The couple’s congruence of child’s illness perception and the quality of marital relationship

Main Article Content

Maria Nicoleta Turliuc Diana Sînziana Duca Daniela Muntele Hendreș

Abstract

This study aims to test whether a couple’s congruence regarding the perception of their child’s illness has an influence on the quality of a marital relationship. This research involved 106 parents of children with autism. The results show a significant effect of the couple’s congruence of the perception of their child’s illness on couple satisfaction F (2.103) = 3.61, p = .03, parental stress F (2.103) = 17.89, p <.001, dyadic coping F (2.103) = 9.23, p <.001 and family resilience, F (2.103) = 10.43, p <.001. The findings indicate a decreasing trend of couple satisfaction, family resilience and dyadic coping as well as an increasing trend of parental stress when the couple’s congruence of illness perception increases. 

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Article Details

Section
Articles

References

Abidin, R. R. (1995). The parenting stress index professional manual. Lutz, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.
Al Anbar N.N., Dardennes, R.M., Prado-Netto, A., Kaye, K. & Contejean, Y. (2010). Treatment choices in autism spectrum disorder: the role of parental illness perceptions. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 31(3), 817 – 828.
Baines, T. & Wittkowski, A. (2013). A systematic review of the literature exploring illness perceptions in mental health utilising the self-regulation model. Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings, 20, 263 – 274.
Baker, B.L., Blacher, J. & Olsson, M.B. (2005). Preschool children with and without developmental delay: Behavior problems, parents’ optimism-pessimism, and well-being. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 49, 575 – 590.
Barbarin, O. A. Hughes, D., & Chesler, M. A. (1985). Stress, coping, and marital functioning among parents of children with cancer. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 47, 473 – 480.
Barrowclough, C., Lobban, F., Hatton, C. & Quinn, J. (2001). The living circumstances of children and adults with MR/DD in the United States, Canada, England and Wales and Australia. Mental Retardation and Development Disabilities Research Reviews, 7, 115 – 21.
Benyamini, Y. (2011). Health and illness perceptions. In H. Friedman (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of health psychology (pp. 281–314). New York: Oxford University Press.
Benyamini, Y., Gozlan, M. & Kokia, E. (2009). Women's and men's perceptions of infertility and their associations with psychological adjustment: A dyadic approach. British Journal of Health Psychology, 14, 1 – 16.
Berg, C.A. & Upchurch, R. (2007). A developmental-contextual model of couples coping with chronic illness across the life span. Psychological Bulletin, 133, 920 – 954.
Bodenmann, G. (2008). Dyadisches Coping Inventar: Testmanual [Dyadic Coping Inventory: Test manual].Bern, Switzerland: Huber.
Coleman, K. & Karraker, K. (1997). Self-efficacy and parenting quality: Findings and future applications. Developmental Review, 18, 47 – 85.
Evans, D. & Norman, P. (2009). Illness representations, coping and psychological adjustment to Parkinson's disease. Psychology & Health, 24 (10), 1181 – 1196.
Figueiras, M.J. & Weinman, J. (2003). Do similar patient and spouse perceptions of myocardial infarction predict recovery? Psychology & Health, 18, 201 – 216.
Filipp, S.-H. & Aymanns, P. (1997). Subjektive Krankheitstheorien [Illness representations]. In R. Schwarzer (Ed.), Gesundheitspsychologie: ein Lehrbuch [Health psychology: a textbook] (pp. 3 – 21). Göttingen: Hogrefe.
Fletcher, B. A. S., Miaskowski, C. Given, B. & Schumacher, K. (2012). The cancer family caregiving experience: An updated and expanded conceptual model. European Journal of Oncology Nursing, 16, 387 – 398.
Funk J. L. & Rogge, R. D. (2007). Testing the Ruler With Item Response Theory: Increasing Precision of Measurement for Relationship Satisfaction With the Couples Satisfaction Index. Journal of Family Psychology, 21(4), 572–583.
Gatzoyia, D., Kotsis, K., Koullourou, I., Goulia, P., Carvalho, A. F., Soulis, S. & Hyphantis, T. (2014). The association of illness perceptions with depressive symptoms and general psychological distress in parents of an offspring with autism spectrum disorder. Disability and Health Journal, 7, 173 – 180.
Goldstein, L.H., Holland, L., Soteriou, H. & Mellers, J.D.C. (2005). Illness representations, coping styles and mood in adults with epilepsy. Epilepsy Research, 67, 1 – 11.
Green, H.J., Wells, D.J.N. & Laakso, L. (2011). Coping in men with prostate cancer and their partners: a quantitative and qualitative study. European Journal of Cancer Care, 20, 237 – 247.
Hagger, M.S. & Orbell, S. (2003). A meta-analytic review of the common-sense model of illness representations. Psychology & Health, 18(2), 141 – 184.
Heijmans, M., de Ridder, D. & Bensing, J. (1999). Dissimilarity in patients' and spouses' representations of chronic illness: Exploration of relations to patient adaptation. Psychology & Health, 14, 451-466.
Kaptein, A., Scharloo, M., Helder, D.I., Snoei, L., van Kempen, G.M.J., Weinman, J. & Roos, R.A.C. (2007). Quality of life in couples living with Huntington's disease: the role of patients' and partners' illness perceptions. Quality of Life Research, 16, 793 – 801.
Kaptein, A.A., Helder, D.I., Scharloo, M., van Kempen, G.M.J., Weinman, J., van Houwelingen, H.J.C. & Roos, R.A.C. (2006). Illness perceptions and coping explain well-being in patients with Huntington's disease. Psychology & Health, 21, 431 – 446.
