Document Type

Article

Original Publication Date

2016

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Journal of Aging Research

Volume

2016

Issue

2016

DOI of Original Publication

10.1155/2016/3650927

Comments

Originally published at https://www.hindawi.com/journals/jar/2016/3650927/

Date of Submission

October 2016

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate among college students the relationship between personality traits and willingness to care for a relative with a chronic health condition. 329 undergraduate students completed an online questionnaire. Hierarchical multiple regressions found that after controlling for demographics personality traits explained 10% of the variance in willingness to provide emotional care, 7% in instrumental care, and 7% in nursing care. Within these models, greater empathy was uniquely associated with willingness to provide emotional, instrumental, and nursing care for a family member in the future. Similarly, participants with high agreeableness were more willing to provide emotional care, and participant older age was a unique predictor of instrumental care. The results can help shape research on interventions that incorporate perspective taking, motivational interviewing, and training in life skills as a means of boosting college students’ willingness to provide care for a relative with a chronic health condition.

Rights

Copyright © 2016 Michael A. Trujillo et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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VCU Psychology Publications

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