The heavy burden and strain associated with caregiving has consistently been shown to be a predictor of abuse. Cooper and colleagues looked at potential explanations of carers’ abusivebehaviours and stressed that more anxious and depressed carers reported more incidents of abuse. Maltreatment was predicted by spending more hours caring, experiencing more abusive behaviour from care recipients and coresiding with the cared-for person. Informal carers who report a negative motivation (e.g. unwillingness of others to help, lack of alternative options, dissatisfaction with formal carers) for undertaking informal care tend to be more anxious and to report more abusive behaviour, and the care recipient is more likely to be admitted to residential care in the following year.