“…Being in a supportive relationship is one explanation for why marital partners live longer and enjoy better health than do unmarried individuals (for reviews see Burman & Margolin, 1992;KiecoltGlaser & Newton, 2001). Social support, for example, is particularly important for people with coronary artery disease in terms of managing depression (Bosworth et al, 2000;Shen, McCreary, & Myers, 2003), promoting healthy life choices (Franks, Wendorf, Gonzalez, & Ketterer, 2004; see also Goldsmith, Lindholm, & Bute, 2006), and other health outcomes (for a review see Littik, Jaarsma, Moser, Sanderman, & van Veldhuisen, 2005). Thus, the finding of the present study that relational quality is a strong predictor (r = .64) of perceptions of partner support in disclosure contributes to the body of research on the role of support in managing health conditions.…”