ABSTRACT

This study extends psychological reactance theory (PRT) to family caregiving by exploring autonomy-threatening messages adult child caregivers use to gain compliance from older adult parents. Results of focus groups and interviews with older adult care recipients (Study One) and caregivers (Study Two) corroborated three types of autonomy-threatening messages, which were used to test PRT (Study Three). Older adults (N = 281) were randomly assigned a caregiving message and answered reactance-related survey questions. Results supported serial mediation: relative to an autonomy-supporting message, two types of autonomy-threatening messages (i.e., offering directives, expressing doubt) triggered greater freedom threat, which amplified reactance. In turn, greater reactance elicited more negative attitudes, which was linked to lower behavioral intention. Results offer implications for older adults’ experience of reactance and family caregiving communication.

摘要

这项研究通过探索成年儿童照顾者用来获得年长父母依从性的威胁自主性的信息，将心理抗拒理论（PRT）扩展到家庭照顾。焦点小组以及对老年护理接受者（研究一）和护理人员（研究二）的访谈结果证实了三种类型的威胁自主性的信息，这些信息被用来测试 PRT（研究三）。老年人（N = 281）被随机分配一条护理信息并回答与电抗相关的调查问题。结果支持串行调解：相对于支持自主的信息，两种威胁自主的信息（即提供指令、表达怀疑）引发了更大的自由威胁，从而放大了反抗情绪。反过来，更大的抵制会引发更多的消极态度，这与较低的行为意图有关。结果对老年人的抗拒体验和家庭护理沟通具有影响。