Paper
Cross-Country Perspectives on Social Support in Couples Coping with Breast Cancer
- Authors:
- Tanja Zimmermann; Donald H. Baucom; Jasmine T. Irvin; Nina Heinrichs
- Abstract
- Couples from the USA (n = 161) and Germany (n = 64) participated in social support interactions after the women were diagnosed with breast cancer. The primary aim was to investigate whether a coding system developed in one country could be reliably used in another country. Results indicate that the Social Support Interaction Coding System can be used reliably within both studied countries. The secondary aim was to investigate whether coders are able to reliably rate interactions of couples from other countries. Results demonstrate egocentric bias: coders rated couples from the other country as they perceived couples in their own country. Investigation of similar social support functions across countries show that German couples engage in more neutral support behavior than U.S. couples, but differences are not reflected in marital adjustment differences. In both countries, when the women used a more negative communication style to ask for support, men were less positive and more negative while providing support. Alternatively, the more positively men asked for support, females were generally more positive and less neutral in providing support. Findings indicate that there are both notable differences and similarities in support behaviors and functions, yielding different implications for relationship functioning in different countries.
- Keywords
- Psycho-oncology; Couples; Breast Cancer; Communication; Cross-country; Social Support; Relationship Functioning
- StartPage
- 52
- EndPage
- 61
- Doi