creator Hicks, R. Elliott Iii advisor Haedt-Matt, Alissa Destructive communication and hostile interactions between spouses are associated with poor behavior maintenance and can elicit substantial increases in systolic blood pressure, heart rate, and cardiac output in patients (Broadwell, & Light, 2005; Nealey-Moore et al., 2007; Ryan & Deci, 2000). This negatively impacts the cardiovascular health of the targeted partner (Nealey-Moore et al., 2007; Ryan & Deci, 2000; Smith et al., 2009). Constructive, non-hostile criticism between partners may bolster behavior change and maintenance (Zinbarg, 2007). The present study assesses the relationship between forms of criticism and reports of marital adjustment, autonomous support, health functioning, and health behavior change in a sample of couples participating in a cardiac risk reduction intervention. Results indicate that Hostile Criticism predicted Physical Health Functioning. Further, there were no significant moderating relationships. Interpretation of results and future directions are discussed. Submitted by Erma Thomas (thomase@iit.edu) on 2018-03-19T19:11:10Z No. of bitstreams: 1 etdadmin_upload_524712.zip: 485138 bytes, checksum: 459bdedb937178c5180d0a1faaed6b82 (MD5) Made available in DSpace on 2018-03-19T19:11:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 etdadmin_upload_524712.zip: 485138 bytes, checksum: 459bdedb937178c5180d0a1faaed6b82 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-07 Ph.D. in Psychology, July 2017 2017 2017-07 http://hdl.handle.net/10560/4222 en Cardiovascular Disease Couples Criticism Health Psychology Dissertation born digital application/pdf In Copyright http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/ Restricted Access PSYCH / Institute of Psychology Illinois Institute of Technology Affiliated department