Adaptation to Illness in Couples Dealing With a Cardiovascular Disease

The aim of this study was to examine the dyadic effects of three patient and spouse personality traits (i. e., neuroticism, extraversion, and conscientiousness) on couples’ adaptation to illness. Two important illness cognitions were used as indicators of adaptation to illness–namely, illness-related acceptance and helplessness. Seventy-five patients with a chronic cardiovascular disease and their spouses participated in the study. The dyadic effects of personality traits, as well as the interaction effects between patient and spouse traits were examined with the actor–partner interdependence model (APIM). Several actor effects (i. e., the effects of a person’s own characteristics on their own outcomes) were noted. Also, certain partner effects (i. e., the effects of the characteristics of the one member of the couple on the other member’s outcomes) were found. After controlling for actor effects, patients’ helplessness was related to their spouses’ extraversion, spouses’ illness acceptance was related to patients’ conscientiousness, and spouses’ helplessness was related to patients’ neuroticism. In addition, patients’ conscientiousness was found to moderate the effects of spouses’ conscientiousness on their own acceptance. These findings seem to challenge the traditional perspective according to which personality refers to intrapersonal processes, and call for a theoretical refocus on the interpersonal/social role of personality traits as far as adaptation to illness is concerned.