Does type of disease matter ? Gender differences among Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease spouse caregivers

Mental health outcomes are widely reported among spouse caregivers, with wives generally faring worse than husbands. We hypothesized that gender differences would not be as strong in a cognitively intact group because caring for cognitively intact spouses may involve less severe reciprocity losses....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Gerontologist 2000-10, Vol.40 (5), p.568-573
Main Authors: HOOKERT, K, MANOOGIAN-O'DELL, M, MANOHAN, D.J, FRAZIER, L.D, SHIFREN, K
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation, Psychological
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Alzheimer Disease - nursing
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimers disease
Analysis of Variance
Anxiety - diagnosis
Anxiety - etiology
Biological and medical sciences
Caregivers
Caregivers - psychology
Depression - diagnosis
Depression - etiology
Female
Gender
Gerontology
Humans
Husbands
Male
Medical sciences
Mental health
Middle Aged
Miscellaneous
Parkinson Disease - nursing
Parkinson's disease
Parkinsons disease
Public health. Hygiene
Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine
Regression Analysis
Sex Factors
Stress, Psychological - diagnosis
Stress, Psychological - etiology
Wives
Women
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Summary:Mental health outcomes are widely reported among spouse caregivers, with wives generally faring worse than husbands. We hypothesized that gender differences would not be as strong in a cognitively intact group because caring for cognitively intact spouses may involve less severe reciprocity losses. We also examined gender differences in coping strategies within each group. 175 spouse caregivers for patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD; n = 88) and Parkinson's disease (PD; n = 87) were interviewed. Participants completed perceived stress (PSS), depression (CES-D), state anxiety (STAI, Form Y), and coping strategies (WCCL-R) measures. Wives in the AD group reported significantly worse mental health outcomes than husbands, while wives and husbands in the PD group showed no differences. AD caregiving wives were less likely than husbands to use problem-focused coping strategies. There were no significant gender differences in either group for social support or emotion-focused coping. Loss of reciprocity in marital relationships may affect women more negatively than men. Future studies that address underlying mechanisms of gender differences and focus on similar caregiving situations and contexts deserve attention.
ISSN:0016-9013
1758-5341
DOI:10.1093/geront/40.5.568