Social support and marital satisfaction among couples coping with chronic obstructive airway disease

Explored family support and friend support as resources for coping with illness. Results indicated that association between support and marital satisfaction was moderated by length of marriage, sex of patients and spouses and degree of congruency between husbands' and wives' evaluations of marital satisfaction. Support acted as a stress buffer in regard to marital satisfaction only for male spouses and patients. (Original abstract-amended)