Stress and Caring for Elderly Relatives: Interpretations and Coping Strategies in an American Indian and White Sample1

This study explores how families who care for their elderly relatives view their caretaking situations. The stressful event literature suggests that a variety of dimensions may influence a person's subsequent coping behavior. In semi-structured interviews with 10 Indian and 10 white caretakers of ill elderly relatives in the rural northwest, 11 dimensions were used to define caretaking, with a focus on control. The results imply that cultural background influences the meaning of caretaking and that both variables affect the coping strategies selected.