Objectives We examined whether previously identified relationships between sociodemographic factors and caregivers for skilled nursing facility (SNF) admissions are replicated when jointly accounting for longitudinal change in functional limitations. We further explored the impact of caregivers by investigating the relationship between caregiver's characteristics and SNF admissions. Design Longitudinal follow-up study. Setting The United States of America. Participants In total, 3875 older Americans from the 2011-2015 rounds of the National Health and Aging Trends Study linked with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Measures Sociodemographic factors and caregiver's characteristics were used to predict change in functional limitations from baseline and time to first SNF admission using a joint modeling approach. Results In total, 11.3% of the study population had a SNF admission during follow-up. For sociodemographic factors, non-Hispanic white,