Expressions of support between partners may be more commonplace than heroic, but their cumulative effects on the growth of trust, enduring love, and commitment can be considerable--even lifesaving in the face of otherwise overwhelming tragedy. Skillfully weaving together the latest research with engaging case examples and practical applications, author Carolyn E. Cutrona offers an in-depth analysis of how committed partners can serve as resources for each other in stressful scenarios. Beginning with a fresh overview of definitions and concepts, Social Support in Couples articulates the vital components of intimate support systems. This informative volume explores the phenomenon of marital communication through real-life interactions, focusing on gender-related differences, the interplay between supportive and destructive interactions, and stress experienced during chronic/disabling illness. In a concluding chapter, a research agenda for future study opens the topic up to additional serious consideration. A reader-friendly examination of the power of supportive acts, Social Support in Couples is recommended for a wide readership, including academics, practitioners, and students in family studies, social psychology, social work, and marriage and family counseling.

While insights sometimes are slow in coming, they often seem obvious when they finally arrive. This handbook is an outcome of the insight that the topics of social support and the family are very closely linked. Obvious as this might seem, the fact remains that the literatures dealing with social support and the family have been deceptively separate and distinct. For example, work on social support began in the 1970s with the accumulation of evidence that social ties and social integration play important roles in health and personal adjustment. Even though family members are often the key social supporters of individuals, relatively little re search of social support was targeted on family interactions as a path to specifying supporter processes. It is now recognized that one of the most important features of the family is its role in providing the individual with a source of support and acceptance. Fortunately, in recen t years, the distinctness and separateness of the fields of social support and the family have blurred. This handbook provides the first collation and integration of social support and family research. This integration calls for specifying processes (such as the cognitions associated with poor support availability and unrewarding faIllily constellations) and factors (such as cultural differences in family life and support provision) that are pertinent to integration.

This survey of the nature, problems and outcomes of supportive interactions covers a wide range of contexts and relationships. Exploring social support between friends, spouses, family members and co-workers, both qualitative and quantitative studies in natural and laboratory settings are discussed. The contributors examine: methods and models for assessing specific messages through which people attempt to provide support; approaches for examining the form and content of specific social support interactions; and how features of social relationships convey and contextualize support.

Expressions of support between partners may be more commonplace than heroic, but their cumulative effects on the growth of trust, enduring love, and commitment can be considerable--even lifesaving in the face of otherwise overwhelming tragedy. Skillfully weaving together the latest research with engaging case examples and practical applications, author Carolyn E. Cutrona offers an in-depth analysis of how committed partners can serve as resources for each other in stressful scenarios. Beginning with a fresh overview of definitions and concepts, Social Support in Couples articulates the vital components of intimate support systems. This informative volume explores the phenomenon of marital communication through real-life interactions, focusing on gender-related differences, the interplay between supportive and destructive interactions, and stress experienced during chronic/disabling illness. In a concluding chapter, a research agenda for future study opens the topic up to additional serious consideration. A reader-friendly examination of the power of supportive acts, Social Support in Couples is recommended for a wide readership, including academics, practitioners, and students in family studies, social psychology, social work, and marriage and family counseling.

"This volume addresses the construct of dyadic coping between people in intimate relationships. By strict definition, dyadic coping involves both partners and is the interplay between the stress signals of one partner and the coping reactions of the other or a genuine act of common (shared) coping. As the chapters in this volume illustrate, the construct of dyadic coping is nuanced, interpreted differently by the chapter authors to include processes such as everyday communication, interpersonal conflict, joint problem solving, the giving and receiving of emotional support, and dealing with life stressors as a we, not just two Is. The primary aim of this book is to present current approaches on stress and coping in couples, to bring American and European contributions together, and to stimulate further fruitful scientific exchange on this topic of growing importance. Intended primarily for scholars in the field of marital research, stress and coping research, and interpersonal relationships, the book also serves as a useful reader for practitioners. As the idea of dyadic coping is a new and innovative approach in the area of marital therapy, this volume should be of interest to therapists as well"--Preface. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)

We often turn to our friends, family, spouses, and partners for help in coping with daily stress or major crises. Daena Goldsmith provides a communication-based approach for understanding why some conversations about problems are more helpful than others. In contrast to other research on the social support processes, Goldsmith focuses on interpersonal communication--what people say and how they say it, as well as their reactions to the conversations. Her studies cover adults of all ages and various kinds of stresses, ranging from everyday hassles to serious illnesses and other major crises.

The Sourcebook gives special attention to the complexity of the social support construct, expanding the field's theoretical base by reappraising social support research in the context of findings from other fields of psychology & related disciplines.