Fair enough? Decreased equity of dyadic coping across the transition to parenthood associated with depression of first-time parents

Meier, Fabienne; Milek, Anne; Rauch-Anderegg, Valentina; Benz-Fragnière, Christelle; Nieuwenboom, Jan Willem; Schmid, Holger; Halford, W. Kim; Bodenmann, Guy

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0227342

Cited by 27 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 74 publications

(106 reference statements)

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“…Our findings suggest that perceiving one's partner as responsive in turn leads one to be more supportive to one's partner as well. This is compatible with equity theory, which states that people value fair treatment and therefore are motivated to maintain fairness in their relationships (Walster et al, 1973;Meier et al, 2020). Furthermore, our findings are in line with prior research showing that perceived partner responsiveness predicts an increased willingness to invest in the relationship (Murray et al, 2006), more pro-social behavior toward the partner (Wieselquist et al, 1999), and greater support provision (Lemay and Clark, 2008).…”

Section: Theoretical and Methodological Implicationssupporting

confidence: 91%

Spillover Effects When Taking Turns in Dyadic Coping: How Lingering Negative Affect and Perceived Partner Responsiveness Shape Subsequent Support Provision

Pauw¹,

Hoogeveen²,

Breitenstein³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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When experiencing personal distress, people usually expect their romantic partner to be supportive. However, when put in a situation to provide support, people may at times (still) be struggling with issues of their own. This interdependent nature of dyadic coping interactions as well as potential spillover effects are mirrored in the state-of-the-art research method to behaviorally assess couple’s dyadic coping processes. This paradigm typically includes two video-taped eight-minute dyadic coping conversations in which partners swap roles as sharer and support provider. Little is known about how such dyadic coping interactions may feed back into one another, impacting the motivation and ability to be a responsive support provider. In three behavioral studies, we examined how sharers’ experiences may spill over to affect their own support provision in a subsequent dyadic coping interaction. We hypothesized that the extent to which sharers perceive their partner as responsive to their self-disclosure increases the quality of their own subsequent support provision (Hypothesis 1), whereas sharers’ lingering negative affect reduces the quality of their subsequent support provision (Hypothesis 2). In line with our first hypothesis, perceived partner responsiveness predicted the provision of higher-quality support, though primarily as perceived by the partner. Sharers who perceived their partner to have been more responsive were somewhat more likely to subsequently engage in positive dyadic coping, and were rated as more responsive by their partners. Negative dyadic coping behavior was unaffected. Evidence for our second hypothesis was mixed. While lingering negative affect did not affect positive dyadic coping behavior or perceived support, it did increase the chances of negative dyadic coping behavior. However, given the very low occurrences of negative affect and negative dyadic coping, these findings should be interpreted with caution. Taken together, these findings suggest that support interactions may feed back into one another, highlighting the complex and interdependent nature of dyadic coping. The strongest and most consistent findings concerned the spillover effect of perceived partner responsiveness on subsequent perceived support quality, speaking to the key role of believing that one’s partner is responsive to one’s needs in promoting healthy relationship functioning.

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Section: Theoretical and Methodological Implicationssupporting

confidence: 91%

Spillover Effects When Taking Turns in Dyadic Coping: How Lingering Negative Affect and Perceived Partner Responsiveness Shape Subsequent Support Provision

Pauw¹,

Hoogeveen²,

Breitenstein³

et al. 2020

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Our findings suggest that perceiving one’s partner as responsive in turn leads one to be more supportive to one’s partner as well. This is compatible with equity theory, which states that people value fair treatment and therefore are motivated to maintain fairness in their relationships ( Walster et al, 1973 ; Meier et al, 2020 ). Furthermore, our findings are in line with prior research showing that perceived partner responsiveness predicts an increased willingness to invest in the relationship ( Murray et al, 2006 ), more pro-social behavior toward the partner ( Wieselquist et al, 1999 ), and greater support provision ( Lemay and Clark, 2008 ).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 80%

