Emotional Suppression and Hypervigilance in Military Caregivers: Relationship to Negative and Positive Affect.
Angelle M Sander, Nicholas R Boileau, Robin A Hanks and 2 others
PMID 31365438WHAT IT FOUND
Caregivers of service members and veterans with traumatic brain injury who reported more emotional suppression also reported more negative and less positive affect.
Those reporting more caregiver vigilance also reported more negative affect, but not less positive affect.
Key findings
01Caregivers who reported more emotional suppression also reported more negative affect and less positive affect across the measures examined.
02Caregivers who reported more caregiver vigilance also reported more negative affect, but vigilance was not associated with less positive affect when both predictors were considered together.
0316.4% of caregivers scored in the impaired range for emotional suppression and 20.6% scored in the impaired range for caregiver vigilance.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
This was a survey analysis, not a treatment study, so it cannot show that changing emotional suppression or caregiver vigilance would improve affect. The sample included only caregivers of service members and veterans with TBI recruited at 2 of 5 sites, so it may not represent all military caregivers. TBI severity was missing for 56.6% of the sample, so injury severity could not be accounted for. The caregivers had been in the role for an average of 7.2 years, so the findings may not apply to caregivers in early recovery. Comorbid psychiatric conditions such as PTSD were not included, which could influence affect or the relationships. The authors state that these relationships may have limited clinical utility, because impairment on the suppression and vigilance measures was related to moderate to severe affect for only a few measures.
Declared interests
The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The paper is listed as supported by NIH extramural and U.S. government research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that helping caregivers suppress less or be less vigilant will improve their mood. This study measured associations and did not test a treatment.