Multiple mediators of the relations between caregiving stress and depressive symptoms
Open accessAbstract
OBJECTIVE: This study tested a model for explaining how stress is associated with depressive symptoms in a sample of spouse caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's disease. It was hypothesized that more depressive symptoms would be significantly correlated with both 'primary' caregiver stressors (i.e., care recipient problem behaviors) and 'secondary' stress (i.e., role overload), but that this relationship would be significantly mediated by four variables: (1) personal mastery, (2) coping self-efficacy, (3) activity restriction, and (4) avoidance coping. METHOD: We used an asymptotic and resampling strategy for simultaneously testing multiple mediators of the stress-to-depressive symptoms pathway. RESULTS: Greater stress was significantly related to more depressive symptoms. Increased stress was also associated with reduced personal mastery and self-efficacy, as well as increased activity restriction and avoidance coping. Finally, these four mediators accounted for a significant amount of the relationship between stress and depressive symptoms. DISCUSSION: These results suggest multiple pathways by which both primary and secondary caregiver stresses may be associated with increased depressive symptoms, and may argue for multiple treatment targets for caregiver interventions.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Previous studies within dementia caregiving have investigated the mediating or moderating role of experiential avoidance or cognitive fusion separately in the association between caregiving stressors and mental health outcomes.
“previous studies within dementia caregiving have investigated mediating or moderating role of experiential avoidance or cognitive fusion separately in the association between caregiving stressors and mental health outcomes (Barrera-Caballero et al., 2021; Mausbach et al., 2012; Romero-Moreno et al., 2016).”
From The role of experiential avoidance and cognitive fusion in the development of anxiety symptoms among family carers of people with dementia (2024) · cites this paper as Mausbach et al., 2012
The Discussion reports that avoidance coping mediated the relationship between caregiving stress and depressive symptoms in spousal caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s disease. But the Methods measure avoidance coping, not experiential avoidance or cognitive fusion, and this study examines it alongside other mediators rather than separately. No page numbers are provided in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.87)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredPrevious studies within dementia caregiving have separately investigated mediating roles of experiential avoidance or cognitive fusion in the association between caregiving stressors and mental health outcomes.
“Previous studies within dementia caregiving have separately investigated mediating roles of experiential avoidance or cognitive fusion in the association between caregiving stressors and mental health outcomes (Barrera- Caballero et al., 2021; Mausbach et al., 2012; Van Hout et al., 2023).”
From The role of experiential avoidance and cognitive fusion in the development of anxiety symptoms among family carers of people with dementia (2024) · cites this paper as Mausbach et al., 2012
The Discussion reports that avoidance coping mediated the relationship between caregiving stress and depressive symptoms in spousal caregivers of patients with Alzheimer’s disease. But the Methods identify the measure as an avoidance-coping subscale; our copy does not identify it as experiential avoidance or examine cognitive fusion. Page numbers are unavailable in the indexed passages. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredSignificant mediating paths of experiential avoidance were found in the relationship between caregiving stressors and depressive symptomatology in family carers of people with dementia.
“significant mediating paths of experiential avoidance found in the relationship between caregiving stressors and depressive symptomatology in family carers of people with dementia (Mausbach et al., 2012)”
From The role of experiential avoidance and cognitive fusion in the development of anxiety symptoms among family carers of people with dementia (2024) · cites this paper as Mausbach et al., 2012
The Discussion reports significant mediation by avoidance coping between caregiving stress and depressive symptoms. The Methods identify the measure as an avoidance-coping subscale, not a measure of experiential avoidance. The study also included only spousal caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s disease, rather than family carers generally (Discussion; page numbers unavailable). (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
The citation lists haven’t been fetched yet
References 58 · Cited by 119
Research works printed but not linked: 4
- Burns A 1996 The institute of psychiatry Alzheimer’s disease cohort 1986–1992: Part 1--clinical observations International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 11 309 320
- Mausbach BT Aschbacher K Patterson TL Ancoli-Israel S von Känel R Mills PJ 2006 Avoidant Coping Partially Mediates the Relationship Between Patient Problem Behaviors and Depressive Symptoms in Spousal Alzheimer Caregivers American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 14 299 306 16582038
- Mausbach BT Aschbacher K Patterson TL Ancoti-Israel S von Känel R Mills PJ 2006 Avoidant coping partially mediates the relationship between patient problem behaviors and depressive symptoms in spousal Alzheimer caregivers American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 14 299 306 16582038
- Williamson GM 2000 Extending the activity restriction model of depressed affect: Evidence from a sample of breast cancer patients Health Psychology 19 339 347 10907652
- Authors
- Mausbach, B. T., Roepke, S. K., Chattillion, E. A., Harmell, A. L., Moore, R., Romero-Moreno, R., Bowie, C. R., & Grant, I.
- Affiliations
- University of California San Diego (US)
- San Diego State University (US)
- Alliant University (US)
- d Department of Psychology , Universidad Rey Juan Carlos de Madrid 28922 , Alcorcón , Madrid , Spain
- Queen's University (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Mausbach, Brent T.
- Venue
- Aging & Mental Health
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2012-01-01
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 27-38
- ISSN
- 1360-7863 (ISSN-L)
- 1364-6915
- PMC
- PMC3266948
- OpenAlex
- W2001067044
- Cited by
- 119
- References
- 58
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 20.95
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- europepmc.org
- Locations
- Aging & Mental Health (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- University of California, San Diego
- National Institute on Aging (R01AG015301, R01AG031090)
- National Institute of Mental Health (R25MH080916)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Pharmacy › Nursing care and research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Health and Well-being Studies
- Keywords
- caregiver stress, depressive symptoms, spousal caregivers, Alzheimer's disease, mediation, personal mastery, coping self-efficacy, activity limitation, avoidance coping, role overload, caregiver interventions
- MeSH terms
- Adaptation, Psychological, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Alzheimer Disease, Depression, Female, Humans, Male, Stress, Psychological, Caregivers, Self Efficacy
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
