Reciprocal support and daily perceived control: Developing a better understanding of daily support transactions across a major life transition.

A paradox of social support has been well documented: believing that support is available and perceiving high levels of it has well-established mental health benefits, but the actual receipt of support is often found to be ineffective and even detrimental (see Gleason & Iida, 2015). Researchers have suggested that support receipt may be associated with negative mood because it is linked with a lack of self-efficacy or perceived control (Bolger & Amarel, 2007). Research on daily support transactions found that reciprocal emotional support exchanges counteracted the negative effects associated with support receipt, but there was significant variation between individuals in their reactions to support exchanges suggesting that a potential moderating variable of the support pattern exists.

The role of locus of control in daily life.

Conceived of as a stable trait, locus of control has been linked with psychological and physical health outcomes. We investigated whether locus of control operates as a state variable, whether variation in daily locus of control is associated with anxiety and stressful events, and whether it predicts daily health behaviors and symptoms. Using a daily diary study of pregnant couples, we found daily variation in locus of control was predicted by daily hassles and anxiety such that high same-day and previous-day anxiety and hassles were associated with reports of lower levels of control.