Psychological Profile,Salivary Cortisol,C-Reactive Protein,and Perceived Health of Grandmothers With Childrearing Responsibility

Abstract

Grandmothers with primary responsibility for raising grandchildren are increasing, particularly among African Americans (AA). These caregiving grandmothers were compared with AA grandmothers who did not have such responsibility (N = 30) for levels of stress, anxiety, depression, burden, and coping. Furthermore, the association between these psychobehavioral factors and salivary cortisol, C-reactive protein (CRP), and perceived health and the feasibility of collecting six saliva samples over 2 days were assessed. Grandmother caregivers had higher stress than noncaregiving grandmothers, but the difference was not statistically significant. The two groups did not differ in anxiety, depression, and coping. Grandmother caregivers, however, reported significantly poorer perceived health than their age cohort (p = .007). There was a clear increase from morning to bedtime CRP (p = .02), which was more prominent in grandmother caregivers. The cortisol levels for the combined grandmother groups were inversely correlated (p = .01) with the confrontive coping style. One hundred percent of saliva samples were collected sufficiently.