Table 1.
Characteristics of long-term caregivers and incident caregivers
| Mean (SD) or N (%) | Long-term caregiver n=32 | Incident caregiver n=251 | X 2 | t-statistic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
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| Demographics | ||||
|
| ||||
| Age | 71.9 (7.0) | 71.8 (8.1) | -- | −0.03 (p=0.98) |
|
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| Sex (female) | 22 (68.8%) | 163 (64.9%) | 0.18 (p=0.67) | -- |
|
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| Race (African American) | 12 (37.5%) | 90 (35.9%) | 0.033 (p=0.86) | -- |
|
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| Care recipient relationship | 8.67 (p=0.01)* | -- | ||
| Spouse | 16 (50.0%) | 128 (51.0%)) | ||
| Parent | 2 (6.3%) | 63 (25.1%) | ||
| Other | 14 (43.8%) | 60 (23.9%) | ||
|
| ||||
| Married/living with significant other | 28 (87.5%) | 184 (73.3%) | 3.04 (p=0.08) | -- |
|
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| Dementia status of care recipient | 15 (46.9%) | 117 (46.6%) | 0.0008 (p=0.98) | -- |
|
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| Measures of distress | ||||
|
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| Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) | 5.1 (2.7) | 4.55 (3.0) | -- | −1.05 (p=0.29) |
|
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| Caregiving strain | 0.69 (p=0.71) | -- | ||
| No strain | 3 (9.4%) | 37 (14.7%) | ||
| Some strain | 20 (62.5%) | 150 (59.8%) | ||
| A lot of strain | 9 (28.1%) | 64 (25.5%) | ||
|
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| Main variables of interest | ||||
|
| ||||
| Positive aspects of caregiving (PAC) | 47.4 (7.9) | 44.7 (10.2) | -- | −1.41 (p=0.16) |
|
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| Social network size | 6.3 (2.0) | 6.4 (2.2) | -- | 0.24 (p=0.81) |
|
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| Monthly social contact | 3.3 (1.2) | 3.3 (1.4) | −0.03 (p=0.98) | -- |
|
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| Years of caregiving | 23.2 (10.1) | 5.8 (2.5) | −0.68 (p<0.01)* | -- |
T-tests for continuous variables and chi-square test of significance for categorical variables
*
p<0.05