Dyadic coping in personal projects of romantic partners: assessment and associations with relationship satisfaction

Abstract

In the present study we describe a context-sensitive, personal-projects-based approach to dyadic coping with stress which adapted the Dyadic Coping Inventory (DCI) for the assessment of dyadic coping strategies in stressful personal projects. In a crosssectional study, 149 heterosexual Hungarian couples provided evaluations pertaining to their dyadic coping experiences in a stressful everyday project. Explorative factor analyses of personal project-related DCI items provided theoretically meaningful factor structures and the resulting subscales showed excellent reliability. The subscales' predictive validity was tested in two dyadic analyses using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) whereby positive and negative dyadic coping experiences served as predictors of satisfaction with the dyadic coping process in particular, and with the relationship in general as outcomes. Our results showed that satisfaction with dyadic coping in personal projects is predicted only by the dyadic coping experiences of the respondents (the actor effect), while actor and partner effects proved to be predictive of relationship satisfaction. Negative partner experiences related to dyadic coping predicted lower relationship satisfaction of the female partner, while for males the positive experiences of the partner were found to be more predictive. These results confirm that the contextualized assessment of dyadic coping experiences in specific stressful personal projects is a reliable and valid method. Further methodological and theoretical conclusions are discussed.

Psychometric properties and measurement invariance of the Polish version of the dyadic coping inventory

“…The results of their research indicate that individual strategies for coping with stress are most effective in interpersonal problem situations and are least effective in the case of external stress (Pearlin and Schooler 1978). The latest theories about stress and coping confirm that individual stress often becomes dyadic stress that affects both partners (see: Martos et al 2019). Stress can cause a crisis in a relationship that can lead to its breakup or may become a driver of potential growth (Story and Bradbury 2004).…”

Stress and Dyadic Coping in Personal Projects of Couples – A Pattern-Oriented Analysis

“…For the purposes of this study, we adapted the items of the Dyadic Coping Inventory (DCI, Bodenmann, 2008; Hungarian version: Martos et al, 2012). The same procedure was used as in research by Martos et al (2019). The 37 items of the DCI assessed the couples’ dyadic coping strategies.…”

“…Using a personalized approach to goal striving, Martos et al (2019) recently extended the personal project assessment methodology to the study of dyadic coping strategies, and demonstrated the reliability and validity of this approach in a pilot study. They argued that the construct of dyadic coping, as formulated in STM, might be included in models of relationship-level regulation of personal projects.…”

“…Building on and extending the work of Martos et al (2019), in the present research we connect the following aspects of individual and relationship functioning. We examine individually pursued personal projects of each member of a couple while we assume that their projects and, consequently, their project related experiences are embedded in the broader context of the couple’s relationship.…”

“…We used personal project related stress appraisals and dyadic coping strategies as the core units for the pattern-oriented analytic approach. In a previous piece of work (c.f., Martos et al, 2019) we measured only dyadic coping strategies via the personal project assessment procedure, that is, relational experiences in the project. However, since previous research has confirmed that the extent of perceived stress in a relationship may vary considerably, and this can have an adverse effect on relationship functioning (e.g., Merz et al, 2014; Hilpert et al, 2018), the inclusion of personal project related stress appears necessary for understanding the complex relationship between stress and dyadic coping in the partners’ personal project pursuits.…”