title: Social support from family and friends as a buffer of low spousal support among mothers of critically ill children: A multilevel modeling approach.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate whether social support from family and friends (family/friend support) attenuated ("buffered") adverse effects of having low spouse support (spousal support) among mothers of children undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT).
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred sixty-three married mothers who were their child's primary caregiver during treatment completed assessments during the child's hospitalization for HSCT and 3-, 6-, and 12-months post-HSCT.
  
  
  METHODS
  Family/friend support and spousal support were assessed during hospitalization. Maternal physical and mental health-related functioning (the main outcome measures) were assessed at all timepoints.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Multilevel modeling was used to analyze trajectories of maternal functioning. Findings indicated that mothers with low spousal support and low family/friend support demonstrated the worst functioning across all timepoints. Mothers with low spousal support and high family/friend support demonstrated significantly better functioning, supporting the hypothesized buffering effect. Their functioning compared to the functioning of mothers with high spousal support. Moreover, mothers with high family/friend support demonstrated trajectories of physical health-related functioning that were more stable than the trajectories of mothers with low family/friend support.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings have clinical implications in addition to advancing knowledge of social support processes among couples coping with the shared stressor of a child's life-threatening illness and treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncological Sciences, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY 10029, USA. christine.rini@mssm.edu
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rini
authors.forename: Sharon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Manne
authors.forename: Katherine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: DuHamel
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Austin
authors.forename: Jamie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ostroff
authors.forename: Farid
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Boulad
authors.forename: Susan K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Parsons
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Martini
authors.forename: Sharon E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mee
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sexson
authors.forename: William H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Redd
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017028:Caregivers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002648:Child; D016638:Critical Illness; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D033062:Friends; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012944:Social Support; D018454:Spouses / Q000523:psychology*