Factors related to dyadic adjustment in couples with children of pediatric age

Abstract

Aim: To identify a relationship between social support, family life cycle, family transition and stressful events; and the dyadic adjustment among couples from Seville with children of pediatric age.

Method: Descriptive, observational and cross-sectional study. Ninety-five Sevillian couples were recruited following a consecutive stratified sampling by quotas. They filled in a questionnaire with the study variables and the Dyadic Adjustment and Social Support scales. Data collection was carried out in 2015. The project was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the University of Seville. Mann-Whitney U and Kruskall-Wallis non-parametric tests were used for statistical analysis, and Spearman test for correlation between variables. Significance was stated for P<.05.

Results: The couples were mostly marriages with good dyadic adjustment and social support. A percentage of 26.3 had infant and 73.7% children of school age. No relationship between the life cycle nor the family transition and the dyadic adjustment were identified. The beginning-end of schooling was related to spousal cohesion and there were positive correlations between dyadic adjustment and social support; and negative correlations between the number of children and social support, consensus and satisfaction of the couple.

Conclusions: Social support and the number of children are identified as the main conditioning factors of dyadic adjustment. In this sense, it is essential to know the resources available to each couple to face the difficulties where social support and the union between the spouses can help them face the challenges.

Keywords: Acontecimientos que cambian la vida; Apoyo social; Dyadic Adjustment Scale; Escala de Ajuste Diádico; Familia; Family; Life change events; Marriage; Matrimonio; Pediatrics; Pediatría; Social support.