Typologies of Caregiving Families: Family Congruence and Individual Well-Being

Data from 252 female primary caregivers, their husbands, and children living in multigenerational households were used to create family typologies based on the extent of similarity among reports of elder behaviors. Analysis of variance indicates that families characterized by high agreement and those characterized by low agreement were significantly different from one another on a number of dimensions. When the relationship between caregiver-reported stressors and mental health was examined as a function of family typology, results indicate that for high agreement families there were significant correlations between the caregiver's report of the elder's behaviors and her burden; satisfaction with caregiving; relationships with her husband, child, and elder; and depression. Similar relationships characterize data reported by husbands and children in high agreement families. For families characterized by low agreement, the majority of these relationships were not significant.