. It’s likely the ranks of caregivers will grow as more Baby Boomers age and become care recipients themselves, he said.

Carter, 78, said an interest in caregiving was ingrained from childhood – as a girl she did homework on the floor of her father’s bedroom, where he he was dying from leukemia, to keep him company. Her grandfather lived with the family for many years, starting at age 70, she added.

Her interest in caregiving was heightened when she worked on mental health issues and saw the challenges facing families who cared for people with mental illness.

“It takes a toll,” Carter said.

The institute gives awards to Americans who dedicate their careers to caregiving, and was to hold a ceremony Tuesday night to honor this year’s recipients.

“I have a colleague who says there are four categories of caregivers – those who have been caregivers, those who are caregivers, those who will be caregivers and those who will need caregiving,” she said. “It’s going to affect everybody at one time.”