Table 1.

Descriptions of Main Effect Independent Variables and their Sample Characteristics

Variable	Description (Sample Characteristics)
Gender of the CR	0 = Husband was CR (56.6%).
	1 = Wife was CR (43.4 %).
Health
CR no. of IADLs	IADL limitations = not being able to prepare a hot meal, shop for groceries, make a telephone call or take medication without help; or not doing the task because of health reasons (Range: 1–4; M: 2.0; SD: 1.1).
CR no. of ADLs	ADL limitations = elder gets help, does not do, or has difficulty in dressing, bathing, eating, or toileting; or elder gets help, does not do, uses equipment, or has difficulty walking or getting in and out of bed (Range: 0–6; M: 2.3; SD: 2.0).
CR no. of health conditionsa	Health conditions = diabetes, heart condition, stroke, lung disease, cancer, arthritis, psychiatric problems, urine control, and legal blindness or very poor eyesight. Count truncated at 5 or more (Range: 0–5; M: 1.8; SD; 1.3).
CR cognitive problems	0 = No serious cognitive problems (74.3%).
	1 = CR gave < half correct replies to phone version of Mini Mental Status Examination (Herzog and Wallace 1997); or proxy indicated symptoms of cognitive problems (wandering, getting lost, hearing voices, or unable to leave alone) (25.7%.).
CR proxy	0 = CR data provided by the CR (66.1%).
	1 = Proxy provided CR data (33.9%).
Spouse IADLsb	0 = No IADL limitations, as defined above for CR (87.2%).
	1 = At least 1 IADL limitation (12.8%).
Spouse ADLsb	0 = No ADL limitations, as defined above for CR (77.2%).
	1 = At least 1 ADL limitation (22.8%).
Available Informal Help
Spouse employedb	0 = Spouse not employed outside the house (90.0%).
	1 = Spouse employed outside the house (10.0%).
Couple’s no. of daughtersa	No. living with or < 10 miles away from couple, truncated at 3 or more (Range: 0–3; M: 0.5; SD: 0.8).
Couple’s no. of sonsa	No., as defined above for daughters (Range: 0–3; M: 0.5; SD: 0.7).
Available Formal Help
CR Medicaid	0 = No Medicaid coverage (92.0%).
	1 = CR health care covered by Medicaid (8.0%).
Couple’s poverty ratioa	Ratio of household income last year to U.S. poverty figure (1992/1993) for a given household size and composition, rounded to 1 decimal and truncated at 13.0 or more (Range: 0.0–13.0; M: 2.6; SD: 2.2).
Sociodemographic Characteristics
Couple’s race/ethnicity	0 = Both non-Hispanic White (84.3%).
	1 = Both non-Hispanic Black/African American (15.7%).
Couple’s years marriedc	No. of years couple married to each other (Range: 1–76; M: 48.1; SD: 14.7).
Couple’s summed ages	Spouse + CR age in years (Range: 127–187; M: 155.1; SD: 11.3)
Spouse’s age – CR’s age	Arithmetic difference in ages (Range:−22 – +16; M: −2.3; SD: 5.4).

Note. CR = care recipient. M = Mean. SD = Standard Deviation. IADL = Instrumental Activities of Daily Living. ADL = Activities of Daily Living.

^aVariable was truncated because of highly skewed distribution.

^bVariable was dichotomized because very few spouses had this characteristic.

^cBased on CR’s report, except that the spouse's report was used when the CR's data were missing and when the report of a CR with severe cognitive problems differed from the spouse’s report by five or more years.