Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

A Dyadic And Longitudinal Investigation Of Adjustment In Couples Coping With Multiple Sclerosis. Research In Developmental Disabilities, Christina Samios, Kenneth Pakenham, Jill O'Brien

Christina Samios

Background Multiple sclerosis (MS) can affect adjustment at both the individual and couple level. Purpose This study examined differences and associations between MS patient and spouse adjustment, and whether one partner’s adjustment predicts the other partner’s adjustment over time. Methods A total of 160 couples at Time 1 and 98 couples at Time 2 completed questionnaires. Results Mixed-model ANOVAs found that patients reported poorer adjustment than their spouse on a range of adjustment indicators and that positive affect and relationship satisfaction declined over time for both patients and spouses. Intraclass correlations found that patient and spouse scores on all adjustment …