Longitudinal Patterns of Risk for Depression in Dementia Caregivers: Objective and Subjective Primary Stress as Predictors

The present study examined how patterns of risk for depression over 1 year in 188 dementia caregivers (consistently asymptomatic, n = 88; consistently symptomatic, n = 40; changing risk, n = 60) could be predicted by objective (behavior problems of the relative) and subjective (role captivity and overload) primary stress. Results reveal that all primary stressors differentiated caregivers who remained at low levels of symptomatology over the course of 1 year from those who were at risk for experiencing a depressive disorder. In addition, caregivers' subjective experience of role captivity predicted the chronicity of risk. Findings extend prior caregiving research on patterns of depressive symptomatology by highlighting the relationship between subjective primary stressors and stability and change in caregivers' mental health.