Associations of caregiver stressors and uplifts with subjective well-being and depressive mood: a meta-analytic comparison

The present meta-analytic study gives a systematic review of research on depression and the subjective well-being of caregivers. We integrate results from 60 studies on informal caregivers’ subjective well-being (e.g., positive affect, life-satisfaction) and contrast them with the result of studies on caregiver depression. Analyses were based on a two-factor model of subjective well-being that distinguishes between positive and negative dimensions of well-being (e.g., happiness and depression). The strongest effects were domain-specific: uplifts of caregiving were associated with subjective well-being and caregiving stressors were associated with depression. In addition, weaker effects that crossed domains were present: uplifts were weakly associated with depressive symptoms. In addition, lower levels of caregivers’ subjective well-being were weakly related to care receivers’ physical and cognitive impairments, as well as behaviour problems, but not to the amount of caregiving. Type of care recipients’ illness and the measure of well-being moderated, in part, the association between stressors/uplifts and subjective well-being.