Conflicting Studies Studies of ethnic differences in caregiver burden have revealed conflicting results. Some studies report that caregiver burden and depression are more common in white caregivers (Pinquart, 2005) while other studies have not found this relationship. These conflicting results may be the result of differences in sampling strategies, decreased sensitivity of measure of burden among ethnic minorities and limited self disclosure among African American caregivers to white interviewers.
Though some investigators report no differences in self-reported ratings of health between African American and Caucasian caregivers, other study have found greater prevalence of self-reported symptoms and poorer perceived health among African Americans (Pinquart, year 2005?).
Haley et al. (2004) reported that African American caregivers engaged in more unhealthy behaviors (e.g. over- or under- eating, drinking alcohol or lack of exercise). Qualitative research analyzing the content of African American caregiver interviews have found recurrent themes of burn out, loss and alienation that are not captured in the survey instruments often used in social gerontology literature.
