Social support within an on-line cancer community: an assessment of emotional support,perceptions of advantages and disadvantages,and motives for using the community from a communication perspective

This study investigated an on-line cancer support community emphasizing communication concerns important to the community administrators. The researcher conducted an on-line survey of participants (N v = v 103) focused on their on-line communication activities and social support. The results indicate a modest negative correlation between emotional support received on-line and perceived stress, differences in emotional support scores based on perceptions of disadvantages of on-line support groups, and different motives for using the community between people with cancer and family members. The study also describes suggestions based on the results that were made to community administrators and which could be used by other on-line support communities.     

The Use of Relational Maintenance Behaviors and Relational Characteristics Among Sibling Types

The purpose of this investigation is to apply Gold's (1989 Gold, D. T. (1989). Sibling relationships in old age: A typology. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 28, 37–51.[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) typology of sibling relationships to the study of adult-sibling use of relational maintenance behaviors and perceptions of relational characteristics. Participants were 196 adults who targeted a sibling whose birthday was closest to their own and completed a series of instruments in reference to the targeted sibling. It was found that whether individuals classified their sibling relationships as intimate, congenial, loyal, or apathetic/hostile was reflected in their self-reported use of relational maintenance behaviors, their perceptions of their targeted siblings' use of relational maintenance behaviors with them, and their perceptions of the relational characteristics associated with the sibling relationship.     

Interpersonal Communication Motives as a Predictor of Early and Middle Adulthood Siblings' Use of Relational Maintenance Behaviors

The purpose of this study was to examine whether early and middle adulthood siblings' use of relational maintenance behaviors (i.e., positivity, openness, assurances, networks, tasks) is predicted, after controlling for relational closeness, by their interpersonal communication motives (i.e., affection, inclusion, control, pleasure, relaxation, escape). Participants were 122 individuals who reported on their relationship with a sibling. Results indicated that for the positivity relational maintenance behavior, psychological closeness, the affection motive, and the control motive were significant contributors; for the openness, assurances, and tasks relational maintenance behaviors, psychological closeness and the affection motive were significant contributors; and for the networks relational maintenance behavior, psychological closeness was a significant contributor.     

Formal features in children's science television: Sound effects,visual pace,and topic shifts

This study analyzes the auditory, visual, and information‐presentation pace of children's science television programs. These half‐hour programs averaged more than 19 sound effects per minute, 14 visual changes (cuts, wipes, and fades/dissolves) per minute, and more than 27 topic shifts per program. These results indicate that the current crop of programs presents content at a pace that may reduce their effectiveness.     

Relational Maintenance and the Influence of Commitment in Online and Offline Relationships

The study of relational-maintenance behaviors has sometimes included the impact of medium as a peripheral variable, but rarely has the impact of medium been tested directly. Participants (N = 1336) delineated themselves into four separate groups depending on the initial and continued use of mediated communication. They reported their use of relational-maintenance behaviors, as well as feelings of commitment towards the relationship. The medium had an impact on the use of relational-maintenance behaviors, primarily between people who had only met their partners in a mediated environment and those who had met them face-to-face. However, commitment level appears to strongly moderate the relationship between group and use of maintenance behaviors.     

Attachment and Relational Satisfaction: The Mediating Effect of Emotional Communication

This study investigated associations among one partner's relational satisfaction and the other partner's style of attachment and emotional communication. Findings from a questionnaire study involving 581 couples showed that participants reported more relational satisfaction when their partners scored high in security and low in dismissiveness and preoccupation. These associations between one's relational satisfaction and the partner's attachment style were partially mediated by how the partner reported communicating emotions. Specifically, participants were less satisfied in relationships with preoccupied partners who reported expressing anger using destructive communication. Participants were less satisfied with dismissive partners who reported using detached emotional communication. Finally, participants were more satisfied with secure partners who reported using prosocial emotional communication. These findings suggest that the often-cited relationship between attachment and relational satisfaction is partially explained by emotional communication.     

