ICPR Abstracts: Session 13

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Session 13: Symposium

Coping as a Communal Process

Perspectives on Communal Coping

Renee F. Lyons
Dalhousie University

This presentation will introduce the concept of communal 
coping and explain why cooperative problem solving is an 
important component for the study of personal 
relationships. In order to distinguish communal coping 
from other active forms of individual and pro- social 
coping, a conceptual framework which incorporates the 
notion of communal coping is provided. Provisions of 
communal coping are examined around the themes of 
coping (stress buffering, resource sharing and expansion), 
relationships (the definition, quality, and resilience of 
relationships and communities) and the self (social 
validation and wellbeing). 


Culture, Gender and Other Factors
 in Communal Coping

Kristin D. Mickelson
University of Michigan

Now that we have a framework for understanding the 
concept of communal coping, we examine factors that 
influence whether communal coping is engaged as a 
coping process.  Four major factors will be discussed in 
this paper: situation/event, cultural context, characteristics 
of personal relationships, and gender.  Some situations 
may be more conducive to a communal coping process 
than others, for example, floods or massive layoffs as 
opposed to an individual illness, unemployment, or 
divorce.  However, these more "individual" stressors can 
be viewed from a communal coping perspective depending 
on the cultural context, the relationship of specific 
network members to the individual, and the gender of the 
individual with the stressor.  Because of its complexity, 
special attention will be paid to the influence of gender on 
communal coping.  The implications of these factors are 
discussed in the context of future research on communal 
coping.


Support, Autonomy, Resiliency, and Coercion in 
Families of Women at High Risk for Early Onset 
Breast Cancer

Nili Benazon, 
Clark Institute of Psychiatry/University of Ottawa
James C. Coyne, 
University of Michigan Medical School
Katherine Calzone, The Cancer Center of the 
University of Pennsylvania Medical Center
 Katherine Singer, 
The University of Michigan Dept. of Family Practice

As part of the Human Genome Project as well as an 
international effort to isolate a gene associated with breast 
cancer (BRCA1), the University of Michigan assembled a 
registry of women at high risk for breast cancer. These 
women were drawn from families in which at least two 
first degree relatives had been affected by early breast 
cancer and there were high familial rates of ovarian cancer 
as well. Although this was a research, not a clinical 
project, women in some of these families subsequently 
sought disclosure of whether they had the gene. The 
decision to make such information available to them 
involved some unprecedented ethical and psychological 
dilemma. This presentation will highlight some of the 
issues that unfolded in these families, and it will draw on 
empirical data as well as clinical impressions.
        It had been anticipated that both because of their 
experience with cancer among close relatives and their 
own personal risks, these women would be psychologically 
distressed and at considerable risk for depression. Yet, 
they were found to be less distressed and less likely to be 
depressed than women >from the general population. We 
will present evidence that these families and particularly 
the women in them are highly organized around the risk of 
cancer.  Well developed social support processes and 
collective coping strategies are the source of the women's 
resiliency. 
        On the other hand, involvement in such families 
may require giving up autonomy and facing considerable 
social pressures. These families develop a priori 
assumptions about the individual women's risk for breast 
cancer and are resistant to medical information to the 
contrary. Furthermore, they tend to develop group 
consensus about whether family members should be tested 
and what medical options to deal with genetic risk are 
favoured. Women who come to independent decisions may 
be pressured to conform and even ostracized.  Finally, 
women who are found not to have the gene may feel 
isolated and experience survivors guilt. Overall, these 
families provide dramatic illustrations of the dilemma of 
communal versus individualistic orientation in coping with 
stress. 


Communal Coping in Marital Therapy

Michael J.L. Sullivan
Dalhousie University

The concept of communal coping is applied to the process 
of marital therapy.  Couples in distress frequently present 
with a style of interaction that is characterized by 
defensive hostility and ineffective problem-solving. For 
many couples, their defensive orientation toward 
communication and problem-solving interferes with their 
ability to hold a "shared" view of the difficulties they face.  
This paper describes an approach to marital therapy that 
aims to decrease the degree of defensive hostility 
expressed in communication between partners and to 
promote cooperative problem- solving. Case studies are 
presented to demonstrate how marital quality can improve 
as partners develop a more communal orientation in the 
appraisal and management of relationship stressors.

Discussant
Niall Bolger
New York University