Adaptive, Growth-s Oriented, and Positive Perceptions of Mother-Daughter Elder Caregiving Relationships: A Path-Analytic Investigation of Predictors

Abstract

One hundred twenty-two pairs (n = 244) of filial caregivers (daughters) and care recipients (mothers) were interviewed separately, to investigate the factors underlying positive, growth-oriented caregiving relationships. The outcome variable examined was the type of caregiving pair (positive, negative, mixed, and neutral), as determined by "blind" raters. Based on existing research, factors examined as being significant predictors of this outcome variable were perceived roles (role changes, role relations) and individual-difference characteristics (personality dimensions, fluid intellectual ability). The results of the path model tested support the importance of individual-difference factors in understanding positive mother-daughter elder caregiving relationships.

Relationship Quality in Non-Cognitively Impaired Mother–Daughter Care Dyads

“…Two additional works used mixed methods (Hollis-Sawyer, 2001; Walter, 1991). Both were cross-sectional.…”

“…In the quantitative portions, both authors used investigator-devised scales as well as standardized measures that were not replicated in other studies. For the qualitative portions, structured interviews were used to categorize care dyad relationship quality (Hollis-Sawyer, 2001) or support quantitative findings with exemplars (Walter, 1991). Walter (1991) used a sample of 48 mother–daughter dyads and Hollis-Sawyer (2001), 122 dyads.…”

“…The majority of mother–daughter dyads reported what Walker and Allen (1991) dubbed an “overwhelmingly positive” (p. 392) relationship, marked by great rewards, mutuality, responsiveness, and well-handled conflict. These positive dyads negotiated autonomy and connection for both women (McGraw & Walker, 2004), and both enjoyed personal growth, openness, adaptation, and novel problem solving (Hollis-Sawyer, 2001).…”

“…A positive to negative relationship quality spectrum. Three investigator groups delineated a spectrum of positive to negative relationship typologies, yet all three (Hollis-Sawyer, 2001;McGraw & Walker, 2004;Walker & Allen, 1991) noted a need to investigate the multi-dimensional complexities of relationship quality, not simply a binary, positive-negative calculus of human relationships. The majority of mother-daughter dyads reported what Walker and Allen (1991) dubbed an "overwhelmingly positive" (p. 392) relationship, marked by great rewards, mutuality, responsiveness, and well-handled conflict.…”

How Frail Elders Evaluate Their Caregiver's Role Enactment

“…Studies of responses to receiving care have examined satisfaction with care from a family member (Lucas, Stewart, Archbold, & Harvath, 1986), care receiver satisfaction with life as a whole rather than with caregiving (Dwyer, Lee, & Jankowski, 1994), negotiations between the caregiver and care receiver (Russell, Phillips, Cromwell, & Gregory, 1999), whether members of the care-giving dyad regard the relationship as a positive, adaptive, and growth-oriented experience (Hollis-Sawyer, 2001), care receiver satisfaction with the helping relationship (Martini, Grusec, & Bernardini, 2001), their ratings of the sufficiency of family care (Morrow-Howell, Proctor, & Rozario, 2001), and care receiver perceived quality of spousal care (Martire, Schulz, Wrosch, & Newsom, 2003).…”