Social Support and Marital Coping with Chronic Illness

Abstract

Abstract This article reviews a number of issues related to married couples' coping with and adjustment to chronic physical illness. Spouses occupy a dual role in the coping process, as primary provider of support to the ill partner and as a family member who needs support in coping with the illness-related stresses he or she is experiencing. Studies on the impact of illness on the healthy spouse and the marital relationship are reviewed, with a focus on social support transactions between partners. In addition, sources of support for the healthy spouse are described. Two theoretical models of couples' coping are presented and suggested for future research in the area: one focuses on relationship-focused coping efforts and the other focuses on the congruence or fit between husbands' and wives' coping efforts. An integrative framework is presented, and a call is sounded for research on couples' coping with chronic stress that addresses the multiple influences of gender.

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