| Partners in intimate relationships are known to be important support resources for their mates, but actual support provision occurs on a minority of days. This dissertation attempts to identify the processes that influence support from the provider's perspective using two daily diary studies, one of couples (N=196) who are facing a major stressful experience and another of couples (N=79) who are not selected on the basis of stress. The processes are studied from two approaches. The first approach focuses on daily experiences and their effects on the likelihood of support provision. I hypothesize that daily (within-couple) factors relating to (a) recipients (their requests for support, moods and stressful events), (b) providers (their moods and stressful events), and (c) the relationship (daily relationship emotions and daily support exchanges) will each predict daily support provision. Furthermore, I also examine the between-couple effects of (a) recipient characteristics (perceived availability of support, personality, and self-esteem), (b) provider characteristics (gender, personality, attachment, and communal/exchange orientations), and (c) relationship characteristics (relationship satisfaction and history of support exchanges). Across both samples, recipients' anxious mood, providers' daily relationship emotions, and daily support exchanges emerged as key predictors. In the second approach, I considered support provision as a potential cyclic dynamic system. I used the results from the first approach to derive smoothed estimates of provision likelihood over the course of the diary period. These estimates were analyzed with a dynamical multilevel model (Boker & Nesselroade, 2002) that provides both average pattern of oscillation in support provision, and an assessment of individual differences in these patterns. In the sample experiencing typical days, I found evidence of the hypothesized oscillations in support provision and systematic variation in the processes across couples. In the sample approaching a major professional exam, I found evidence for dampened cycles of support provision (providing more consistent support) in last three weeks, but the finding did not extend beyond the 3 week-period. Implications for theoretical models of dyadic support processes are discussed. |
