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Objective: The relation between posttraumatic growth (PTG) and aspects of the social context, such as social support and social constraint, continues to be unclear in cancer survivors. Social cognitive processing theory is a useful framework for examining the effect of the social context on PTG. In theory, support interactions may either facilitate or hinder cognitive processing and thus lead to different PTG outcomes. The current study tested the hypothesis that emotional support and instrumental support would each explain a unique amount of the variance in PTG in distressed hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) survivors. Additionally, it was predicted that social constraint on cancer-related disclosure would be negatively associated with PTG., Methods: Forty-nine distressed HSCT survivors with a spouse or partner completed the posttraumatic growth inventory and measures of social support received from their spouse/partner and social constraint from people close to them as part of a larger clinical trial., Results: Both emotional and instrumental social support were positively correlated with PTG, and social constraint on disclosure was not associated with PTG. Contrary to hypotheses, instrumental support was the only unique social contextual predictor of PTG., Conclusions: The results of this study highlight the importance of examining the effects of subtypes of social support on PTG separately. Findings are discussed in the context of the cognitive (i.e., processing of the traumatic event) versus non-cognitive (i.e., buffering stress) pathways between the social context and PTG. Future research directions are presented., (Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

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)., Design: 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., Measures: 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., Conclusion: 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., (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved.)

This prospective study examined the role of perceived partner criticism and avoidance in the anxiety and depressive symptoms of 148 mothers of children undergoing hemopaietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). The roles of indicators of transplantation risk and posttransplantation medical course were also examined. Perceived partner criticism (e.g., criticizing coping efforts) and perceived partner avoidance (e.g., changing the topic), objective indicators of transplantation risk, and anxiety and depressive symptoms were assessed at the time of HSCT and again 3 and 6 months later. Growth curve modeling analyses indicated that perceived partner criticism was associated with higher average depressive symptoms. However, perceived partner criticism did not predict changes in mother's anxiety. Contrary to predictions, perceived partner avoidance was associated with decreases in maternal anxiety., ((c) 2003 APA)

Objective: To investigate the role of cognitive and social processing in posttraumatic stress symptoms and disorder (PTSD) among mothers of children undergoing bone marrow and hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (BMT/SCT)., Method: Questionnaires assessing emotional distress, BMT-related fears, and negative responses of family and friends were completed by 90 mothers at the time of the BMT infusion and 3 and 6 months post-BMT. PTSD symptoms were measured 6 months post-BMT by both paper-and-pencil and structured interview methods., Results: Emotional distress, BMT-related fears, and negative responses of family and friends assessed at the time of BMT hospitalization were predictive of later PTSD symptoms. None of these variables prospectively predicted a PTSD diagnosis as measured by the structured interview., Conclusions: Higher levels of general psychological distress, cognitive interpretations of the threat of the BMT for the child's future functioning, and negative responses of family and friends may place mothers at risk for post-BMT posttraumatic stress symptomatology.

The current study investigated whether individual differences in coping style, lifetime experience of traumatic events, perceived social support, and perceived social constraints were associated with symptoms of post-traumatic stress among 72 mothers of children who had successfully completed cancer treatment. Results suggested that more perceived social constraints and less perceived belonging support were associated with significantly more post-traumatic stress symptomatology, and this association was present after controlling for the effects of child age. Monitoring coping style and lifetime traumatic events were not significantly predictive of post-traumatic stress symptoms. The results of this study indicate that a sense of belonging to a social network as well as comfort expressing cancer-related thoughts and feelings to friends and family may play a key role in mothers' long-term adjustment to this extremely difficult life experience., (Copyright 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)