| Abstract: | Social resourcefulness refers to the behaviors, covert and overt, which an individual uses to establish and maintain supportive relationships. This study examines how social resourcefulness relates to social support and wellbeing in persons under the chronic stress of caring for a family member with dementia. Social resourcefulness is significantly associated with social support and with caregiver wellbeing (caregiver depression, caregiver quality of life, perceived benefits from caregiving, and perceived health status). Regression analyses revealed that social resourcefulness remained significantly related to caregiver outcomes after controlling for several covariates (care-recipient's memory and behavior problems, caregiver age, and caregiver health status). Results support the role of social competence in creating helpful social relationships and extend previous research by identifying specific help-seeking and help-maintaining behaviors associated with support and wellbeing in a high-risk population. |
