Dyadic coping moderates the impact of individual coping strategies on CRP among individuals facing chronic parenting stress

Abstract

Dyadic coping refers to the extent to which partners work together to deal with the stress that they are facing both individually and as a couple. Active problem-focused coping represents the strategies that the individual uses in response to daily stressors. Although both types of coping have been related to less psychological distress, no studies have examined the interaction between individual and dyadic coping responses to stress. The goal of this study was to examine the interplay of individual and dyadic coping among parents of children with an autism spectrum disorder facing exceptional parenting challenges. Forty-four partnered parents of children with an autism spectrum disorder completed a self-reported assessment of dyadic coping, daily diaries assessing individual coping strategies for 6 days in a row, and provided a blood sample for CRP analysis. Results indicated that greater dyadic coping was associated with lower circulating CRP levels, p = . 03 . Although there was no main effect of individual coping strategies, p = . 25 , there was a significant interaction between dyadic coping and individual coping strategies, p = . 02 . Individual coping strategies were associated with lower CRP levels only among individual reporting lower levels of dyadic coping. These results suggest that higher levels of dyadic coping attenuate the impact of poor individual coping responses to stress on CRP in the context of chronic parenting stress.