Perceptions of Communication With Gay and Lesbian Family Members: Predictors of Relational Satisfaction and Implications for Outgroup Attitudes

This study investigates perceptions of family communication among members with different sexual identities. Specifically, from the perspective of heterosexual family members (N = 129), the study takes an intergroup perspective to determine how accommodative and non-accommodative communication and attitudes toward homosexuality predict intergroup anxiety and relational satisfaction with gay or lesbian family members. Further, the manner in which family communication influences attitudes toward homosexuality is examined. Results are discussed in terms of implications for research on heterosexual–homosexual interaction, family communication, and intergroup communication, in general.     

The Aftermath of Hurtful Events: Cognitive,Communicative, and Relational Outcomes

Relational satisfaction and stability following discovered incidents of relational betrayal were investigated. Predictions from Social Exchange Theory, specifically Rusbult's Investment Model, were tested along with the effects of communication strategies. Participants (N = 155) completed a questionnaire about a recalled betrayal. Inconsistent with the investment model, relational satisfaction was the best predictor of relational stability. Generally, the more committed and invested the offender, the more likely the reported use of communication repair strategies. The likelihood of apologies, accepting responsibility, and promising change also increased with the severity of the betrayal. Only promising change was related to post-betrayal relational satisfaction.     

Love Styles and Communication in Relationships: Partner Preferences,Initiation, and Intensification

The three exploratory studies reported here investigate the role of love styles in the early stages of romantic relationships. Study 1 (N = 108) had subjects rate and rank 14 characteristics of prospective romantic partners. As expected, individual's love style scores were related to the characteristics people report as desirable in a relational partner. Several of these effects, however, were moderated by sex. Study 2 (N = 173) revealed that scores on love styles were associated with ratings of opening lines and intensification strategies. None of these effects were moderated by sex. Study 3 (N = 137) investigated the association between love styles and ratings of secret tests among individuals currently involved in a romantic relationship. The results indicated that love styles were associated with ratings of secret tests. These data add to a growing body of literature suggesting that love styles are associated with individual differences in relational and communicative behavior across the life span of romantic relationships.     

Negotiating Breakups and Renewals in On-Again/Off-Again Dating Relationships: Traversing the Transitions

Using phase-oriented interviews (N = 65), this study explored how partners in on-again/off-again relationships negotiated the turning points of breakups and renewals in their relationships. The qualitative analysis revealed themes reflecting transition initiation (i.e., the communication or behavior instigating the transitions) as well as themes reflecting how partners enacted and managed the transitions (e.g., viewing transitions as provisional, resolving past problems and planning for new issues, and using external factors to maintain the transition). Navigating the relational transitions created a struggle for some partners, but the negotiation process elicited feelings of a fresh start for others. Collectively, the themes highlight factors related to communication as well as partners' subjective interpretations, which may be useful in further understanding how partners negotiate relational transitions.     

Retirement lifestyle conceptualization and well-being in recent retirees

ABSTRACT

The retirement literature contains four distinct conceptualizations of retirement lifestyle. Retirement can be seen as an opportunity to make a new start, the continuation of a pre-retirement lifestyle, an unwelcome imposed disruption, and a transition to old age. This research examines the conceptualizations of retirement lifestyle and how they relate to retirement adjustment and well-being in recent retirees (N = 173). A factor analysis confirmed the existence of four factors identifying four retirement conceptualizations. Although previous studies have presented retirement conceptualizations as mutually incompatible, significant relationships were found between them in this research, indicating that recent retirees can synchronously conceptualize seemingly distinct lifestyles. The cluster analysis identified three types of retirees in the sample. These types were labeled to reflect the prevailing retirement lifestyle concepts. The first type of retiree (N = 90) is “New beginning and continuation,” the second (N = 44) is “Imposed disruption without hope,” and the third is (N = 39) “Accepted disruption and ending.” The analysis of variance revealed the three types differ significantly in the level of satisfaction in retirement, subjective happiness, and life meaningfulness – with the highest level being found in the first retiree type and the lowest level in the second retiree type. The findings suggest that conceptualizations of retirement lifestyle change over time and affect psychological well-being in the recent retiree cohort. The theoretical and practical implications of the results are outlined.     

