Both normative and non-normative life events represent a great source of stress, concerns, and fear, which challenge the mental health and wellbeing of many individuals. Dyadic Coping (DC) describes the dynamic interpersonal process partners use to jointly cope with stress and it significantly reduces partners¿ distress and improves their psychological health. To note, for DC to be effective in reducing negative effect on partner¿s well-being, efforts of both partners should be equal. However, many couples experience a decrease of equity within the domain of their relationships and very little is known about the effects of this discrepancy on partners positive and negative adjustment. Romantic dyads¿ partners will report on Life Events, self- and partner¿s DC, symptoms of depression and prosocial behaviors. Recently implemented, Latent Difference Score Models will be used to compute discrepancies between partners perceptions and to model their potential effects on partners¿ adjustment when facing life events. Theoretical and practical implications of the results will be discussed.
Despite the growing recognition of the need to consider stress and coping in a dyadic framework (Berg & Upchurch, 2007; Cutrona & Gardner, 2006; Story & Bradbury, 2004), questions remain concerning the interplay between partners¿ coping interactions and individual adjustment. Specifically, despite the large consensus on the beneficial effects of positive DC strategies, very few studies have investigated whether and how, under the pressure of normative and non-normative life events, discrepancies in perception of the DC influences individual¿s positive and negative adjustment. The present project will build on previous findings by taking an additional step and providing a contribution on this emerging topic.
1) The study is conceptually and methodologically designed to tap a fundamental aspect, still somehow neglected, of family studies: the conceptualization of coping as a relational process that requires to consider family and dyads as units of analyses. The present study, will address this issue also by examining discrepancies in partners¿ perceptions and considering the romantic dyad as the reference for direct and reciprocal influences on individual adjustment.
2) In order to compute discrepancies scores, a recent and advanced method (i.e. LSD), drawn from studies on multi-informant discrepancies, will be implemented to study dyadic processes between partners. The LDS approach has several advantages over the observed difference score approach. First, LDS trough the construction of two latent variables that represent the common (or identical) part of the two partners¿ scores, and the unique part of one of the partner¿s scores, the effects of the discrepancy score and one partner¿s score on associated variables are not forced to be equal but rather can be empirically weighted within the model. Moreover, because one informant and the discrepancy score both are related to other variables, LDS do not confound the discrepancy and main effects the way observed difference scores do. To our knowledge, this would be the first study to implement this methodology within the dyadic relationships¿ domain.
3) Inclusion of both normative and non-normative events. In choosing to examine life events we suggest that partners situated in an environment characterized by a relatively greater number of recent life events may be particularly vulnerable to the negative impact of perceived discrepancies from their partners. The present study will include also the stress related to the COVID-19 situation, which provide a unique chance to test how a non-normative event might activate partners¿ stress management processes.
4) Implications for interventions. A joint dyadic coping could be included in those specific interactions within the romantic relationship which might be crucial for successful adjustment to stressful events. To note, partners may not converge in their coping strategies over time, both eliciting more rejecting or hostile behaviors. Findings from the present study may suggest that treatments focused on the enhancement of DC, might benefit from considering also the potential discrepancies in partners¿ strategies in helping them to deal with stress and its consequences. Moreover, the evolution of the COVID-19 situation is still uncertain, and understanding the role of dyadic coping during the pandemic appears particularly relevant in the face of increasing reports of relationship breakdown, such as domestic violence or divorce (Van Bavel et al., 2020).