Health Psychology Section, Department of Health Sciences, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
J Fam Psychol. 2010 Oct;24(5):578-86. doi: 10.1037/a0021009.
This study examined associations between support behavior, i.e. active engagement and protective buffering, and relationship satisfaction in both patients with diabetes and their partners. Active engagement refers to supportive behavior characterized by involving one's partner in discussions, asking how the other feels, and problem solving strategies. Protective buffering refers to less supportive behavior characterized by denying fears and worries, and by pretending everything is fine. Furthermore, we examined whether there were interactive effects of these two support behaviors on patients' and partners' relationship satisfaction. At baseline (T1), 205 couples rated to which degree they received active engagement and protective buffering from their partners, and completed a measure of relationship satisfaction. At three follow-up assessments, couples were asked to fill out the same measures. Using dyadic data analytic approaches, we found relationship satisfaction to be positively associated with active engagement, and negatively with protective buffering, in both patients and partners. Moreover, we found a moderating effect, in that the negative association between protective buffering and relationship satisfaction was only present when levels of active engagement were relatively low. Again, these results were found for patients as well as their partners. We were able to replicate the T1 results at the other three assessment points. Our findings illustrate the need to consider adequate and less adequate support behaviors simultaneously, and to study the effects on both patients and partners.
本研究考察了支持行为（即积极参与和保护缓冲）与糖尿病患者及其伴侣关系满意度之间的关联。积极参与是指支持行为的特征，包括让伴侣参与讨论、询问对方感受和解决问题的策略。保护缓冲是指支持行为较少的特征，包括否认恐惧和担忧，以及假装一切都很好。此外，我们还检验了这两种支持行为对患者和伴侣关系满意度是否存在交互作用。在基线（T1）时，205 对夫妇评估了他们从伴侣那里获得积极参与和保护缓冲的程度，并完成了关系满意度的测量。在三次随访评估中，夫妇被要求填写相同的测量表。使用对偶数据分析方法，我们发现关系满意度与患者和伴侣的积极参与呈正相关，与保护缓冲呈负相关。此外，我们发现了一个调节作用，即当积极参与水平相对较低时，保护缓冲与关系满意度之间的负相关才存在。同样，这些结果在患者及其伴侣中都得到了验证。我们能够在其他三个评估点复制 T1 的结果。我们的研究结果表明，需要同时考虑适当和不适当的支持行为，并研究它们对患者和伴侣的影响。
