Mental and physical health of spouse caregivers: The role of personality.

Hooker, Karen; Monahan, Deborah J.; Shifren, Kim; Hutchinson, Cheryl

doi:10.1037/0882-7974.7.3.367

Cited by 190 publications

(125 citation statements)

References 81 publications

(96 reference statements)

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“…Nevertheless, Beckham et al (1995) studied 65 rheumatoid arthritis patients and their caregivers and found that patient physical status was sttongly related to caregiver pessimism on the Life Orientation Test. Optimism has been associated with low levels of depression m caregivers (Sumi et al, 1997;Hinrichsen and Niederehe, 1994;Hooker et al, 1992). Fostering positive expectations may therefore lower levels of depression m caregivers.…”

Section: Dispositional Optimismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Caregiver strain in spouses of stroke patients

Blake¹,

Lincoln²,

Clarke

2003

Clin Rehabil

107

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Objective: To test the ability of a previously generated logistic regression model to predict caregiver strain from carer mood, negative affectivity and perceived patient functional ability. Design: Postal prospective survey. Setting: Spouses of community-residing patients identified from hospital stroke registers. Method: Spouses were assessed at three and six months after stroke. A previously derived equation was used to make predictions at three months of their level of strain at six months, which were compared with observed outcomes. Measures: Spouses were asked to complete the Caregiver Strain Index (CSI), the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), the Positive and Negative Affectivity Schedule (PANAS) and to assess patients' independence in activities of daily living on the Extended Activities of Daily Living Scale (EADL). Results: Of 409 stroke patients, 276 had an identifiable co-resident spouse and 116 (42%) completed the measures. At three months after stroke, 39 carers (34%) were under significant strain with 40 (35%) under strain at six months. The predictive model using the GHQ-12, PANAS and EADL at three months was 78% accurate in predicting levels of caregiver strain at six months. Conclusion: Carers at risk of later strain could be identified for further followup. Services to provide emotional support to carers might be effective in the reduction of carer strain.

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Section: Dispositional Optimismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Caregiver strain in spouses of stroke patients

Blake¹,

Lincoln²,

Clarke

2003

Clin Rehabil

107

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“…Most studies include sociodemographic characteristics and social support within the caregiving situation, while a smaller group of studies has identified factors, such as patients' and partners' health prior to the care situation , quality of the relationship (e.g. marital satisfaction (Fuller and Swendsen, 1992) and personality factors, such as mastery (Pearlin et al, 1990), optimism and neuroticism (Hooker et al, 1992). Sociodemographic characteristics include variables like age, gender, living situation, type of relationship, and socioeconomic status of both the care recipient and caregiver.…”

Section: Contextual Factors In the Caregiving Processmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cancer and caregiving: the impact on the caregiver's health

Sanderman²,

et al. 1998

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“…Previous research has found that neuroticism is associated with more variability in laboratory-based cognitive performance (Robinson & Tamir, 2005). Neuroticism is also associated with increased perceived stress (e.g., Hooker, Monahan, Shifren, & Hutchinson, 1992) and heightened reactions to stressors (e.g., Mroczek & Almeida, 2004). Furthermore, neuroticism has been linked to cognitive performance, such that lower levels of neuroticism are related to better episodic memory performance (e.g., Meier, Perrig-Chiello, & Perrig, 2002).…”

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confidence: 99%

Neuroticism moderates the daily relation between stressors and memory failures.

Neupert¹,

Mroczek²,

Spiro³

2008

Psychology and Aging

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The present investigation extends previous work on the relationship between daily stressors and memory failures in a naturalistic setting by examining whether this relationship varies across levels of neuroticism. A daily diary study of 333 older adults (mean age = 73.27 years, SD = 7.17) in the Veterans Affairs Normative Aging Study (see A. Spiro & R. Bossé, 2001, for additional information) was used to examine whether there were neuroticism differences in cognitive reactivity to daily stressors. Multilevel models indicated that on days when people high in neuroticism experienced stressors, particularly interpersonal stressors, they were more likely to report memory failures compared to those who were lower in neuroticism. The findings may have important implications for age-related cognitive decline. Keywords neuroticism; daily stressors; interpersonal stressors; memory failures; intraindividual variability Neuroticism, and the constant elevated levels of negative affect that accompany the trait over years or decades, can lead to a negative emotion "hair trigger" in older adulthood (Kendler, Thornton, & Gardner, 2001;. This process suggests that as people high in neuroticism grow older, they become more susceptible to elevated negative affect. Therefore, they may become hypersensitive to stress. Indeed, Mroczek, Spiro, Griffin, and Neupert (2006) reported that older adults high in neuroticism were the most reactive to stressors (compared with younger and middle-aged adults). More recently, Mroczek and Spiro (2007) NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript neuroticism in older men were associated with elevated mortality risk, which points to the potential of high neuroticism to influence physical health outcomes. Mroczek and Spiro (2003) also found that older men with high levels of neuroticism complained of more memory problems than did those with low levels of neuroticism. Given these findings and the previously documented associations between laboratory-based stressors and cognition (e.g., Lupien & Lepage, 2001;McEwen, 2000;Sapolsky, 1999) as well as naturalistic stressors and memory failures (Neupert, Almeida, Mroczek, & Spiro, 2006a), it is important to examine whether older adults high in neuroticism exhibit patterns of hypersensitivity to daily stressors with respect to their daily memory. Although this process of hypersensitivity is often observed for negative affect, it has yet to be established with daily memory failures. Because the sample in the present study consisted of older adults, we were able to examine this process in people for whom age-related declines in memory (whether real or perceived) might be particularly salient.The tendency of people high in neuroticism to react to stressful situations with high negative affect is called the stress reactivity effect (Bolger & Schilling, 1991;Suls, 2001), and it is perhaps the central concept in understanding individual differences in mood regulation (Mroczek et al., 2006). When people high in neuroticism ex...

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Mental and physical health of spouse caregivers: The role of personality.

Cited by 190 publications

References 81 publications

Caregiver strain in spouses of stroke patients

Caregiver strain in spouses of stroke patients

Cancer and caregiving: the impact on the caregiver's health

Neuroticism moderates the daily relation between stressors and memory failures.

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