Objective: Caregivers of persons with intellectual disability are faced with multiple challenges, and their works are highly frustrating, especially in Nigeria where caregivers have no defined scope of service and supports. There has not been much study on care-giving and depression among caregivers of children with intellectual disability. This study, therefore, examined the conceptual (openness to experience, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, neuroticism, self-efficacy, emotional intelligence and self-esteem) factors as predictors of depression among the caregivers of persons with intellectual disability in the Southwest, Nigeria. Method: Descriptive survey design was used. Fifty-five primary schools for persons with intellectual disability and 293 caregivers (140 males, 153 females between ages 20 and 65) were purposively selected in the Southwest, Nigeria. Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness, General Self-efficacy, Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence, Rosenberg’s Self-esteem scales, and Beck Depression Index II were instruments used for the study. Data were analyzed with multiple regressions at 0.05 level of significance. Results: The levels of independent variables to the dependent variable in terms of weighted mean are openness to experience (x ̅ = 4.38), conscientiousness (x ̅ = 2.90), extroversion (x ̅ = 3.45), agreeableness (x ̅ = 3.24), neuroticism (x ̅ = 2.71), and self-efficacy (x ̅= 3.33). Years of experience (r = 0.10), gender (r=0.16), openness to experience (r=0.25), conscientiousness (r=0.19), extroversion (r=0.17), agreeableness (r=0.26), neuroticism (r=0.16), self-efficacy (r=0.29), emotional intelligence (r=0.15), and self-esteem (r=0.16) had significant positive relationships with depression among caregivers of persons with intellectual disability. Conclusion: Openness to experience, extroversion, self-efficacy, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, self-esteem and emotional intelligence influenced depression among caregivers of persons with intellectual disability in the Southwest, Nigeria. Therefore, governments at various levels should factor these variables into the environment where caregivers working with persons with intellectual disability function.