Spillover Effects When Taking Turns in Dyadic Coping: How Lingering Negative Affect and Perceived Partner Responsiveness Shape Subsequent Support Provision

et al. 2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

When experiencing personal distress, people usually expect their romantic partner to be supportive. However, when put in a situation to provide support, people may at times (still) be struggling with issues of their own. This interdependent nature of dyadic coping interactions as well as potential spillover effects is mirrored in the state-of-the-art research method to behaviorally assess couple’s dyadic coping processes. This paradigm typically includes two videotaped 8-min dyadic coping conversations in which partners swap roles as sharer and support provider. Little is known about how such dyadic coping interactions may feed back into one another, impacting the motivation and ability to be a responsive support provider. In three behavioral studies, we examined how sharers’ experiences may spill over to affect their own support provision in a subsequent dyadic coping interaction. We hypothesized that the extent to which sharers perceive their partner as responsive to their self-disclosure increases the quality of their own subsequent support provision (Hypothesis 1), whereas sharers’ lingering negative affect reduces the quality of their own subsequent support provision (Hypothesis 2). In line with our first hypothesis, perceived partner responsiveness predicted the provision of higher-quality support, though primarily as perceived by the partner. Sharers who perceived their partner to have been more responsive were somewhat more likely to subsequently engage in positive dyadic coping and were rated as more responsive by their partners. Negative dyadic coping behavior was unaffected. Evidence for our second hypothesis was mixed. While lingering negative affect did not affect positive dyadic coping behavior or perceived support, it did increase the chances of negative dyadic coping behavior. However, given the very low occurrences of negative affect and negative dyadic coping, these findings should be interpreted with caution. Taken together, these findings suggest that support interactions may feed back into one another, highlighting the complex and interdependent nature of dyadic coping. The strongest and most consistent findings concerned the spillover effect of perceived partner responsiveness on subsequent perceived support quality, speaking to the key role of believing that one’s partner is responsive to one’s needs in promoting healthy relationship functioning.

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“…These associations also hold in times of heightened stress. Inequity of dyadic coping was associated with more depressive symptoms in couples shortly after the birth of their first child (Meier et al, 2020 ), in couples facing a kidney transplantation (Tkachenko et al, 2019 ), and in patients with a major depressive episode (Meier et al, 2021 ). Couples thus seem to have a continued need for equitable coping contributions of both partners even when factors such as chronically impaired health of one partner challenge balanced coping efforts.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disability as an Interpersonal Experience: A Systematic Review on Dyadic Challenges and Dyadic Coping When One Partner Has a Chronic Physical or Sensory Impairment

2021

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Chronically disabling health impairments affect an increasing number of people worldwide. In close relationships, disability is an interpersonal experience. Psychological distress is thus common in patients as well as their spouses. Dyadic coping can alleviate stress and promote adjustment in couples who face disabling health impairments. Much research has focused on dyadic coping with cancer. However, other health problems such as physical and sensory impairments are also common and may strongly impact couple relationships. In order to promote couples' optimal adjustment to impaired health, the identification of disability-related relationship challenges is required. Furthermore, ways in which dyadic coping with these challenges may benefit couples could inform researchers and practitioners how to support couples in coping with health impairments. Accordingly, the aims of this study were to systematically review dyadic challenges and dyadic coping when one partner has a chronically disabling physical or sensory impairment. Out of 873 articles identified through database searches, 36 studies met inclusion criteria. The disability-related dyadic challenges identified in the review were changed roles and responsibilities within the couple, altered communication, compromised sexual intimacy, and reduced social participation. These challenges were reported to burden both partners and the couple relationship. Dyadic adjustment benefitted from a we-perspective, i.e., when couples viewed the disability as a shared challenge and engaged in conjoint dyadic coping. The results suggest that patient/care recipient and partner/caregiver roles should be de-emphasized and that disability should be recognized as an interpersonal experience.

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Fair enough? Decreased equity of dyadic coping across the transition to parenthood associated with depression of first-time parents

Cited by 27 publications

References 74 publications

Spillover Effects When Taking Turns in Dyadic Coping: How Lingering Negative Affect and Perceived Partner Responsiveness Shape Subsequent Support Provision

Spillover Effects When Taking Turns in Dyadic Coping: How Lingering Negative Affect and Perceived Partner Responsiveness Shape Subsequent Support Provision

Spillover Effects When Taking Turns in Dyadic Coping: How Lingering Negative Affect and Perceived Partner Responsiveness Shape Subsequent Support Provision

Disability as an Interpersonal Experience: A Systematic Review on Dyadic Challenges and Dyadic Coping When One Partner Has a Chronic Physical or Sensory Impairment

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