Emotion Work and Spousal Dementia Caregiving: Influences of Gender and Sexual Orientation

Abstract

That heterosexual women caring for spouses living with dementia typically report greater stress than do men is often linked to empathic approaches to care, suggesting differences in identity-based stress appraisal. We examine this further, focusing on emotion work (manipulating one’s own emotions to affect another’s) versus feeling management (that targets the self) and gender and sexual orientation (GSO) identity. Using data from in-depth interviews with a nationwide sample (N = 69) of community-dwelling heterosexual, gay, and lesbian spousal/partner caregivers, we explore how GSO intersects to shape stress appraisal and emotion work provision. Thematic analysis reveals that identities centered around task completion resulted in feeling management engagement only (predominantly heterosexual men); emotion work was performed by those adopting an empathetic approach alone (mostly straight women) or combining this with a task orientation (typically gay and lesbian caregivers). These findings suggest how GSO might influence stress appraisal when challenges contradict caregivers’ identities.