Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0009-0006-0407-5079

Semester

Spring

Date of Graduation

2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MS

College

Eberly College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Psychology

Committee Chair

Julie Hicks Patrick

Committee Co-Chair

Elisa Krackow

Committee Member

JoNell Strough

Abstract

Caregiving, defined as providing regular unpaid assistance to individuals with chronic illness or disability, is a widespread role associated with both societal benefit and psychological strain (Berg et al., 2021; Schulz et al., 2020). Prior research indicates that perceived caregiving difficulty is a key predictor of caregiver distress, though the mechanisms underlying this association remain unclear (Blom et al., 2024; Gérain & Zech, 2022). Drawing on the Stress Process Model (Pearlin et al., 1990), the present study examined irritation as a mediator linking perceived caregiving difficulty to relationship quality and caregiver distress, while also testing whether caregiver relationship type moderates these associations. Data were drawn from the 2022 National Study of Caregiving (NSOC; N = 2,072; 66.9% women; M age = 61.7). A serial mediation model tested using structural equation modeling indicated that greater perceived caregiving difficulty was associated with higher irritation, which in turn predicted poorer relationship quality and greater distress. The direct pathway from relationship quality to distress was not statistically significant and was removed in the final model, suggesting that irritation is a more proximal predictor of caregiver distress. Moderated mediation analyses revealed limited evidence that caregiver relationship type significantly altered these associations, although some variability in effect sizes was observed across groups. These findings highlight irritation as a central emotional mechanism linking caregiving demands to both relational and psychological outcomes. The results extend existing caregiving research by identifying a specific emotional process underlying caregiver distress and underscore the importance of interventions targeting emotional regulation to improve caregiver well-being.

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