Idiomatic Communication in the Stages of Coming Together and Falling Apart

Idiomatic communication is a strategic and unique form of communication that is indicative of a close relationship. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between idiomatic communication with solidarity and satisfaction to validate Social Penetration Theory using Knapp's stages of escalation and de-escalation. The results of the study (N = 275) found that couples in de-escalation stages report less idioms, and use idioms with less frequency, than couples in the escalation stages. Couples in de-escalating stages use confrontation, nickname, and teasing insult idioms with more negative effects than escalating couples. Finally, the use of idiomatic communication is significantly related to solidarity and relational satisfaction.     

A Meta-Analytical Review of Students’ Out-of-Class Communication and Learning Effects

A random-effects meta-analysis (N = 7,113) was conducted examining the relationships between students’ out-of-class communication (OCC) and learning outcomes. The findings revealed positive summary effects for OCC on affective learning (k = 7, N = 1478, r = 0.321, p < 0.001) and perceived cognitive learning (k = 11, N = 5635, r = 0.261, p < 0.001). Several moderators were identified, indicating the association between OCC and cognitive learning varied systematically because of the measurement instruments used to operationalize OCC and learning and because of interdisciplinary treatments of the constructs. Recommendations are made for future researchers including the need for a theoretical explanation of the OCC-learning relationship.     

Responses to Jealousy Situations That Evoke Uncertainty in Married and Dating Relationships

This study examined jealousy situations among married versus dating relationships, the uncertainty jealousy induced, and communicative responses. Participants (N = 155) described situations, and analytic inductive procedures identified 9 jealousy situations. Comparisons indicate the Presence of Attractive Romantic Alternative and Choice of a Non-Romantic Other situations are most common among dating partners, whereas Choice of a Non-Romantic Other and Never Experienced Jealousy are most common among married couples. Dating partners experienced greater partner uncertainty following jealous situations. Situations differed in production of partner and relational uncertainty, satisfaction, and impact on other aspects of life.     

Evidence for the Validity of a Social Connectedness Scale: Connectors Amass Bridging Social Capital Online and Offline

One of the key characteristics of effective opinion leaders is that they are highly connected; they know many people and have numerous weak-tie relationships. Two studies were conducted that found evidence consistent with construct validity. The first (N = 35 and N = 57) found that connectors knew more people from a randomly selected list of names. A second study, with two surveys, was created (N = 561 and N = 189) such that the connectedness scores of some of the subjects in the first survey could be linked to how many subjects knew them in the second. Results indicated that those with higher connection scores were more likely to be known by others. Moreover, in the second survey, measures of Facebook use and bridging social capital were found to be associated substantially with connector scores.     

Predicting Reinforcement and Punishment Behaviors in College Students Coping with Substance Misuse: An Application of Inconsistent Nurturing as Control Theory

Managing a romantic partner’s substance misuse can be challenging, especially in cases where attempts to show support end up worsening the negative behavior. Understanding what might predict one’s actions towards a partner who smokes or drinks can help to alleviate some of the difficulty associated with these interactions. Therefore, this study was designed to examine how issues of undesirable substance use are managed within college students’ romantic relationships. More specifically, the study applied inconsistent nurturing as control theory to assess the extent to which relational uncertainty, perceived network helpfulness, and perceived network hindrance predict the reinforcement and/or punishment of a partner’s smoking or drinking. Results from cross-sectional, self-report survey data (n = 203) revealed that perceived network helpfulness and hindrance were both significant predictors of punishment but not reinforcement. Relational uncertainty was not a significant predictor of reinforcement or punishment. Implications for studying predictors of reinforcement and punishment strategies are discussed, as is the importance of communicating about young adult substance misuse within romantic relationships.     

Relational Maintenance Strategies During the Post Sex Time Interval

The present study contributes to a growing line of research exploring the role of post sex communication in building and sustaining romantic relationships. More specifically, this study explores the use of relational maintenance strategies during the post sex time interval (PSTI). One-hundred and fifty-two individuals completed surveys after sexual activity and indicated the relational maintenance strategies they enacted during the PSTI. Results revealed that individuals enact the strategies of positivity and assurances to the greatest degree during the PSTI. Furthermore, extending the post sex disclosures model, results revealed that orgasm predicted differences in the use of assurances during the PSTI and that the strategy of assurances mediated the association between orgasm and several relationship outcomes (i.e., liking, commitment, control mutuality, and satisfaction). These findings suggest that individuals may use the PSTI as a time to reinforce their commitments to their partners, and that such behavior is associated with characteristics of the sexual episode and relationship outcomes. The implications of these findings for research on relational maintenance and post sex behavior are discussed.     

