Couples Coping with Stress

Abstract

The primary objective of the study was to increase understanding of interpersonal dimensions of stress and coping within married couples. Our sample included 82 couples living in a stepfamily context. Data were collected using structured telephone interviews and twice-daily questionnaires for a period of 1 week. Using matched-pair hierarchical linear modeling analysis, the study examined how stress and coping processes unfold over the course of a given day and across days within couples. First, we investigated antecedents of empathic responding, a form of relationship-focused coping. Second, we examined the role of empathic responding in within-couple variations in marital tension across days. We found that when greater personal significance was attached to family stressors, husbands and wives tended to increase their use of empathic responding. Also considered were the contextual effects of marital adjustment on how family stressors are experienced and managed by couples. The results indicate a link between marital adjustment and the use of empathic responding for both husbands and wives within couples. As well, the study suggests that marital adjustment plays an important role in determining whether the negative effects of stress will persist across days. Higher use of empathic responding was found to be associated with lower levels of next-day marital tension. When relational outcomes are considered, empathic responding may represent an adaptive way of coping with everyday stress. Our findings indicate that examination of relationship-focused coping may add to the theoretical and explanatory power of current models of stress and coping.