Social support from family and friends as a buffer of low spousal support among mothers of critically ill children: A multilevel modeling approach Journal Article


Authors: Rini, C.; Manne, S.; Duhamel, K.; Austin, J.; Ostroff, J.; Boulad, F.; Parsons, S. K.; Martini, R.; Williams, S. E.; Mee, L.; Sexson, S.; Redd, W. H.
Article Title: Social support from family and friends as a buffer of low spousal support among mothers of critically ill children: A multilevel modeling approach
Abstract: Objective: To investigate whether social support from family and friends (family/friend support) attenuated ("buffered") adverse effects of having low spouse support (spousal support) among mothers of children undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Design: One hundred sixty-three married mothers who were their child's primary caregiver during treatment completed assessments during the child's hospitalization for HSCT and 3-, 6-, and 12-months post-HSCT. Measures: Family/friend support and spousal support were assessed during hospitalization. Maternal physical and mental health-related functioning (the main outcome measures) were assessed at all timepoints. Results: Multilevel modeling was used to analyze trajectories of maternal functioning. Findings indicated that mothers with low spousal support and low family/friend support demonstrated the worst functioning across all timepoints. Mothers with low spousal support and high family/friend support demonstrated significantly better functioning, supporting the hypothesized buffering effect. Their functioning compared to the functioning of mothers with high spousal support. Moreover, mothers with high family/friend support demonstrated trajectories of physical health-related functioning that were more stable than the trajectories of mothers with low family/friend support. Conclusion: These findings have clinical implications in addition to advancing knowledge of social support processes among couples coping with the shared stressor of a child's life-threatening illness and treatment. © 2008 American Psychological Association.
Keywords: outcome assessment; hematopoietic stem cell transplantation; social support; hospitalization; bone marrow transplantation; statistical model; mental health; mother; mothers; family; critical illness; critically ill patient; caregivers; spouses; interpersonal relations; spouse; friend; maternal adjustment; multilevel model; pediatric bone marrow transplant; pediatric hematopoietic stem cell transplant; child hospitalization; mother child relation; friends
Journal Title: Health Psychology
Volume: 27
Issue: 5
ISSN: 0278-6133
Publisher: American Psychological Association  
Date Published: 2008-09-01
Start Page: 593
End Page: 603
Language: English
DOI: 10.1037/0278-6133.27.5.593
PUBMED: 18823186
PROVIDER: scopus
DOI/URL:
Notes: --- - "Cited By (since 1996): 3" - "Export Date: 17 November 2011" - "CODEN: HEPSE" - "Source: Scopus"
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  1. Farid Boulad
    329 Boulad
  2. Jamie S Ostroff
    344 Ostroff