Matching Items (2)
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- All Subjects: Adjustment (Psychology)
- Creators: Pereira, Jennifer
Description
Stress in romantic relationships is an all-too-common phenomenon that has detrimental effects on relationship well-being. Specifically, stress can increase partners’ negative interactions, ultimately decreasing effective communication and overall relationship functioning. Positive dyadic coping (DC) occurs when one partner assists the other in coping with stress (e.g. empathizing or helping the partner problem-solve solutions to their stress), and has been proposed as a method of buffering the deleterious effect of stress on interaction quality. One possible mechanism between the positive associations between DC and interaction quality could be how partners verbally express their support (e.g., more we-talk) during discussions about external stress. Using real-time interaction data from 40 heterosexual couples, this project examined whether observed positive and negative DC was associated with greater (or lesser) levels of perceived interaction quality. Further, language use (i.e., pronouns, emotion words, cognition words) was assessed as mediators in the associations between DC and interaction quality. Overall, results suggested that language did not mediate the effect of DC on interaction quality; however, there were several interesting links between DC, language, and interaction quality. Implications of these findings for relationship researchers and mental health clinicians working with couples are discussed.
ContributorsLau, Kin Hang (Author) / Randall, Ashley K. (Thesis advisor) / Duran, Nicholas (Committee member) / Pereira, Jennifer (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
Being married as an undergraduate student is uncommon, considering the average age people marry in the U.S. is 28-years-old. Given that the “traditional” undergraduate student is unmarried, being a married undergraduate student may be associated with the anticipation of stigma due to their marital status, which may be a stressful experience (hereafter-anticipated stigma stress) and have harmful effects on one’s well-being, particularly symptoms of anxiety. As such, it is important to identify ways in which romantic partners can help one another cope with this unique stressor by engaging in positive or negative dyadic coping (DC). Using cross-sectional data from 151 married undergraduate students, this project examined whether perceptions of partner’s positive and negative DC moderated the association between anticipated stigma stress and symptoms of anxiety. There was a significant main effect of anticipated stigma stress on anxiety, such that higher anticipated stigma stress was associated with greater symptoms of anxiety. Delegated DC moderated this association, such that when participants reported high levels of anticipated stigma stress, those who reported higher partner’s use of delegated DC also reported higher symptoms of anxiety as compared to those who reported low partner’s use of delegated DC. Implications for future research and mental health counselors are discussed.
ContributorsMesserschmitt, Shelby (Author) / Randall, Ashley K. (Thesis advisor) / Pereira, Jennifer (Committee member) / Kinnier, Richard (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017