Karademas, E.C. & Giannousi, Z. (2013). Representations of control and psychological symptloms in couples dealing with cancer: A dyadic-regulation approach. Psychology & Health, 28, 67 – 83.
Karademas, E.C. (2014). The psychological well-being of couples experiencing a chronic illness: A matter of personal and partner illness cognitions and the role of marital quality. Journal of Health Psychology, 19 (11), 1347 – 1357.
Karademas, E.C., Zarogiannos, A. & Karamvakalis, N. (2010). Cardiac patient-spouse dissimilarities in illness perception: Associations with patient self-rated health and coping strategies. Psychology & Health, 25, 451 – 463.
Langer, S.L., Brown, J.D. & Syrjala, K.L. (2009). Intrapersonal and interpersonal consequences of protective buffering among cancer patients and caregivers. Cancer, 115, 4311 – 4325.
Lau, R. R., Bernard, T. M. & Hartman, K. A. (1989). Further explorations of common sense representations of common illness. Health Psychology, 8, 195 – 219.
Leventhal, H., Leventhal, E. & Contrada, R. J. (1998). Self-regulation, health and behaviour: A perceptual cognitive approach. Psychology & Health, 13, 717–734.
Leventhal, H., Meyer, D. & Nerenz, D. (1980). The common-sense representation of illness danger. In S. Rachman (Ed.), Contributions to Medical Psychology (Vol. 2, pp.7–30). New York: Pergamon Press
Leventhal, H., Nerenz, D. & Steele, D., J. (1984). Illness representations and coping with health threats, In: Baum, A., Taylor, S. E. & Singer, J. E. (eds.), Handbook of psychology and health (Vol.4, pp. 219 – 252). Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum.
Llewellyn, C.D., McGurk, M., & Weinman, J. (2007). Illness and treatment beliefs in head and neck cancer: Is Leventhal's common sense model a useful framework for determining changes in outcomes over time? Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 63, 17 – 26.
Loyd, B. H., & Abidin, R. R. (1985). Revision of the Parenting Stress Index. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 10(2): 169-77.
Marcos, Y.Q., Cantero, M.C.T., Escobar, C.R., & Acosta, G.P. (2007). Illness perception in eating disorders and psychosocial adaptation. European Eating Disorders Review, 15, 373–384.
Moss-Morris, R., Weinman, J., Petrie, K. J., Horne, R., Cameron, L. D., & Buick, D. (2002). The Revised Illness Perception Questionnaire (IPQ-R). Psychology & Health, 17, 1–16.
Petrie, K. J., & Weinman, J. (2012). Patients‘ perceptions of their illness: The dynamo of volition in health care. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 21, 60 – 65.
Pianta, R. C., & Harbers, K. L. (1996). Observing mother and child behavior in a problem solving situation at school entry: Relations with academic achievement. Journal of School Psychology, 34(3), 307–322.
Romero, C., Lindsay, J. E., Dalton, W. T., Nelson, D. V. & Friedman, L. C. (2008). Husbands' perceptions of wives' adjustment to breast cancer: the impact on wives' mood. Psycho-oncology, 17, 237–243.
Salewski, C. (2003). Illness representations in families with a chronically ill adolescent: Differences between family members and impact on patients' outcome variables. Journal of Health Psychology, 8, 587 – 598.
Salewski, C. (2010). Subjektive Konzepte zu Krankheit und gesundheitlicher Bedrohung [Representations about illness and health threat]. Zeitschrift für Gesundheitspsychologie, 18, 1 – 2.
Salewski, C. & Vollmann, M. (2014), Close relationships and chronic illness: The interrelations between illness perceptions and social support. Zeitschrift für Gesundheitspsychologie, Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263532092
Saloviita, T., Itaelinna, M., & Leinonen, E. (2003). Explaining the parental stress of fathers and mothers caring for a child with intellectual disability: a double ABCX model. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 47, 300 – 312.
Sim, L., & Matthews, A. (2013). The role of maternal illness perceptions in family functioning in adolescent girls with anorexia nervosa. Journal of Child & Family Studies, 22, 541 – 550.
Sixbey, M. T. (2005). Development of the family resilience assessment scale to identify family resilience constructs (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from http://etd.fcla.edu/UF/UFE0012882/sixbey_m.pdf.
Sneeuw, K.C., Albertsen, P.C., & Aaronson, N.K. (2001). Comparison of patient and spouse assessments of health related quality of life in men with metastatic prostate cancer. Journal of Urology, 165, 478 – 482.
Sterba, K.R., DeVellis, R.F., Lewis, M.A., DeVellis, B.M., Jordan, J.M., & Baucom, D.H. (2008). Effect of couple illness perception congruence on psychological adjustment in women with rheumatoid arthritis. Health Psychology, 27, 221 – 229.
Teti D. M., O'Connell M.A., & Reiner C. D. (1996). Parenting sensitivity, parental depression and child health: The mediational role of parental self-efficacy. Early Development and Parenting. 5(4), 237 – 250.
Teti, D. M., & Gelfand, D. M. (1991). Behavioral competence among mothers of infants in the first year: The mediational role of maternal self-efficacy. Child Development, 62, 918 – 929.
Vollmann, M., Scharloo, M., Langguth, B., Kalkouskaya, N., & Salewski, C. (2014). Illness representations as mediators of the relationship between dispositional optimism and depression in patients with chronic tinnitus: A cross-sectional study. Psychology & Health, 29, 81 – 93.
Yorgason, J.B., Roper, S.O., Wheeler, B. Crane, K., Byron, R., Carpenter, L., Sandberg, J. G. Sheffield, R. & Higley, D. (2010). Older couples' management of multiple-chronic illnesses: Individual and shared perceptions and coping in Type 2 diabetes and osteoarthritis. Families, Systems, & Health, 28, 30 – 47.