Social Support and Marital Satisfaction among Couples Coping with Chronic Constructive Airway Disease

Abstract

Couples in which one spouse has chronic obstructive airway disease (COAD) face great distress and change over the life course. Couples experience multiple losses and feelings of anxiety, depression and hopelessness, usually beginning in mid-life and continuing into older age. This study explored two sources of social support - family support and friend support - as resources for coping with illness. The relation of family and friend received and provided support with marital satisfaction and the effects of sex and length of marriage were studied. Results indicated that the association between support and marital satisfaction was moderated by the couple's length of marriage, the sex of patients and spouses, and the degree of congruency between husbands' and wives' evaluations of their marital satisfaction. Support acted as a stress buffer in regard to marital satisfaction only for male spouses and male patients. Implications for theory, research and preventive interventions are discussed.