Hostname: page-component-7dd5485656-wjfd9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-31T07:00:02.807Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Relationship-Focused Coping Patterns of Japanese Child-Rearing Couples

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 April 2015

Tai Kurosawa ,
Michiyo Kato  and
Tetsuji Kamiya
Tai Kurosawa*
Affiliation:
Graduate School of Education, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
Michiyo Kato
Affiliation:
Graduate School of Education, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
Tetsuji Kamiya
Affiliation:
Graduate School of Education, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
*
ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE: Tai Kurosawa, Tohoku University, Room 603, Kawauchi, 1, 27, Aoba district, Sendai city, Miyagi prefecture, 980-8576, Japan. Email: tai9630@gmail.com
Get access

Abstract

This study elucidated the relationship-focused coping patterns of Japanese child-rearing couples. Participants were 101 Japanese couples with at least one pre-school child who was attending one of four daycare centres. Questionnaires included a Japanese version of the relationship-focused coping questionnaire, the Kansas Marital Satisfaction Scale, and the WHO-5 Well-Being Index. Cluster analysis revealed three relationship-focused coping patterns: ‘wife escapes/husband combines’, ‘mutual active relationship maintenance couples’, and ‘wife engages/husband combines’. Our study showed that relationship-focused coping has multidimensional aspects within couples. Furthermore, mutual active relationship maintenance after marital conflict within couples is important for their marital satisfaction.

