INTERNAL RESOURCEFULNESS, TASK DEMANDS, COPING, AND DYSPHORIC AFFECT AMONG CAREGIVERS OF THE FRAIL ELDERLY

Internal resourcefulness is defined as the repertoire of skills and be haviors individuals employ to deal with negative affective states. The relationships among caregivers' internal resourcefulness, demands of the caregiving situation, and caregivers' self-reported. coping behavi ors were examined relative to changes in dysphoric affect over time. P rimary caregivers of the frail elderly (N = 143) completed the followi ng measures, at two time periods, approximately four months apart: Ros enbaum's Self Control Schedule, assessing internal resourcefulness [1] ; Poulshock and Deimling's list of tasks carried out for the frail eld er [2]; Zarit et al.'s Memory and Behavior Problem Check List assessin g caregiver burden [3]; Moos et al.'s Indices of Coping [4]; and Beck et al.'s Depression Inventory as a means of assessing dysphoric affect [5]. Although caregivers' reactions to the care recipients' annoying behaviors predicted negative affect at time 1 and avoidant coping beha vior predicted negative affect at times 1 and 2, internal resourcefuln ess was the only significant predictor of changes in dysphoric affect over time. Decreased dysphoric affect among caregivers was linked to p ossession of a larger initial set of internal resources to deal with n egative internal experiences.