Links of We-Talk to Caregiver Social Network Systems and Health

Caring for a child, particularly one with a rare disease, presents a challenging set of stressors that can impact entire family networks. Given this shared impact, caregivers can engage in communal coping to address the caregiving process, defined as the perception of caregiving as shared and collaborative behaviors to address it. In this study, we examined one common measure of communal coping-first person plural pronouns or "we-talk"-in caregivers of either (a) children with rare or undiagnosed diseases or (b) typically developing children. We sought to examine how we-talk is linked to (a) caregiver health and well-being and (b) social network involvement in caregiving. Caregivers (n = 311) participated in (a) survey questionnaires (b) a network enumeration interview and (c) a semistructured interview of caregiving. Results indicated we-talk was unrelated to stress or self-rated health, but was linked to more benefit-finding; greater individual-focused language (I-talk) was also linked to worse self-rated health. Additionally, we-talk was unrelated to malfeasant behavior (e.g., overly critical), but was linked to less nonfeasant behavior (e.g., underinvolvement), more uplift behavior (e.g., helping with caregiving), and more health-related communication with network members. Further, these findings did not differ across caregiving context. This work highlights the role of communal coping for caregivers managing general parenting stress as well as the stress associated with caring for a child with complex medical needs. Future research should continue to examine how interpersonal coping processes operate within social networks to impact health and well-being for all involved.