THE ROLE OF NEUROTICISM AND MASTERY IN SPOUSE CAREGIVERS ASSESSMENT OF AND RESPONSE TO A CONTEXTUAL STRESSOR

Data from more than 300 spousal caregivers and their care recipients w ere analyzed to demonstrate the effects of caregivers' personality att ributes-neuroticism and mastery-on their assessment of a contextual st ressor (the care recipient's behavioral and functional impairment) and on their experience of distress associated with that stressor. Caregi vers who were high in neuroticism and/or low in mastery reported highe r levels of behavioral and functional impairment in their disabled spo use and experienced more strain and depressive symptoms associated wit h caregiving relative to caregivers with lower neuroticism or higher m astery scores. We further showed that the widely reported association between caregiver-assessed impairment of the care recipient and caregi ver outcomes cart in part be explained by caregivers' personality attr ibutes, such as neuroticism and mastery. Our findings that caregivers' personality variables are related to their assessment of a given obje ctive stressor and their response to a given level of stress have impl ications for interventions targeting caregivers and for the use of car egivers as proxy informants.