How do Adult-Child Caregivers Maintain Subjective Well-Being? The Reciprocal Suppression Effect from Caregiver Burden and Sense of Coherence

Abstract

Background: Adult children are primarily responsible for the older adults of the family in China. It remained in the question how caregiver burden not necessarily poses a threat on adult children’s subjective well-being. This study aimed to examine the interacting effect between caregiver burden and sense of coherence on maintaining subjective well-being among adult-child caregivers. Methods: A total of 336 adult-child caregivers participated in this study. The Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI), Sense of Coherence scale (SOC-13), and Memorial University of Newfoundland Scale of Happiness (MUNSH) were used to measure participants’ caregiver burden, sense of coherence, and subjective well-being respectively. Results: Results showed that when sense of coherence was included, the negative effect of caregiver burden on subjective well-being increased from - .279 to - .310. Likewise, when caregiver burden was included, the positive effect of sense of coherence on subjective well-being increased from .256 to .352. The analysis of hierarchical regression towards subjective well-being indicated that caregiver burden explained 15.1% of the variance (ΔR2 = .151, p < .01) while sense of coherence explained 5.6% (ΔR2 = .056, p < .01). Conclusion: This study explored the reciprocal suppression effect between caregiver burden and sense of coherence to the maintenance of the subjective well-being of adult-child caregivers in China. According to this study, adult children who take on the role of caregiving can maintain adequate subjective well-being by strengthening their intrinsic psychological resource - sense of coherence.