A Longitudinal Examination of Caregiving Processes in Adulthood

成年期照料过程的纵向考察

• 批准号: 0424579
• 负责人: Brooke Feeney
• 金额: $ 39万
• 依托单位: Carnegie-Mellon University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2004
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2004-09-01 至 2008-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0424579&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Longitudinal; Examination; Caregiving; Processes; Adulthood

In adulthood, romantic partners are frequently called upon to provide comfort and assistance to one another in times of need. In fact, many adults come to rely heavily on their romantic partner as an important source of support and care. Not surprisingly, research indicates that social support and caregiving are essential not only to personal health and well being, but also to the development and maintenance of healthy and satisfying intimate relationships. However, despite the fact that social support is so critical for well-being, we know surprisingly little about the interpersonal support processes that occur within close relationships. Moreover, the research that has been conducted has focused primarily on one type of support - the comfort and assistance provided to another in stressful situations (referenced in this proposal as the provision of a "safe haven") - and has overlooked another important type of support - the support of another's personal growth, goal strivings, and explorations in situations that are challenging (referenced here as the provision of a "secure base"). The primary purpose of this investigation is to address this critical gap in the literature by examining the "secure base" function of caregiving in adult intimate relationships. Specifically, this project will investigate couple members' support of their partners' personal growth, goal strivings, and explorations, as well as the effects of this type of support, and lack thereof, on the recipient (e.g., on the recipient's self-perceptions, personal growth, psychological and physical well-being) and on the relationship (e.g., satisfaction, stability). A secondary goal of this research is to build upon existing research on "safe haven" caregiving by (a) examining interpersonal dynamics surrounding, and long-term consequences of, this type of caregiving in a sample of newly married couples and (b) jointly examining the dynamics and effects of both safe haven and secure base caregiving in the same sample of relationship partners. Because social support is an interpersonal phenomenon, both types of caregiving will be examined as part of a dyadic process that involves the characteristics and behavior of both interaction partners. Daily and weekly diaries of events surrounding both secure base and safe haven caregiving, as well laboratory observations and self-reports of these dynamics, will be obtained for each couple. Observational and survey assessments will be repeated one year later in order to test hypotheses regarding long-term consequences of both types of caregiving. Because each type of caregiving serves a different function, it is expected that secure base caregiving (the support of a partner's "going out" for exploration) will have important immediate and long-term consequences that are distinct from those that are likely to be afforded by safe haven caregiving (the support of a partner's "coming in" in times of stress). For example, the unique consequences of receiving secure base caregiving (both immediately and over time) are likely to be higher levels of self-esteem, perceived competency, self-confidence, and self-efficacy, and greater willingness/efforts to engage in exploratory activities involving the pursuit of goals, acceptance of challenges, and attempts to learn new things/make new discoveries. Thus, long-term improvements in the self (personal growth) are likely to be important consequences of secure base support. It is hoped that the results of this research will contribute to theoretical advances regarding the nature, functioning, and importance of relationships in adulthood, and to the impressive body of research in the marital literature that attempts to identify the complex intrapersonal and interpersonal factors that predict marital satisfaction and stability. The fundamental importance of studying support/caregiving processes as they unfold within everyday interactions between relationship partners lies in the long-term consequences of these interactions for individual and relationship functioning.

成年后，浪漫的伴侣经常被要求在需要时互相提供安慰和帮助。 事实上，许多成年人开始严重依赖他们的浪漫伴侣作为支持和关怀的重要来源。毫不奇怪，研究表明社会支持和照顾不仅对个人健康和福祉至关重要，而且对发展和维持健康和令人满意的亲密关系也至关重要。 然而，尽管社会支持对于幸福如此重要，但我们对亲密关系中发生的人际支持过程却知之甚少。 此外，已经进行的研究主要集中在一种类型的支持上——在有压力的情况下向他人提供安慰和帮助（在本提案中称为提供“安全港”）——而忽略了另一种重要的支持类型——在具有挑战性的情况下支持他人的个人成长、目标奋斗和探索（这里称为提供“安全基地”）。 这项调查的主要目的是通过研究成人亲密关系中照顾的“安全基础”功能来解决文献中的这一关键空白。 具体来说，该项目将调查夫妻成员对其伴侣的个人成长、目标奋斗和探索的支持，以及这种类型的支持和缺乏这种支持对接受者（例如，接受者的自我认知、个人成长、心理和身体健康）和关系（例如，满意度、稳定性）的影响。 这项研究的第二个目标是建立在现有的“安全港”护理研究的基础上，通过（a）在新婚夫妇样本中检查围绕此类护理的人际动态及其长期后果，以及（b）在同一关系伙伴样本中共同检查安全港和安全基础护理的动态和影响。由于社会支持是一种人际现象，因此两种类型的护理都将作为涉及双方互动伙伴的特征和行为的二元过程的一部分进行检查。每对夫妇都会获得有关安全基地和避风港护理的每日和每周日记，以及这些动态的实验室观察和自我报告。一年后将重复观察和调查评估，以检验有关两种护理类型的长期后果的假设。 由于每种类型的护理都有不同的功能，因此预计安全基础护理（支持伴侣“走出去”探索）将产生重要的直接和长期后果，这些后果与安全港护理（支持伴侣在压力时“进来”）可能提供的后果不同。 例如，接受安全基础护理（立即和长期）的独特后果可能是更高水平的自尊、感知能力、自信和自我效能，以及更愿意/更努力地参与涉及追求目标、接受挑战和尝试学习新事物/做出新发现的探索性活动。因此，自我（个人成长）的长期改善可能是安全基础支持的重要后果。希望这项研究的结果将有助于关于成年关系的性质、功能和重要性的理论进展，并有助于婚姻文献中令人印象深刻的研究，这些研究试图确定预测婚姻满意度和稳定性的复杂的个人和人际因素。研究在关系伙伴之间的日常互动中展开的支持/照顾过程的根本重要性在于这些互动对个人和关系功能的长期影响。