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Annals of Behavioral Medicine
Published in: Annals of Behavioral Medicine 2/2014

01-04-2014 | Original Article

Does Caregiving Cause Psychological Distress? The Case for Familial and Genetic Vulnerabilities in Female Twins

Authors: Peter P. Vitaliano, Ph.D., Eric Strachan, Ph.D., Elizabeth Dansie, Ph.D., Jack Goldberg, Ph.D., Dedra Buchwald, M.D.

Published in: Annals of Behavioral Medicine | Issue 2/2014

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Abstract

Background

Informal caregiving can be deleterious to mental health, but research results are inconsistent and may reflect an interaction between caregiving and vulnerability to stress.

Methods

We examined psychological distress among 1,228 female caregiving and non-caregiving twins. By examining monozygotic and dizygotic twin pairs discordant for caregiving, we assessed the extent to which distress is directly related to caregiving or confounded by common genes and environmental exposures.

Results

Caregiving was associated with distress as measured by mental health functioning, anxiety, perceived stress, and depression. The overall association between caregiving and distress was confounded by common genes and environment for mental health functioning, anxiety, and depression. Common environment also confounded the association of caregiving and perceived stress.

Conclusions

Vulnerability to distress is a factor in predicting caregivers' psychosocial functioning. Additional research is needed to explicate the mechanisms by which common genes and environment increase the risk of distress among informal caregivers.
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Metadata
Title
Does Caregiving Cause Psychological Distress? The Case for Familial and Genetic Vulnerabilities in Female Twins
Authors
Peter P. Vitaliano, Ph.D.
Eric Strachan, Ph.D.
Elizabeth Dansie, Ph.D.
Jack Goldberg, Ph.D.
Dedra Buchwald, M.D.
Publication date
01-04-2014
Publisher
Springer US
Published in
Annals of Behavioral Medicine / Issue 2/2014
Print ISSN: 0883-6612
Electronic ISSN: 1532-4796
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-013-9538-y

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