Dyadic coping and dyadic adjustment in couples with women with high depressive symptoms during pregnancy

Alves, Stephanie; Fonseca, Ana; Canavarro, Maria Cristina; Pereira, Marco

doi:10.1080/02646838.2018.1490496

Cited by 29 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Overall, our findings revealed that DC seems to be an important factor for couples who are expecting a baby, given its potential impact on both marital adjustment and quality of life. As found in previous studies, DC contributes to improve marital adjustment (Alves et al, 2018;Molgora et al, 2018) as well as quality of life (Calou et al, 2018;Elsenbruch et al, 2006), for both women and men. Our results align with a previous study conducted with pregnant women and their partners, in which own common DC was associated with the partners' marital adjustment (Molgora et al, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 66%

“…Thus, our findings suggest that DC was associated with higher levels of marital adjustment, which in turn were associated with better quality of life. It seems that when women and men are able to employ DC strategies to deal with pregnancy-related changes, they become more satisfied with their marital relationship (Alves et al, 2018;Molgora et al, 2018) which contributes to their wellbeing (Figueiredo et al, 2008;Gameiro et al, 2011). Moreover, women's quality of life seems to be more dependent on the way their partners deal with this stressful life event, since an indirect partner effect was found from men's DC to women's quality of life via women's marital adjustment.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the specific context of pregnancy, the impact of DC on marital adjustment during pregnancy has been only recently explored at an individual (Alves et al, 2018) and at a dyadic level (i.e., using data from both members of the couple) (Molgora et al, 2018). The results from the Molgora's study (2018) give support for the interdependence between each partner's DC, with own DC influencing not only own marital adjustment but also the partner's marital adjustment, suggesting the importance of the relational coping for the marital adjustment during pregnancy.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Dyadic coping, marital adjustment and quality of life in couples during pregnancy: an actor–partner approach

Brandão

Brites

Hipólito

et al. 2019

Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology

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Objective: This study aimed to examine the impact of dyadic coping on the quality of life of couples during pregnancy and to explore the potential mediating role of marital adjustment on this association. Background: According to the systemic transactional model, pregnancy can be characterized as a situation of dyadic stress since it affects both members of the couple. However, the impact of dyadic coping on couples' quality of life during pregnancy is unexplored. Also, the potential mediating role of marital adjustment on this association remains understudied. Methods: Participants were 320 pregnant women and their partners (N = 640) who completed the Dyadic Coping Inventory, the Dyadic Adjustment Scale and the World Health Organization Quality of Life instrument. Data were analysed using the actor-partner interdependence mediation model. Results: Results showed that there was an intrapersonal indirect effect of dyadic coping on quality of life through marital adjustment. Moreover, an interpersonal indirect effect was found with fathers' dyadic coping being associated with mothers' quality of life through mothers' marital adjustment. Conclusions: These findings highlight the importance of assessing dyadic coping strategies of couples during pregnancy and targeting them in the psychological support offered to couples as a way of improving their marital adjustment, and consequently, their quality of life.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 66%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Dyadic coping, marital adjustment and quality of life in couples during pregnancy: an actor–partner approach

Brandão

Brites

Hipólito

et al. 2019

Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology

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“…Nonetheless, we did have more variance and a higher severity of depressive symptoms for women in our sample. A bidirectional association cannot be precluded, insofar as more depressed women would be less likely to provide a lot of support [71]. Especially in women with high levels of depression, lower provided dyadic coping was found [72].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

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

et al. 2020

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The transition to parenthood (TTP) is a stressful life event for most couples. Therefore, the way both partners jointly cope with stress (i.e., dyadic coping) is important for the prevention of individual adjustment problems (e.g., depression). For dyadic coping to be effective in reducing depressive symptoms, efforts of both partners should be equal. However, many couples experience a decrease of equity in task division within the domestic sphere across the TTP. The current study investigates the equity of a specific skill within the 'relationship sphere', because similarly to a decreased equity in household and childcare, a decreased equity of dyadic coping is likely to be associated with poorer individual adjustment. We collected longitudinal self-report data on dyadic coping and depressive symptoms from 104 mixed-gender first-time parents (n = 208 individuals) from pregnancy until 40 weeks postpartum. We created an equity score for men and women that measured their perceived difference between received and provided dyadic coping. On average, women reported providing more and receiving less dyadic coping than men. While both genders agreed on this distribution, men did perceive a higher equity of dyadic coping than women. Furthermore, the decrease of equity perceived by women across TTP was not visible in men. In line with our assumptions based on the equity theory, perceived equity of dyadic coping was associated with depressive symptoms in a curvilinear manner: Decreases in women's perceived equity in either direction (over-or underbenefit) were associated with more depressive symptoms in women and their male partners. This association was found above and beyond the beneficial effect of dyadic coping itself. This implies that not only how well partners support each other in times of stress, but also how equal both partners' efforts are, is important for their individual adjustment across TTP.

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“…One possible explanation for our findings is that pregnancy is a predominant woman‐centered phase, during which women experience more physical changes and are particularly vulnerable to emotional fluctuations (Hodgkinson, Smith, & Wittkowski, ; Staneva, Bogossian, & Wittkowski, ) compared to men. This can explain why, compared to men, pregnant women are more likely to communicate stress to their partners (Alves, Fonseca, Canavarro, & Pereira, 2018b; Molgora et al., ), their well‐being is positively influenced by their partner's DC (Brandão et al., ) while negatively affected (at early postpartum) when women engage in positive DC behaviors towards their male partner's needs during pregnancy (Alves et al, ). Thus, perceiving complementary (as opposed to similar) exchanges in DC during pregnancy is likely to better fit each partner's needs of support and hence have more positive effects in the long term.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intra‐couple similarity in dyadic coping and partners’ adjustment to the birth of a child

Alves

Fonseca

Canavarro

et al. 2019

Euro J Social Psych

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Unlike individual perceptions of a couple's functioning, couple‐level protective factors against poor adjustment to the birth of a child have rarely been studied. This study examined similarity or reciprocal exchanges in dyadic coping (DC) during pregnancy (T1) and at 6 weeks postpartum (T2) and its associations with both partners’ adjustment at 6–9 months postpartum (T3). Ninety‐two Portuguese couples provided data on DC, internalizing symptoms, dyadic adjustment and parenting stress. An individual's perceived similarity at T1 positively predicted his or her own internalizing symptoms at T3. One partner's perceived similarity at T2 negatively predicted the other partner's internalizing symptoms and parenting stress at T3. These associations controlled for stereotype effects (i.e., similarity due to shared cultural norms and values). Both partners’ adjustment seems to benefit from unique similarity within the couple after childbirth, while complementarity in DC during pregnancy appears to be more beneficial in the long term. Our findings suggest important refinements to DC‐based interventions already aimed to promote similarity in DC.

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Dyadic coping and dyadic adjustment in couples with women with high depressive symptoms during pregnancy

Abstract: These findings highlight the need to assess couples' dyadic adjustment and DC strategies, which is particularly important when women screened positive for high levels of depressive symptoms during pregnancy.

Cited by 29 publications

References 27 publications

Dyadic coping, marital adjustment and quality of life in couples during pregnancy: an actor–partner approach

Dyadic coping, marital adjustment and quality of life in couples during pregnancy: an actor–partner approach

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

Intra‐couple similarity in dyadic coping and partners’ adjustment to the birth of a child

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