Exam 17: Physical Illness and Family Stress

Correct Answer:

Verified

Varies and may include:
Physical and mental health stressors (Figure 14.1 (in the text)) are linked to individual and family outcomes through adaptive processes. Health stressors are sometimes due to chance (e.g., brain injury resulting from a car accident) and sometimes caused or influenced by stable characteristics or behaviors called enduring vulnerabilities or enduring characteristics (e.g., poor eating habits, lack of exercise, and genetic predisposition leading to type 2 diabetes).
Gender is an important moderating factor because women are more likely to be caregivers. Pinquart and Sörensen (2006) reported that women "provided more caregiving hours, helped with more caregiving tasks, and assisted more with personal care" (p. 33). Further, female caregivers often experience higher levels of burden than male caregivers (Rohr et al., 2013).
Marital status and having siblings also can influence caregiving of ill parents by adult children. Unmarried adult children are more likely to co-reside with a widowed mother (Seltzer & Friedman, 2014), and having a parent co-reside with an adult child is linked to a lower likelihood of siblings becoming a caregiver (Pezzin et al., 2014).
Ethnicity and culture may influence the likelihood of caregiving, associated stressors, and outcomes. On one hand, ethnic or cultural identity may increase the likelihood of an adult child wanting to provide care (Anngela-Cole & Busch, 2011), actually providing care (Angel et al., 2014), and having positive perceptions of the caregiver role (Vroman & Morency, 2011). On the other hand, ethnic or cultural influences may decrease the likelihood of care recipients using available formal services from which they might benefit (Brown et al., 2014). Culturally sensitive interventions for caregivers and aging care recipients might enhance the quality of caregiving experiences of all involved.