Table 3.
Salivary Cortisol Levels and Associations With Daily Experiences and Caregiving Characteristics
| Parameter | Waking | 30 min after waking | Before lunch | Late afternoon | Before bed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Estimate (SE) | Estimate (SE) | Estimate (SE) | Estimate (SE) | Estimate (SE) | |
| Intercept | 9.17 (0.35) | 11.67 (0.42) | 3.97 (0.18) | 3.11 (0.23) | 2.89 (0.26) |
| Within-person covariates | |||||
| Daily ADS use | 0.01 (0.33) | 1.21 (0.39)** | 0.11 (0.18) | −0.15 (0.22) | −0.26 (0.29) |
| Daily positive experience | 0.13 (0.15) | −0.14 (0.18) | 0.01 (0.08) | −0.05 (0.10) | −0.06 (0.13) |
| Daily noncare stressors | 0.03 (0.16) | 0.12 (0.18) | −0.06 (0.08) | −0.02 (0.10) | 0.30 (0.14)* |
| Daily care-related stressors | −0.01 (0.04) | −0.02 (0.05) | −0.03 (0.02) | 0.01 (0.03) | −0.04 (0.04) |
| Daily sleep quality | 0.08 (0.19) | −0.02 (0.22) | −0.09 (0.10) | −0.41 (0.12)*** | 0.13 (0.16) |
| Daily sleep duration | −0.17 (0.20) | −0.26 (0.23) | −0.25 (0.10)* | 0.02 (0.13) | −0.15 (0.17) |
| Daily wake-up time | 0.39 (0.25) | −0.24 (0.29) | 0.34 (0.13)** | 0.10 (0.16) | 0.25 (0.22) |
| Between-person covariates | |||||
| Total ADS days | −0.12 (0.23) | −0.48 (0.27) | −0.03 (0.11) | −0.02 (0.15) | 0.21 (0.16) |
| Caregiver age | 0.07 (0.03)* | 0.06 (0.04) | 0.02 (0.02) | 0.04 (0.02)* | 0.03 (0.02) |
| Caregiver gender | −1.09 (0.96) | 0.38 (1.13) | −1.03 (0.47)* | −0.71 (0.62) | −0.76 (0.66) |
| Duration of care | 0.00 (0.01) | 0.01 (0.01) | 0.00 (0.00) | 0.00 (0.00) | −0.01 (0.00) |
| IWD’s ADL dependency | 0.79 (0.66) | 0.91 (0.79) | 0.38 (0.32) | 0.92 (0.43)* | 0.62 (0.46) |
| Average positive experience | 0.66 (0.35) | 0.96 (0.42)* | 0.21 (0.17) | 0.32 (0.23) | 0.17 (0.24) |
| Average noncare stressors | −0.28 (0.41) | −0.44 (0.48) | −0.29 (0.20) | −0.23 (0.26) | −0.05 (0.28) |
| Average care-related stressors | −0.02 (0.05) | −0.03 (0.06) | 0.03 (0.02) | 0.00 (0.03) | −0.01 (0.04) |
| Average sleep quality | −0.02 (0.46) | 0.25 (0.54) | 0.28 (0.22) | 0.23 (0.30) | 0.36 (0.32) |
| Average sleep duration | −0.90 (0.37)* | −0.96 (0.44)* | −0.44 (0.18)* | −0.60 (0.24)* | −0.50 (0.26)* |
| Average wake-up time | −0.05 (0.34) | −0.45 (0.41) | 0.04 (0.17) | 0.03 (0.22) | −0.50 (0.24)* |
Note: ADS = adult day services; IWD = individual with dementia; ADL = activities of daily living. All daily (within-person) covariates were person-mean centered. All between-person covariates were grand-mean centered.
*p ≤ .05, **p ≤ .01, ***p ≤ .001.