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Personal growth and cognitive complexity in caregivers of patients with dementia

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Abstract

According to several theoretical models, crises or demands can result in enhanced cognitive maturity. Two studies examined whether demands on caregivers provide an opportunity to experience increased cognitive maturity (e.g., cognitive complexity, personal growth through caregiving). In Study 1 (126 relatives of dementia patients; cross-sectional design), personal growth through caregiving was associated with two specific caregiving demands: duration of caregiving and lack of social acknowledgment. Cognitive complexity correlated with duration of caregiving and crystallized intelligence. The caregivers in the second study (N = 321) were participants in LEANDER, The Longitudinal Dementia Caregiver Stress Study. Caregivers were examined in four waves over 27 months. The results indicated an increase in personal growth over time. Using latent growth models, we found that increases in personal growth through caregiving were predicted by increases in the objective caregiving tasks. Cognitive processes (e.g., ruminative thoughts, life reflection) provide a possible explanation for an increase in cognitive maturity.

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Notes

  1. Although Ryff's concept of personality growth was developed as an indicator of psychological well-being, a conceptual overlap between cognitive complexity and personality growth does exist. Our aim in this study was primarily to use different indicators to investigate cognitive maturity; that is, personality growth (through caregiving) is a subjective measure that represents the individual’s having experienced new insights (as reported in the questionnaire). On the other hand, cognitive complexity is, similar to achievement or intelligence,– an “objective” measure in which the degree of complexity is assessed by test raters.

  2. Action theory suggests that individuals usually begin to reflect on their own development when confronted with problems of action orientation (Brandtstädter 2006). In this view, rumination occurs particularly in stress episodes when assimilative (problem-focused actions) and accommodative (re-evaluation; reframing) coping tendencies are at work at the same time, and the individual is torn between both. At this point in a coping episode, the individual is unclear whether to use problem-solving strategies or to give up (e.g., accept situation as an inevitable constraint, reframe it; c.f., Brandtstädter 2007, p. 61).

  3. In the former East Germany, the highest school track was attended with 12 years.

  4. Cognitive complexity was not correlated with personality growth through caregiving. However, after controlling for education and crystallized intelligence, which were important predictors of cognitive complexity, some of the relationships increased. The partial correlation between cognitive complexity and personal growth through caregiving was then 0.25; P < 0.01.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by research grants from the Federal Ministry for Family, Seniors, Women, and Youth. Both studies are part of the broader research project LEANDER (The Longitudinal Dementia Caregiver Stress Study; Zank and Schacke 2007). We gratefully acknowledge the assistance in data collection and organization by Gundula Fröhlich, Beate Kettemann, Silvia Meister, Amy Michéle, Jens Thoma, Rebecca Wachtel, and Heike Zehle.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Psychologie, Universität Hildesheim, Marienburger Platz 22, 31141, Hildesheim, Germany

    Bernhard Leipold

  2. Fachbereich Erziehungswissenschaften und Psychologie, Lehrstuhl für Klinische Psychologie, Universität Siegen, Adolf-Reichwein-Str. 2, 57076, Siegen, Germany

    Claudia Schacke & Susanne Zank

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  1. Bernhard Leipold
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  2. Claudia Schacke
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  3. Susanne Zank
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Correspondence to Bernhard Leipold.

Appendix

Appendix

See Table 3.

Table 3 Correlations between care variables per assessment point
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Leipold, B., Schacke, C. & Zank, S. Personal growth and cognitive complexity in caregivers of patients with dementia. Eur J Ageing 5, 203–214 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10433-008-0090-8

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