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.

在成年后，经常要求浪漫的伴侣在需要时为彼此提供舒适和帮助。 实际上，许多成年人在很大程度上依靠自己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，社会支持和照料不仅对个人健康和福祉至关重要，而且对健康和满意的亲密关系的发展和维护至关重要。 但是，尽管社会支持对于幸福感是如此至关重要，但我们对亲密关系中发生的人际关系支持过程​​的了解却一无所知。 此外，进行的研究主要集中在一种类型的支持上 - 在压力很大的情况下向另一种支持提供的舒适和帮助（在本提案中引用为“避风港”），并忽略了另一种重要类型的支持 - 支持另一个人的个人成长，目标，攻击性，在这里挑战的情况（引用了挑战性的挑战）（涉及确定的基础）。 这项调查的主要目的是通过研究成人亲密关系中护理的“安全基础”功能来解决文献中的这一危险差距。 具体来说，该项目将调查夫妻成员对伴侣的个人成长，目标斗争和探索的支持，以及这种类型的支持和缺乏支持的影响，对接受者（例如，对接收者的自我认知，个人成长，心理和身体健康）以及对关系（例如，满意度，满意度，稳定性）的影响。 这项研究的次要目标是在（a）检查围绕人际交往动态的“避风港”护理的现有研究以及在新婚夫妇样本中的这种类型的护理以及（b）共同检查避风港和安全基础照顾的动态和效果。由于社会支持是一种人际交往现象，因此两种类型的护理将被检查为涉及两个相互作用伙伴的特征和行为的二元过程的一部分。每天和每周都会为每对夫妇提供围绕安全基地和避风港护理的事件日记，以及对这些动态的实验室观察和自我报告。观察和调查评估将在一年后重复，以测试有关两种护理的长期后果的假设。 由于每种护理都具有不同的功能，因此可以预期，安全的基础照料（支持伴侣的“出去”进行探索）将产生重要的直接和长期后果，这些后果与可能由避风港照料所能提供的那些截然不同的后果（在压力下伴侣的“支持”的支持）。 例如，接受安全的基础照顾（无论是立即和随着时间的推移）的独特后果可能是更高的自尊心，感知的能力，自信心和自我效能感，以及更大的意愿/愿意/努力，以涉及追求目标，接受挑战以及学习新事物/新事物/新事物/新事物/新事物/新事物/尝试新事物/新事物/新事物/新事物/努力。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有关成年关系的性质，功能和重要性的理论进步，以及婚姻文献中令人印象深刻的研究体系，试图识别预测婚姻满意度和稳定性的复杂人际关系和人际交往因素。研究支持/护理过程在关系伴侣之间的日常互动中展开的基本重要性在于这些相互作用对个人和关系功能的长期后果。