Support and interpersonal stress in the social networks of married daughters caring for parents with dementia

Data collected on 95 married daughters and 1,195 members of their social networks are used to investigate factors differentiating individuals who were and were not a source of social support or interpersonal stress to women caring for parents with dementia. Reports by the caregivers indicated that siblings and friends were almost equally important sources of support, but that siblings were overwhelmingly the most important source of interpersonal stress. Multivariate analyses demonstrated the importance of some dimensions of status similarity in explaining which network members were a source of support or stress. Individuals who had cared for an elderly relative were more likely to have been a source of support and less likely to have been a source of stress; individuals who were more similar in age to the caregivers were also less likely to have been a source of stress. Gender similarity was also associated with the provision of support; however, gender-similar network members were also a greater source of interpersonal stress.