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The Meaning and Impact of Partner's Accompaniment on Women's Adjustment to Abortion 1
Author(s) -
Cozzarelli Catherine,
Karrasch Angela,
Sumer Nebi,
Major Brenda
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1994.tb00573.x
Subject(s) - abortion , psychology , coping (psychology) , meaning (existential) , social psychology , distress , psychological distress , personal distress , developmental psychology , clinical psychology , pregnancy , psychotherapist , anxiety , psychiatry , genetics , biology
The present study examined the meaning of accompaniment to an abortion clinic by a male partner and explored the effects of accompaniment on women's immediate and three‐week post‐abortion psychological distress. A comparison of accompanied and unaccompanied women revealed few differences in demographic or psychological characteristics, although accompanied women perceived greater levels of social support from their partners and reported that they were in more committed relationships. The effects of accompaniment on women's post‐abortion distress were neither universally positive nor universally negative, but depended on the personal characteristics of the women involved. Consistent with Conservation of Resources Theory (Hobfoll, 1988), accompaniment was more beneficial for women who were high in personal coping resources than for women low in these resources.