The worldwide outbreak of COVID-19, the ensuing pandemic, and the related containment measures pose considerable challenges to psychological resilience and well-being. Researchers are now forced to ...look for resources to cope with negative experiences linked to this health emergency. According to the salutogenic approach proposed by Antonovsky, the sense of coherence (SOC) is a major source of resilience. Thus, this study aimed at assessing the role of SOC in moderating the link between illness experiences (in terms of knowing persons diagnosed with COVID-19 and fear of contracting COVID-19) and psychological well-being. 2,784 participants, taken from a large sample of the Italian population (65.4% females) and aged between 18 and 85 years, filled in an anonymous online survey during the 3rd week of the lockdown. Findings supported the moderating role of SOC in shaping the link between illness experiences and psychological well-being. Specifically, participants who knew at least one person diagnosed with COVID-19 showed lower levels of psychological well-being at low levels of SOC. The negative relation between participants' fear of contracting COVID-19 and psychological well-being was stronger for those who showed higher levels of SOC. This study discusses the implications of these results for interventions aimed at reducing the pandemic's detrimental effects and promoting resilience.
The situation caused by the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has been representing a great source of concern and a challenge to the psychological well-being of many individuals around the world. ...For couples in particular, this extraordinary rise in concern, combined with the stress posed by the virus containment measures, such as prolonged cohabitation and lack of support networks, may have increased the likelihood of couple problems. At the same time, however, COVID-19 concerns may have been a stimulus to activate couples' stress management processes. A couple's resource, which may have an important role in dealing with COVID-19 concerns and stress, is dyadic coping, i.e., the process through which partners face stress together. Drawing on a sample of 1,823 Italian individuals involved in a couple relationship, the current study tested a serial mediation model in which concerns about COVID-19 predicted psychological well-being, through both explicit stress communication and perceived partner dyadic coping responses. In addition, the study explored whether this dyadic coping process functioned the same way in satisfied and dissatisfied couples. Results showed that concerns about the situation related to COVID-19 significantly threatened individuals' psychological well-being. However, these concerns positively predicted explicit stress communication, which in turn positively predicted perceived partner's dyadic coping responses, which finally positively predicted psychological well-being. In addition, in the group of dissatisfied individuals, the association between explicit stress communication and perceived partners' dyadic coping responses was not significant. The present study adds to the research on couples' coping by testing for the first time the whole theoretical model of dyadic coping and does so during a global emergency situation. The study also suggests key components of preventive interventions for individuals in couples.
The new Coronavirus (COVID-19) has been declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). The sudden outbreak of this new virus and the measure of lockdown adopted to contain the ...epidemic have profoundly changed the lifestyles of the Italian population, with an impact on people's quality of life and on their social relationships. In particular, due to forced and prolonged cohabitation, couples may be subject to specific stressors during the epidemic. In addition, living with a chronic health condition may add specific challenges to the ones posed by the epidemic itself. The present cross-sectional study aimed to provide a picture of the challenges as well as the resources for both individual and relational well-being of Italian individuals in a couple relationship (
= 1921), with a specific attention to the comparison between individuals living with and without a chronic disease. Results showed that people with a chronic disease had lower psychological well-being and more fears and worries about the COVID-19. People with a chronic disease perceived fewer resources than healthy people. Moreover, the challenges are shown to be associated with less psychological well-being and high pessimism about the future. Instead individual, relational, and social resources play a protective role during the pandemic for both healthy and chronically ill people.
The present study was aimed at examining the role of explicit stress communication in the context of dyadic coping. The general aim of the present study was to test (a) whether explicit communication ...of daily stressful events predicted relationship satisfaction and (b) whether the perception of responsiveness in dyadic coping mediated the association between explicit stress communication and partners' satisfaction. We analyzed daily diary data from 55 married couples and multilevel analyses suggested that, although explicit stress communication was not associated with relationship satisfaction, it predicted both partners' responsiveness in dyadic coping behaviors. Finally, responsive dyadic coping behaviors mediated the relationship between explicit stress communication and relationship satisfaction. On the whole, our findings showed that perceived responsiveness in dyadic coping with daily stressors was facilitated by explicit stress communication and that this contributed to the effectiveness of dyadic coping behaviors in fostering partners' relationship satisfaction. We discussed how the current study contributes to the understanding of the dyadic coping process and its contribution to partners' satisfaction, underscoring the importance of communication skills.
