Recent research suggests that the single strongest predictor of burden among dementia caregivers is a measure of marital aggrandizement (Marital Conventionalization Scale). The current study corroborates the significant inverse relation between these constructs. In addition, there appears to be little association between this response style and more standard social desirability constructs (i.e. self-deception, impression management). Furthermore, the tendency to discount negative experience in one's marital history appears distinct from emotion- and problem-focussed coping as defined within Lazarus and Folkman's cognitive phenomenological model. The propensity to idealize one's spouse and marriage is discussed relative to the reconstructionist theory of memory and social exchange theory.
