Relationship trust in individuals with multiple sclerosis: a network analysis approach.
The aim of this study was to assess the pattern of mutual relations within the Relationship Trust Scale (RTS) in a sample of individuals diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
The participants comprised 189 individuals diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (Mage = 43.39 years; 123 females, 61 males, 5 missing). Analyses were conducted using RStudio and JASP.
The results indicated that, in terms of strength, the Cares node (Item: "My partner cares about my worries, feelings, joys, and troubles") had the highest strength in the network. Furthermore, regarding expected influence, the analysis revealed that the Cares node had the highest expected influence in the network, followed by the Availability node (Item: "Whenever I am upset my partner is always available, supportive, and I feel like he/she's there for me"), and Consideration in Decisions node (Item: "My partner takes me into account when making a decision."). Also, the Cares node had the strongest associations with Consideration in Decisions, Safety, and Respect nodes. Network stability analyses indicated that interpretations should be focused primarily on expected influence (CS-coefficient = 0.286), which exceeded the minimum recommended threshold (Epskamp et al., 2018), while other centrality indices showed lower stability. Betweenness and closeness centrality were not interpreted, as these measures may be conceptually unsuitable for psychological networks (Bringmann et al., 2019). All findings should be considered exploratory and preliminary.
These exploratory findings appear to highlight potentially relevant relationship processes among individuals diagnosed with multiple sclerosis that may be targeted to improve the overall quality of their relationships.
The participants comprised 189 individuals diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (Mage = 43.39 years; 123 females, 61 males, 5 missing). Analyses were conducted using RStudio and JASP.
The results indicated that, in terms of strength, the Cares node (Item: "My partner cares about my worries, feelings, joys, and troubles") had the highest strength in the network. Furthermore, regarding expected influence, the analysis revealed that the Cares node had the highest expected influence in the network, followed by the Availability node (Item: "Whenever I am upset my partner is always available, supportive, and I feel like he/she's there for me"), and Consideration in Decisions node (Item: "My partner takes me into account when making a decision."). Also, the Cares node had the strongest associations with Consideration in Decisions, Safety, and Respect nodes. Network stability analyses indicated that interpretations should be focused primarily on expected influence (CS-coefficient = 0.286), which exceeded the minimum recommended threshold (Epskamp et al., 2018), while other centrality indices showed lower stability. Betweenness and closeness centrality were not interpreted, as these measures may be conceptually unsuitable for psychological networks (Bringmann et al., 2019). All findings should be considered exploratory and preliminary.
These exploratory findings appear to highlight potentially relevant relationship processes among individuals diagnosed with multiple sclerosis that may be targeted to improve the overall quality of their relationships.
Authors
VÄcÄraČ VÄcÄraČ, TĂŽnc TĂŽnc, VÄcÄraČ VÄcÄraČ, Predatu Predatu, CriČan CriČan, MureČanu MureČanu, VÄcÄraČ VÄcÄraČ
View on Pubmed