The influence of parental bonding on emotional distress in caregiving sons for a parent with dementia.

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of childhood parental bonding on emotional distress experienced by primary caregiving sons for a parent with dementia. DESIGN AND METHODS Data from the 40 participants were obtained using the Parental Bonding Inventory (PBI), Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), and Caregiver Survey Questionnaire (CSQ). A multivariate analysis of variance was conducted to investigate any main effects or interaction between the two PBI bonding variables (care and overprotection) and the two distress variables, the BSI's Global Severity Index and the CSQ's distress percentage. RESULTS Caregiving sons who identified more care in the childhood bond with their parent attributed less distress to their primary caregiver role. Sons reporting less care attributed more distress to the primary caregiver role. IMPLICATIONS Results suggest that the parental bond developed during childhood may play a role in predicting the extent to which caregiving sons will attribute distress to their caregiving role.