Keywords

relationship-focused copingcoping patternsmarital satisfactionwellbeing

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Relationships Research , Volume 6 , 2015 , e7
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Arksey, H., & Knight, P. (1999). Interviewing for social scientists. London: Sage Publications.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Awata, S., Bech, P., Koizumi, Y., Seki, T., Kuriyama, S., Hozawa, A., . . . Tsuji, I. (2007). Validity and utility of the Japanese version of the WHO-Five Well-Being Index in the context of detecting suicidal ideation in elderly community residents. International Psychogeriatrics, 19, 77–88. doi:10.1017/S1041610206004212 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Badr, H. (2004). Coping in marital dyads: A contextual perspective on the role of gender and health. Personal Relationships, 11, 197–211. doi:10.1111/j.1475-6811.2004.00078.x CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Badr, H., Carmack, C.L., Kashy, D.A., Cristofanilli, M., & Revenson, T.A. (2010). Dyadic coping in metastatic breast cancer. Health Psychology, 29, 169–180. doi:10.1037/a0018165 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Belsky, J., & Kelly, J. (1994). The transition to parenthood: How a first child changes a marriage. New York: Dell Publishers.Google Scholar
Berghuis, J.P., & Stanton, A.L. (2002). Adjustment to a dyadic stressor: A longitudinal study of coping and depressive symptoms in infertile couples over an insemination attempt. Journal Consulting Clinical Psychology, 70, 433–438. doi:10.1037//0022-006x.70.2.433 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bodenmann, G. (1997). Dyadic coping: A systemic-transactional view of stress and coping among couples: Theory and empirical findings. European Review of Applied Psychology, 47, 137–140.Google Scholar
Bodenmann, G. (2005). Dyadic coping and its significance for marital functioning. In Revenson, T.A., Kayser, K., & Bodenmann, G. (Eds.), Couples coping with stress: Emerging perspectives on dyadic coping (pp. 33–50). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Butler, E.A., Hollenstein, T., Shoham, V., & Rohrbaugh, M.J. (2013). A dynamic state-space analysis of interpersonal emotion regulation in couples who smoke. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 31, 907–927. doi:10.1177/0265407513508732 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christensen, A., & Shenk, J. L. (1991). Communication, conflict, and psychological distance in nondistressed, clinic, and divorcing couples. Journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology, 59, 458–463.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Coyne, J.C., & Smith, D.A. (1991). Couples coping with a myocardial infarction: A contextual perspective on wives’ distress. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61, 404–412. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.61.3.404 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Coyne, J.C., & Smith, D.A.F. (1994). Couples coping with a myocardial infarction: Contextual perspective on patient self-efficacy. Journal of Family Psychology, 8, 43–54. doi:10.1037/0893-3200.8.1.43 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Field, A. (2009). Discovering statistics using SPSS (3rd ed.). London: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Hagedoorn, M., Kuijer, R.G., Buunk, B.P., DeJong, G., Wobbes, T., & Sanderman, R. (2000). Marital satisfaction in patients with cancer: Does support from intimate partners benefit those who need it most? Health Psychology, 19, 274–282.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henry, D.B., Tolan, P.H., & Gorman-Smith, D. (2005). Cluster analysis in family psychology research. Journal of Family Psychology, 19, 121–132. doi:10.1037/0893-3200.19.1.121 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kato, T. (2000). Construction of the Interpersonal Stress-Coping Inventory for Undergraduates. Japanese Journal of Educational Psychology, 48, 225–234. (In Japanese with English abstract).Google Scholar
Kuijer, R.G., Ybema, J.F., Buunk, B.P., DeJong, G.M., Thijs-Boer, F., & Sanderman, R. (2000). Active engagement, protective buffering, and overprotection: Three ways of giving support by intimate partners of patients with cancer. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 19, 256–275. doi:10.1521/jscp.2000.19.2.256 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kurosawa, T., & Kato, M. (2013). Development of a Scale of Relationship-Focused coping for marital couple stress. The Japanese Journal of Developmental Psychology, 24, 66–76 (In Japanese with English abstract).Google Scholar
Langer, S.L., Brown, J.D., & Syrjala, K.L. (2009). Intrapersonal and interpersonal consequences of protective buffering among cancer patients and caregivers. Cancer, 115, 4311–4325.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lee, Y.-S., & Waite, L.J. (2005). Husbands’ and wives’ time spent on housework: A comparison of measures. Journal of Marriage and Family, 67, 328–336. doi:10.1111/j.0022-2445.2005.00119.x CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manne, S.L., Norton, T.R., Ostroff, J.S., Winkel, G., Fox, K., & Grana, G. (2007). Protective buffering and psychological distress among couples coping with breast cancer: The moderating role of relationship satisfaction. Journal of Family Psychology, 21, 380–388. doi:10.1037/0893-3200.21.3.380 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Manne, S.L., Ostroff, J.S., Norton, T.R., Fox, K., Goldstein, L., & Grana, G. (2006). Cancer-related relationship communication in couples coping with early stage breast cancer. Psycho-Oncology, 15, 234–247. doi:10.1002/pon.941 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (Japan). (2011). Survey on family and child. Retrieved January 20, 2015, from http://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/houdou/2r9852000001yivt-att/2r9852000001yjc6.pdf Google Scholar
O’Brien, T.B., DeLongis, A., Pomaki, G., Puterman, E., & Zwicker, A. (2009). Couples coping with stress: The role of empathic responding. European Psychologist, 14, 18–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pastor, D.A. (2010). Cluster analysis. In Hancock, G. & Mueller, R.O. (Eds.), The reviewer's guide to quantitative methods in the social sciences (pp. 55–70). London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Revenson, T.A., Kayser, K., & Bodenmann, G. (2005). Couples coping with stress: Emerging perspectives on dyadic coping. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schumm, W.R., Paff-Bergen, L. A., Hatch, R.C., Obiorah, F.C., Copeland, J.M., Meens, L.D., & Bugaighis, M.A. (1986). Concurrent and discriminant validity of the Kansas Marital Satisfaction Scale. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 48, 381–387. doi:10.2307/352405 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shapiro, D.E., Rodrigue, J.R., Boggs, S.R., & Robinson, M.E. (1994). Cluster analysis of the Medical Coping Modes Questionnaire: Evidence for coping with cancer styles? Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 38, 151–159.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stanfield, J.B. (1998). Couples coping with dual careers: A description of flexible and rigid coping styles. The Social Science Journal, 35, 53–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sugawara, M., & Takuma, N. (1997). Assessment of marital intimacy: A review of self-rating scales. Archives of Psychiatric Diagnostics and Clinical Evaluation, 8, 155–166. (In Japanese with English abstract).Google Scholar
Suls, J., Green, P., Rose, G., Lounsbury, P., & Gordon, E. (1997). Hiding worries from one's spouse: Associations between coping via protective buffering and distress in male post-myocardial infarction patients and their wives. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 20, 333–349.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wiersma, U.J. (1994). A taxonomy of behavioral strategies for coping with work-home role conflict. Human Relations, 47, 211–221. doi:10.1177/001872679404700204 CrossRefGoogle Scholar