Obligation and negative consequences in primary caregivers of dependent older relatives

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyse the multidimensional nature of obligation and the relations between each dimension of obligation and both anxiety and depression. A secondary analysis of data from two cross-sectional studies of primary home caregivers (N = 400; probabilistic sample) of older adult relatives in Spain was conducted. Data regarding obligation (four categories basing on beliefs of obligation and social pressure: low pressure and low beliefs, low pressure and high beliefs, high pressure and low beliefs and high pressure and high beliefs), stressors, anxiety and depression were collected by interview in 2013. The combination of high pressure and low beliefs had the highest levels of anxiety and depression, and the combination of low pressure and high beliefs had the lowest levels of anxiety and depression. When the relation of behavioural problems with anxiety and depression stratified by the previous four categories of obligation was analysed, behavioural problems were associated with anxiety and depression in the subgroups with low beliefs of obligation, whereas this association disappeared in the subgroups with high beliefs of obligation.