COPING IN MARITAL DYADS - PATTERNS AND ASSOCIATIONS WITH PSYCHOLOGICAL SYMPTOMS

This study examined data from 153 married couples to determine their p atterns of coping with stress and the association between couples' cop ing and psychological symptoms in each spouse. We investigated whether information about the dyadic pattern of coping added to the understan ding of psychological symptoms in husbands and wives beyond that glean ed from examining each partner's coping. Cluster analysis yielded eigh t distinguishable patterns of dyadic coping. Two of these patterns wer e associated with high levels of psychological symptoms in one or both spouses. Most notably, a pattern of dyadic coping marked by strong re liance on escape-avoidance coping by both husband and wife was associa ted with high levels of symptoms in both spouses. In regression analys es, wives' escape-avoidance coping predicted both their own and their husbands' psychological symptoms. Husbands' escape-avoidance coping pr edicted only their own symptoms.