Structural Analysis of Social Behavior and Perceptions of Caregiving

The stress and burden of caregiving have been well established as correlates of changes in the relationship with a person needing care, but there has been less research on the association of caregiving with psychosocial variables, especially relationship patterns. In this article, these issues were addressed using Structural Analysis of Social Behavior (SASB; Benjamin, 1974, 1984, 1993), a self-report measure of perceptions of interpersonal relationships and self-concept, and the Symptom Check List-90--Revised (SCL-90-R; Derogatis, 1983), a self-report measure of distress and symptoms. SASB variables measuring attachment, interdependence, and interpersonal/intrapsychic conflict successfully differentiated community-active caregivers from noncaregivers. SASB measures provided substantially greater discrimination and classification accuracy than SCL-90-R variables.