Spouse and Adult-Child Dementia Caregivers in Chinese American Families: Who Are More Stressed Out?

The sample came from one New York City agency through purposive sampling, so it may not represent Chinese American caregivers elsewhere. The survey did not establish causal order, so it cannot show that spouse caregiving caused burden or depression, or that burden caused depression. Other possible confounders, such as care receiver memory and behavior problems and caregiving hours, were not measured. All outcomes were caregiver self-reports on mailed questionnaires, which can contain response errors. The analysis excluded caregivers whose care receivers had died and caregivers who were not spouse or child, so it does not describe all family caregivers.

The authors declared no conflicts of interest.

Do not conclude that spouse caregivers do more care tasks than adult-child caregivers or that burden causes depression. The survey found no significant difference in care tasks after covariates, and it did not establish causal order.