title: The caregiver stress process and health outcomes.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The authors examine the impact of two caregiving stressors, care receivers' behavior problems (an objective stressor) and caregivers' feelings of overload (a subjective stressor), on three dimensions of caregiver health.
  
  
  METHODS
  The participants were 234 primary caregivers of elderly relatives with dementia living in the community who completed a comprehensive interview about their current care situation, including stressors and health.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Higher levels of both objective and subjective stressors were associated with all three dimensions of caregiver health: poorer self-reported health, more negative health behaviors, and greater use of health care services. The association between objective stressors and health was mediated by caregivers' feelings of overload.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings demonstrate caregivers' vulnerability to the effects of stressors across three dimensions of health and also underscore the importance of subjective appraisals of stress.
authors.affiliation: Pennsylvania State University, University Park, USA.
authors.forename: Juheui
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Son
authors.forename: Amy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Erno
authors.forename: Dennis G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Shea
authors.forename: Elia E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Femia
authors.forename: Steven H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Zarit
authors.forename: Mary Ann Parris
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Stephens
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D017281:Cost of Illness; D003704:Dementia; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006296:Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009515:New Jersey; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010414:Pennsylvania; D013315:Stress, Psychological