Elsevier

Social Science & Medicine

Volume 64, Issue 2, January 2007, Pages 389-400
Social Science & Medicine

Daily negative interactions and mood among patients and partners dealing with multiple sclerosis (MS): The moderating effects of emotional support

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2006.07.016Get rights and content

Abstract

Negative interactions with intimate partners may have adverse consequences for well-being, especially for individuals dealing with chronic illness. However, it is not clear whether negative interactions affect both dimensions of positive and negative well-being and factors that may moderate this effect have not been well-described. The aim of the present study was to examine the association between daily received negative responses from the partner and end-of-day positive and negative mood in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and their intimate partners. Further, the moderating role of receiving emotional support from the partner on the same day was examined. Sixty-one MS patients and their intimate partners were approached via one MS centre and the neurology department of one hospital in the Netherlands and completed computerized diaries for 14 days. Both partners filled out diaries at the end of each day, recording received negative responses, emotional support and end-of-day positive and negative mood. In line with a domain specific model, patients or partners who reported receiving negative responses on a day had higher end-of-day negative mood, whereas received negative responses were unrelated to end-of-day positive mood. Further, for both patients and partners, the adverse effect of received negative responses on end-of day mood was moderated by receiving emotional support on the same day.

Section snippets

Main text

The beneficial effects of being involved in a supportive relationship for well-being in general (e.g. Burman & Margolin, 1992) as well as for adjustment to chronic illness (e.g. Cutrona, 1996) have been well documented. Unfortunately, besides being supportive, interactions with the partner can also be problematic and the detrimental effects of problematic or negative interactions are believed to be more important than the beneficial effects of supportive interactions (Manne, Taylor, Dougherty,

Participants

MS patients and their intimate partners were approached via one MS centre and the neurology department of one hospital in the Netherlands. MS patients who were registered in the patient files of these clinics received a letter including information about the study and a description of the inclusion criteria. As information on inclusion criteria were not available from the patient files (e.g. we did not know how many of these patients had a partner), we distributed letters to all 390 patients

Descriptive analyses

Table 1 presents the means and standard deviations of the key study variables. Across the 14-day period, 18 patients (30%) and 13 partners (21%) did not report receiving negative responses from their partner. The mean number of days that patients or partners reported receiving negative responses was 2.6 (range 0–11) and 3.8 (range 0–13), respectively. Thus, across the 14-day period, partners reported more days on which they received negative responses from their ill partner than patients (p

Discussion

The present study examined daily received negative responses in MS patients and their intimate partners. First, the relation between daily received negative responses from the partner and end-of-day mood was examined. Second, the moderating role of receiving emotional support on the same day was addressed. An important feature of the study was the use of a diary method which allowed us to investigate the effects of negative responses within-persons over time.

In line with other studies, both

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Martine van Tent for her help with the data collection and Jan Koopman for developing the software for the electronic diaries.

References (40)

  • T.J. Murray

    The psychosocial aspects of multiple sclerosis

    Neurology Clinics

    (1995)
  • T.A. Revenson et al.

    Social support as a double-edged sword: The relation of positive and problematic support to depression among rheumatoid arthritis patients

    Social Science & Medicine

    (1991)
  • L.S. Aiken et al.

    Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions

    (1991)
  • N. Bolger et al.

    Diary methods: Capturing life as it is lived

    Annual Review of Psychology

    (2003)
  • N. Bolger et al.

    Effects of daily stress on negative mood

    Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

    (1989)
  • B. Burman et al.

    Analysis of the association between marital relationships and health problems: An interactional perspective

    Psychological Bulletin

    (1992)
  • C.E. Cutrona

    Social support in couples: Marriage as a resource in times of stress

    (1996)
  • A. DeLongis et al.

    The impact of daily stress on health and mood: Psychological and social resources as mediators

    Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

    (1988)
  • J.A. Druley et al.

    Self-esteem as a mediator between spousal support and depressive symptoms: A comparison of healthy individuals and individuals coping with arthritis

    Health Psychology

    (1998)
  • J.F. Finch et al.

    Positive and negative social ties among older adults: Measurement models and the prediction of psychological distress and well-being

    American Journal of Community Psychology

    (1989)
  • J.F. Finch et al.

    A comparison of the influence of conflictual and supportive social interactions on psychological distress

    Journal of Personality

    (1999)
  • V.S. Helgeson et al.

    Social support and adjustment to cancer: Reconciling descriptive, correlational, and intervention research

    Health Psychology

    (1996)
  • B. Ingersoll-Dayton et al.

    The effects of positive and negative social exchanges on aging adults

    Journals of Gerontology: Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences

    (1997)
  • H.H. Kelley et al.

    Interpersonal relationships: A theory of interdependence

    (1978)
  • J.K. Kiecolt-Glaser et al.

    Upsetting social interactions and distress among Alzheimer's disease family care-givers: A replication and extension

    American Journal of Community Psychology

    (1988)
  • N. Krause et al.

    Negative interaction and changes in functional disability during late life

    Journal of Social and Personal Relationships

    (2002)
  • R.G. Kuijer et al.

    Active engagement, protective buffering, and overprotection: Three ways of giving support by intimate partners of patients with cancer

    Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology

    (2000)
  • J.F. Kurtzke

    A proposal for a minimal record of disability in multiple sclerosis

    Acta Neurologica Scandinavica

    (1981)
  • D.R. Lehman et al.

    Recipients’ perceptions of support attempts and attributions for support attempts that fail

    Journal of Social and Personal Relationships

    (1990)
  • F.D. Lublin et al.

    Defining the clinical course of multiple sclerosis: Results of an international survey. National multiple sclerosis society (USA) advisory committee on clinical trials of new agents in multiple sclerosis

    Neurology

    (1996)
  • Cited by (0)

    View full text