Relationship problems are the most frequent problems identified by clients of clinical psychologists and other mental health practitioners. At the same time, partner relationships are one of the strongest sources of support for couples facing major and minor life stress. While there have been recent advances in knowledge and research in the area of interpersonal communication among couples, many questions remain about the processes of couples coping with stress, the effects of stress on the relationship (as well as the individual's well-being), and therapeutic means to aid couples' coping.
Couples Coping With Stress: Emerging Perspectives on Dyadic Coping presents an in-depth look at recent theoretical perspectives and original research on how couples cope with stress, including acute and chronic stress, stresses within and outside of the family, and stress caused by physical and mental illnesses.
In the volume's chapters, leading researchers and clinicians from North America and Western Europe present their theoretical frameworks and the formative research that tests them. Most importantly, the authors translate their findings into practice principles, many of which are innovative therapeutic programs. Dyadic coping, the interplay between the stress signals of one partner and the coping reaction of the other, is introduced as an additional resource that adds to each partner's coping ability and becomes a new direction for marital therapy to move in.
This book offers a new and exciting conceptualization of dyadic processes and introduces a challenging set of new questions that will guide future research in the field.
--- from the publisher Table of Contents Contributors
Series Foreword
Preface
Marriages in Context: Interactions Between Chronic and Acute Stress Among Newlyweds
Dyadic Coping and Its Significance for Marital Functioning
A Contextual Examination of Stress and Coping Processes in Stepfamilies
The Relationship Enhancement Model of Social Support
How Partners Talk in Times of Stress: A Process Analysis Approach
My Illness or Our Illness? Attending to the Relationship When One Partner is Ill
Couples Coping With Chronic Illness: What's Gender Got to Do with It?
A Model Dyadic Coping Intervention
Enhancing Dyadic Coping During a Time of Crisis: An Intervention With Breast Cancer Patients and Their Partners
Author Index
Subject Index
About the Editors |
