Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41414050›Full record

ArticleThe journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences2026

Caregivers' positive emotional language predicts their depression trajectories after dementia caregiving ends.

Jenna L Wells, Julian A Scheffer, Suzanne M Shdo, Claire I Yee, Kevin J Grimm, Alissa B Sideman, Bruce L Miller, Jennifer J Merrilees, Katherine L Possin, Robert W Levenson

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Article in The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Jenna L WellsDepartment of Psychology, College of Human Ecology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States.
Julian A SchefferDepartment of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.
Suzanne M ShdoDepartment of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, United States.
Claire I YeeDepartment of Quantitative and Health Services, Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, Arizona, United States.
Kevin J GrimmDepartment of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, United States.
Alissa B SidemanWeill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA.
Bruce L MillerWeill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-2152-4220
Jennifer J MerrileesWeill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA.
Katherine L PossinWeill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA.
Robert W LevensonDepartment of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, United States.

Funding

The Care Ecosystem Response to COVID-19: Accelerating Research on Dementia Care that Meets the Needs of Caregivers and Persons with Dementia during COVID-19R01AG074710 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · PI POSSIN, KATHERINE LAUREL · 2022 to 2024
$9.1M
Predicting Risk for Adverse Outcomes in Dementia CaregiversR01AG062639 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY · PI Casey Leigh Brown, Robert Wayne Levenson · 2019 to 2026
$4.8M
Burden, Depression, and Health in Dementia Caregivers: The Role of EmotionR01AG041762 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY · PI LEVENSON, ROBERT WAYNE · 2012 to 2016
$2.8M
Building Primary Care Workforce Capacity in the Dementia Diagnostic ProcessR01AG087166 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · PI SIDEMAN, ALISSA BERNSTEIN · 2024 to 2025
$1.6M
Mapping the Dynamics of Caregiver Burden in Alzheimer's DiseaseK01AG059840 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · PI SIDEMAN, ALISSA BERNSTEIN · 2020 to 2024
$652k
When dementia caregiving ends: The role of patient-caregiver social connection in caregivers' health and well-beingF31AG072891 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY · PI WELLS, JENNA L · 2021 to 2022
$93k
NIA NIH HHS F31 AG072891NIA NIH HHS F31AG072891NIA NIH HHS K01 AG059840NIA NIH HHS R01 AG041762NIA NIH HHS R01 AG062639NIA NIH HHS R01 AG074710NIA NIH HHS R01 AG087166
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesThere are striking differences among caregivers of people with dementia in their health and well-being during active caregiving and after caregiving has ended. A key factor influencing caregiver health is the emotional quality of the caregiver-care recipient relationship, which may be reflected in the emotional language caregivers use when describing this relationship. The present study assessed whether caregivers' positive and negative language is associated with their current and future depression trajectories.

methodsActive caregivers responded to an open-ended question about a recent time they felt connected to the care recipient. We summed the number of positive and negative emotion words and divided them by the total words in the response. We evaluated whether caregivers' emotional language (a proxy for the emotional quality of the caregiver-care recipient relationship) was associated with their depression assessed both concurrently (N = 347 active caregivers) and longitudinally (N = 224 former caregivers).

resultsNeither positive nor negative emotional language significantly correlated with caregiver depression during active caregiving. Structural equation modeling revealed caregivers' greater positive emotional language (accounting for baseline depression) was associated with less steep increases in depression after the care recipient's death. Results were robust when accounting for negative emotional language and covariates. Negative emotional language was not significantly associated with changes in caregiver depression. DISCUSSION: Caregivers who use more positive words when describing their connection with the care recipient may be more resilient, underscoring the potential role of positive emotional qualities of the caregiving relationship in preserving caregivers' mental health after caregiving ends.

Indexed as

CaregiversDementiaDepressionEmotionsLanguageAgedAged, 80 and overFemaleHumansLongitudinal StudiesMaleMiddle AgedDepression during and after caregivingInterpersonal connectionNeurodegenerative diseasePositive and negative emotionText analysis

Identifiers

PMID41414050
PMCPMC13193202

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.