Managing cardiac illness is not easy because it dramatically disrupts people's daily life and both the patient and his/her spouse are at risk for experiencing distress, which, in turn, may affect the ...support provided by the partner as caregiver. The partner, in fact, is the main source of support, but his/her support may sometimes be inadequate. In addition, dyadic coping (i.e., the way partners cope together against stress and support each other in times of difficulty) could likely be a moderating factor. The main aim of the present study was to examine the role that dyadic coping (DC, in terms of positive, negative, and common dyadic coping responses) plays in moderating the link between patient and partner cardiac illness-related distress (in terms of anxiety and depression) and partner support (in terms of overprotection, hostility, and partner support for patient engagement). The study included 100 married couples faced with cardiac illness who completed a self-report questionnaire. We analyzed our data in PROCESS using multiple regressions in order to assess the moderating effects of DC responses in the relationship between the couple's cardiac illness-related distress and partner support. With regard to patient distress, results showed that higher levels of patient anxiety and depression were linked with ineffective partner support (i.e., overprotection and hostility). With regard to partner distress, higher levels of partner depression were linked with hostility; higher levels of partner depression and anxiety were associated with less partner support for patient engagement. Moreover, the association between distress and partner support was moderated by the quality of DC. In particular, low positive DC represented a risk factor for both the patient and the partner during a cardiac illness, as low positive DC exacerbated the link between patient and partner distress and less effective partner support styles. Also, higher levels of negative DC were risky for couples: The association between distress and less adequate partner supportive behaviors was stronger in the case of higher negative DC. These results imply a need for psychosocial interventions for couples in cardiac illness, especially for couples lacking relational competences, such as positive dyadic coping.
This article introduces the Dyadic Coping Inventory (DCI;
Bodenmann, 2008
) and aims (1) to investigate the reliability and aspects of the validity of the Italian and French versions of the DCI, and ...(2) to replicate its factor structure and reliabilities using a new Swiss German sample. Based on 216 German-, 378 Italian-, and 198 French-speaking participants, the factor structure of the original German inventory was able to be replicated by using principal components analysis in all three groups after excluding two items in the Italian and French versions. The latter were shown to be as reliable as the German version with the exception of the low reliabilities of negative dyadic coping in the French group. Confirmatory factor analyses provided additional support for delegated dyadic coping and evaluation of dyadic coping. Intercorrelations among scales were similar across all three languages groups with a few exceptions. Previous findings could be replicated in all three groups, showing that aspects of dyadic coping were more strongly related to marital quality than to dyadic communication. The use of the dyadic coping scales in the actor-partner interdependence model, the common fate model, and the mutual influence model is discussed.
According to Brehm’s emotional intensity theory (EIT), the strength of feelings of romantic affect towards a romantic partner should vary as a cubic function of increasing levels of relationship ...stress (i.e., deterrence to feelings of romantic affect). The study tested this hypothesis in a true experiment with 80 young adults actually engaged in a romantic relationship, by systematically manipulating stress, through a recall procedure, across four distinct levels of intensity (control
vs.
low
vs.
moderate
vs.
high levels of manipulated stress). As predicted by emotional intensity theory, feelings of romantic affect were strong in the control condition, reduced in the low stress condition (low deterrence), maintained intense in the moderate stress condition (moderate deterrence), and reduced, again, in the high stress condition (high deterrence). Findings and both theoretical and practical implications for professionals and future research are discussed, with special emphasis on how to promote partners’ everyday adjustments to stress and emotional intensity regulation.
Sense of coherence (SOC) is the fundamental concept of the salutogenic approach to health promotion. The main aim of the current longitudinal study is to consider whether SOC has had a positive ...effect in reducing people's levels of stress during the prolonged time of the pandemic or rather stress has posed a threat to SOC. A large sample of Italian adults completed an online questionnaire at three different moments of the Covid-19 pandemic (from March 2020 to May 2021). To test the reciprocal associations between SOC and stress we estimated a cross-lagged panel model. Results questioned the stability of SOC, which changed across the different moments of the pandemic, and its causal role with respect to stress since, after controlling for gender and age, it emerged a significant effect only from stress to SOC. The implications of these results and the further expansions of the study are discussed.
Applying the actor–partner interdependence model to 114 couples’ data, we examined the link between partners’ change in reported dyadic coping responses from 6 months before marriage to 12 months ...after marriage and change in the perceptions of the other’s dyadic coping responses, the role of these associations for partners’ change in relationship satisfaction, and the role of gender in these relations. Results highlighted both accuracy and projection effects in partners’ perceptions. Moreover, one’s perceptions of the other’s dyadic coping responses mediated the effect of both one’s own and the others’ reported dyadic coping behaviors on one’s satisfaction. Findings are discussed in light of the implications for the study of dyadic coping and partner support as well as for intervention.
PDF
