Publication Abstract Display
Type: Published Manuscript
Title: A cross-cultural validation of coping strategies and their associations with caregiving distress.
Authors: Shaw WS, Patterson TL, Semple SJ, Grant I, Yu ESH, Zhang MY, He Y, Wu WY
Year: 1997
Publication: The Gerontologist
Volume: 37 Issue: Pages: 490-504
Abstract:Coping strategies were compared among family caregivers of Alzheimer`s disease patients in Shanghai, China (n = 110) and San Diego, California (n = 139). Four coping factors were reliably consistent in both samples, supporting their widespread relevance to life adversity; behavioral confronting, behavioral distancing/social support, cognitive confronting, and cognitive distancing. Shanghai and San Diego caregivers endorsed similar rates of coping, but Shanghai caregivers reported fewer symptoms of depression and anxiety. Although coping strategies were similar, cultural ideals promoting family interdependence, veneration of elderly family members, and acceptance of traditional family roles may have reduced the psychological impacts of caregiving in the Shanghai sample.

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