Violence and Violent Feelings: What Causes Them Among Family Caregivers?

We present a conceptual framework for understanding two distinct but related phenomena: violent feelings (i.e., the fear of becoming violent) and violent behaviors by family caregivers toward relatives with dementia. Based on both the literature on family caregiving and on family violence, four factors are hypothesized to explain these two dimensions of violence: caregiving demands, interactional stressors, caregiver characteristics, and caregiving context. Analyses of quantitative and qualitative data on 236 family caregivers to dementia victims revealed several characteristics that were predictive of violent feelings on the part of caregivers, including physical aggression by the care recipient, disruptive behaviors, and a shared living situation. Structural relationship and caregiver's age were found to be related to actual violence; spouses were more likely to engage in violence than other relatives, as were older individuals. In addition, violence by the care recipient was positively related to caregiver violence.