Social support from family and friends as a buffer of low spousal support among mothers of critically ill children: A multilevel modeling approach.
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.
Rini
Christine
C
Department of Oncological Sciences, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY 10029, USA. christine.rini@mssm.edu
Manne
Sharon
S
DuHamel
Katherine
K
Austin
Jane
J
Ostroff
Jamie
J
Boulad
Farid
F
Parsons
Susan K
SK
Martini
Richard
R
Williams
Sharon E
SE
Mee
Laura
L
Sexson
Sandra
S
Redd
William H
WH
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*