Geriatric community health workers’ views about aging,work, and retirement: implications for geriatrics and gerontology education

ABSTRACT

Seasoned geriatric community health workers offered valuable data that will inform educators and community health workers working with older persons. Geriatric community health workers’ views about retirement and about facilitators and barriers that keep them engaged with older adults during retirement were identified. Twenty geriatric community health workers participated in semi-structured, qualitative interviews conducted by the research team. Sixty percent of the participants (N = 12) reported plans not to work during retirement, although 40% (N = 8) expressed interest in full- or part-time employment post-retirement. When asked about their expectations to stay in the field of aging or gerontology in some capacity during retirement, 30% (N = 6) expected to stay in gerontology during retirement. The findings from this research will help organizations and educational institutions create programs and resources that will encourage geriatric community health workers to continue working in the field of aging during retirement.     

National trends in changes in special education classification among pre-elementary education children

Classification changes are common in special education. Using the first four years of the Pre-elementary Education Longitudinal Study data set (N = 3000), we investigated national trends in classification changes among young children with disabilities, the relationship between classification changes and children’s demographic information, and the relations between classification changes and children’s performance outcomes over time. The results revealed that declassification rates ranged from 35.6% for the three-year-old cohort to 46.3% for the five-year-old cohort. Approximately 25% to 35% of the children in each age cohort were reclassified at least once. The results showed that the prevalence rates of de/reclassification differed according to children’s demographic characteristics without consistent pattern. The study also revealed that reclassified children consistently exhibited lower performance than those without classification changes over time. The results suggest that reclassification did not help children “catch up” with those who remained in the same disability categories.     

Is the Whole Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts? Modeling the Contributions of Language Comprehension Skills to Reading Comprehension in the Upper Elementary Grades

Language comprehension is crucial to reading. However, theoretical models and recent research raise questions about what constitutes this multifaceted domain. We present two related studies examining the dimensionality of language comprehension and relations to reading comprehension in the upper elementary grades. Studies 1 (Grade 6; N = 148) and 2 (Grade 3–5; N = 311) contrasted factor models of language comprehension using item level indicators of morphological awareness and vocabulary (Studies 1 and 2) and syntactic awareness (Study 2). In both studies, a bifactor model—including general language comprehension and specific factors for each language component—best fit the data, and general language comprehension was the strongest predictor of reading comprehension. In Study 2, the morphology-specific factor also uniquely predicted reading comprehension above and beyond general language comprehension. Results suggest the value of modeling the common proficiency underlying performance on tasks designed to tap theoretically distinct language comprehension skills.     

Relational Aggression and Academic Performance in Elementary School

To investigate the relationship between relational aggression and school performance, this study examined the relative and combined associations among relational aggression, overt aggression, and victimization and children's academic performance. Additionally this study examined the relative associations among relational and overt aggression and verbal and performance IQ. Participants in this study were a subset of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. The study included 1,067 children (50% male) assessed during fourth and fifth grade. Results indicated that for girls, relational aggression was negatively associated with school performance, while statistically controlling for both victimization and overt aggression. For boys, overt aggression was negatively related with school performance. Additional results indicated that for both girls and boys, victimization was negatively associated with school performance.     

Longitudinal associations of student–teacher relationships and behavioural and emotional strengths on academic achievement

Positive student–teacher relationships are related to students’ academic achievement and behavioural and emotional adjustment. How a student’s behavioural and emotional strengths are associated with these relationships and how the relationships influence students’ academic performance remains unknown. We examined this framework using a cross-lagged panel model with a group of Finnish students and their parents from Grade 5 to Grade 7. The results revealed that the parents rated behavioural and emotional strengths are stable over a 1-year (r = .78) and 2-year (r = .71) period and that students’ perceptions of student–teacher relationships demonstrated greater change over time (r’s = .54, .35). Behavioural and emotional strengths demonstrated a positive relationship with student–teacher relationships as well as academic achievement (β = .39, p < .01). Strengths were also indirectly associated with academic achievement via student–teacher relationships. Study limitations, implications and future research are discussed.     

