Investigation of the diadic effect of the coping behaviors of the couples with disabled children on their marital adjustment

It is known that having a disabled child could be stressful for parents and it is important to examine how the methods that spouses use to deal with this stress predict their marital adjustment. The aim of this study is to examine the association between dyadic coping behaviors with stress and marital adjustment in a sample of married couples with children with disabilities in a dyadic context. For this purpose, the Actor Partner Interdependence Model was used to reveal the effect of dyadic coping behaviors of couples with disabled children on both their marital adjustment (actor effect) as well as their partner's marital adjustment (partner effect). In this correlational research, the participants were recruited by using the criterion sampling method. The inclusion criteria were being married during the research, having a disabled child, and being willing to participate to the study as a couple. The sample of the study consisted of 105 couples (210 individuals). The data of the study were gathered through the Personal Information Form, the Dyadic Coping Inventory, and the Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale. The data were analyzed via SPSS 22.0 and AMOS 21.0. In the study, three different models in which the actor and partner effects of total dyadic coping, positive dyadic coping and negative dyadic coping behaviors on women's and men's marital adjustment were examined. In the first model, it was found that the increase in the total dyadic coping scores of partners was related to increase in their (actor effect) and partners' (partner effect) level of marital adjustment. In the second model, it was observed that the increase in the positive dyadic coping scores of partners was related to increase in their (actor effect) and partners' (partner effect) level of marital adjustment. In the third model, it was found that the increase in the negative dyadic coping scores of partners was related to decrease in their own marital adjustment (actor effect); however, not significantly related to their partners' marital adjustment (partner effect). Overall, results of the study showed that significant actor and partner effects exist in explaining the relationships between couples' stress coping behaviors and marital adjustment. The results of the study were discussed in the context of the relevant literature. Implications for theory, research, and practice, and recommendations for future studies were presented.