Communal coping has been linked to better psychological and physical health across a variety of stressful contexts. However, there has been no experimental work causally linking communal coping to relationship and health outcomes. In addition, research has emphasized the collaboration over the shared appraisal component of communal coping. The present study sought to isolate the role of appraisal by manipulating whether dyads viewed a stressor as shared or individual. Friend dyads (n = 64 dyads; 128 participants) were randomly assigned to view a stressor as either a shared or an individual problem, but both groups were allowed to work together. Across self-report and observational measures dyads reported more collaboration and support, better relationship outcomes, and more positive mood after the stressor in the shared than the individual appraisal group. This is the first laboratory evidence to establish causal links of communal coping—specifically shared appraisal—to positive relationship and health outcomes.

在各种压力环境下，社区应对与更好的心理和身体健康有关。但是，还没有实验性工作将因果关系与人际关系和健康结果联系起来。此外，研究强调了在社区应对的共享评估部分上的合作。本研究试图通过操纵二元组将压力源看作是共享的还是个体的来隔离评估的作用。随机分配朋友二元组（n = 64个二元组； 128位参与者）以将压力源视为共享问题或个人问题，但允许两组共同工作。在自我报告和观察指标中，双胞胎报告了更多的协作和支持，更好的关系结果，与单个评估组相比，在共享压力源后，压力情绪更为积极。这是第一个建立公共应对（特别是共享评估）与积极关系和健康结果之间因果关系的实验室证据。