Examining Patterns and Motivations for Drug-Related Information Seeking and Scanning Behavior: A Cross-National Comparison of American and Israeli College Students

The current study uses a grounded theory approach to explore dimensions and bi-national comparisons of active information seeking efforts (seeking) for and passive information acquisition (scanning) of drug-related information among two college student samples from the United States (N = 25) and Israel (N = 39). Specifically, the study focuses on seeking and scanning related to amphetamines and marijuana, two frequently used drugs among college populations, about which information is easily accessible. Results of semi-structured interviews suggest that information scanning and seeking about marijuana and amphetamines are common, particularly from peers and from the Internet. The analysis uncovers themes relating to young adults’ drug-related, information-seeking behaviors, including cross-source information acquisition across interpersonal and media sources, and motivations for engaging in active efforts to seek drug-related information. These findings extend research on information seeking and scanning and suggest future research should examine predictors and effects of these behaviors in the context of substance use.     

Relational trauma in the context of intimate partner violence

The relational model of trauma (Scheeringa & Zeanah, 2001) proposes that infants’ trauma symptoms may be influenced by their mothers' trauma symptoms and disruptions in caregiving behavior, although the mechanisms by which this occurs are less well understood. In this research, we examined the direct and indirect effects of a traumatic event (maternal intimate partner violence [IPV]), maternal trauma symptoms, and impaired (harsh and neglectful) parenting on infant trauma symptoms in a sample of mother–infant dyads (N = 182) using structural equation modeling. Mothers completed questionnaires on IPV experienced during pregnancy and the child's first year of life, their past-month trauma symptoms, their child's past-month trauma symptoms, and their parenting behaviors. Results indicated that the effects of prenatal IPV on infant trauma symptoms were partially mediated by maternal trauma symptoms, and the relationship between maternal and infant trauma symptoms was fully mediated by neglectful parenting. Postnatal IPV did not affect maternal or infant trauma symptoms. Findings support the application of the relational model to IPV-exposed mother–infant dyads, with regard to IPV experienced during pregnancy, and help identify potential foci of intervention for professionals working with mothers and children.     

The effects of need satisfaction on EFL online learner satisfaction

This study explored the effects of need satisfaction (autonomy, competence, and relatedness) on English as a foreign language (EFL) online learner satisfaction and validated the Chinese versions of the need satisfaction scale (NSS) and online learner satisfaction scale (OLSS). We collected data from a questionnaire administered to 199 EFL students at a Taiwanese university. The Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient for NSS was .90 and .91 for OLSS. For NSS, the principal component analysis (PCA) resulted in a three-factor solution that accounted for 61.31% of the variance. Regarding OLSS, PCA resulted in a two-factor solution that accounted for 63.17% of the variance. A multiple regression analysis revealed that three independent variables (autonomy, competence, and relatedness) were predictors of EFL online learner satisfaction (F(3,?191) = 85.14, P < .001, R² = .57), with competence the best predictor of online learner satisfaction, followed by relatedness and autonomy. The paper concludes with implications of these results.     

Does life satisfaction predict victimization experiences in adolescence?

Longitudinal relationships between adolescents' life satisfaction and peer victimization and prosocial experiences were assessed. A total of 417 students in Grades 6–8 completed the Multidimensional Students' Life Satisfaction Scale (MSLSS: Huebner, 1994) and the Children's Social Experience Questionnaire – Self Report (SEQ‐SR: Crick & Grotpeter, 1996) on two occasions (Time 1 and Time 2), 1 year apart. The results revealed that Time 1 life satisfaction scores did not add to the prediction of Time 2 overt victimization scores but did add to the prediction of Time 2 relational victimization scores and prosocial experiences. Additionally, Time 1 overt victimization, relational victimization, and prosocial experiences did not significantly add to the prediction of Time 2 general life satisfaction. However, the predictive equations for Time 1 relational victimization and prosocial experiences approached significance, suggesting the possibility of bidirectional effects between life satisfaction and relational victimization and prosocial peer experiences. Most interestingly, lower levels of life satisfaction appeared to be a newly identified risk factor for two qualitatively distinct types of adverse peer relationships (relational victimization and lack of prosocial experiences). © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.