Attachment and spousal caregiving

Abstract

A community sample of 362 married couples participated in a study of attachment and spousal caregiving, which combined qualitative and quantitative components. The qualitative component focused on actual experiences of caregiving, assessed by participants' semi‐structured accounts of a situation involving their role as caregiver for their spouse. Attachment styles and their underlying dimensions (comfort with closeness, anxiety over relationships) were related to the type of support provided, the coping strategies used in the situation, caregivers' feelings about the quality of their care, perceived effects on the couple bond, and the emotional tone of the accounts. The quantitative component tested a theoretical model of factors predicting willingness to provide care for the spouse if he or she should become dependent in later life. Measures of attachment and caregiving styles, attachment to spouse, and anticipated burden provided reliable prediction of willingness to care. The results support the conceptualization of attachment and caregiving as interrelated features of marital bonds, and they have important implications for patterns of family caregiving.

Qualidade vida, sobrecarga, suporte social, ajustamento conjugal e morbidade psicológica em cuidadores de idosos com dependência funcional

“…Por outro lado, a estrutura da relação do casal pode influenciar a forma como os indivíduos lidam com a dependência, bem como percepcionam a sua saúde física, mental e emocional (Rolland, 1994;Feeney & Hohaus, 2001), uma vez que a instalação da dependência no seio familiar tem o potencial de afetar a relação marital por alterar frequentemente a estrutura familiar (Andrasik, Larsson, & Grazzi, 2002;Wheis et al, 2002;Wright, 2003). Assim, quando o cuidador tem um bom ajustamento conjugal, poderá ficar mais vulnerável ao impacto das alterações estruturais envolvidas com o cuidar e ao efeito negativo da depressão (stressor adicional) na sua qualidade de vida.…”

Together in pain: Attachment-related dyadic processes and posttraumatic stress disorder.

“…Indeed, several studies have shown that each partner's attachment insecurities contribute to the other partner's construction of, and dissatisfaction with, their relationship (e.g., Brennan & Shaver, 1995;Collins & Read, 1990). These partner effects have been noted in studies using observational methods, diary keeping, and narrative accounts as well as self-report questionnaires (e.g., Collins & Feeney, 2000;Feeney, 2002;Feeney & Hohaus, 2001).…”

Insecure Attachment to Parents and Depressive Symptoms in Early Adolescence: Mediating Roles of Attributions and Self-esteem

“…Students in reconstituted families (8%) chose whether to rate their biological or step-parent. Because internal consistencies for the ARSQ and RSQ subscales are quite low (Griffin & Bartholomew, 1994), for each parent, anxiety and avoidant attachment dimensions were obtained using Feeney and Hohaus' (2001) measurement model for the 30-item RSQ. In that study, six of the parallel RSQ items loaded on the anxiety dimension and seven parallel items loaded on the avoidance dimension.…”