Dogmatism of the speaker and selection of evidence

Previous research on the use of relational maintenance strategies in marriage was replicated and extended by examining diary logs of 103 married couples kept over a two‐week period. Gender differences within the marital dyads were examined. Additionally, the effect of relational satisfaction or comparison level was explored, in terms of an interdependence theory explanation of relational maintenance strategy use. The results showed significant differences between husbands and wives for openness, network, and especially tasks strategies. Wives invariably used more of each type of relational maintenance strategy than their husbands. No effects of relational satisfaction emerged, which suggested that an interdependence theory explanation of relational maintenance strategy use may be inappropriate. An ad hoc assessment of the effect of length of marriage on strategy use was significant and indicated a general decline in the use of all types of strategies as years married increased.     

An Investigation of the Support Process: Decision,Enactment, and Outcome

This study examines factors influencing the effectiveness and relational consequences of emotional support through three phases: decision, enactment, and outcome. Participants (N = 428) completed a questionnaire asking them to identify a time they faced a traumatic event, to identify whom they turned to for support, to complete measures of trust and solidarity before and after the support episode, and to complete measures assessing the efficacy of the support exchange. Analyses revealed the type of event influenced selection of a support target, severity of event was correlated with pre-episode trust and solidarity levels, and females provided more effective support than did males. Trust and solidarity levels after the support episode were predicted, in part, by the efficacy of the support episode. Implications of the phasic model for future research on support following a traumatic event are discussed.     

Measurement of communication flexibility: Working adults vs. college students

Earlier work has indicated that certain groups of adults might be disproportionately inflexible in their communicative interactions, but conclusions are uncertain due to the accepted practice of sampling college students to develop and validate measures. This study compared working adults with college student respondents on the Communication Flexibility scale (Martin & Rubin, 1994). Results from two samples of working adults indicate that adults score lower on communication flexibility than do traditional college students. This reinforces researchers’ need to be aware that some measures’ norms may vary depending on the targeted population.     

Family communication patterns,sex of subject,and communication competence

Two hundred ninety‐nine subjects completed the Revised Family Communication Patterns instrument (Ritchie & Fitzpatrick, ) and the Interpersonal Competence Questionnaire (ICQ; Buhrmester, Furman, Wittenberg, & Reis, ). Results indicate that both family communication patterns and sex of subject influence the ability to enact certain communication skills in both same‐sex friendships and romantic partnerships. Those growing up in a strong conversation‐oriented family are more likely to report the ability to enact a greater number of interpersonal skills in both types of relationships. Women were more likely to report the ability to self‐disclose in a same‐sex friendship; however, a family communication environment that stresses a lower conversation orientation (consensual) diminishes the likelihood of acquiring that skill for women. Women were also more likely to report being able to offer emotional support in both same‐sex friendships and romantic partnerships. Men were more likely to report being able to assert themselves negatively in a same‐sex friendship, and to self‐disclose and manage conflict in a romantic partnership. Additionally, this study found that men and women employ different communication skills depending on the sex of their relational partner. Implications and future research directions are discussed.     

Relational Maintenance in On-again/Off-again Relationships: An Assessment of How Relational Maintenance,Uncertainty, and Commitment Vary by Relationship Type and Status

Because on-again/off-again (on-off) relationships typically maintain their relationships in some form even after relational dissolution, a communication process that may be particularly relevant to understanding these relationships is relational maintenance. Using cross-sectional data, the current study assessed relational maintenance, uncertainty, and commitment to further understand how on-off relationships differ from relationships that do not have a history of renewals (i.e., noncyclical relationships). The sample of 487 participants completed a survey on either their current dating relationship or a postdissolution relationship. As predicted, on-off partners used less maintenance behaviors than noncyclical partners in current relationships, but, contrary to predictions, on-off partners did not use more maintenance behaviors in their postdissolution relationships than partners without a history of renewing. Path models assessing the interrelationships among maintenance, relationship uncertainty, and commitment also suggest relational maintenance operates somewhat differently in on-off and noncyclical relationships. Implications for on-off as well as dating relationships in general are discussed.     

Risk,threat, and information seeking about genital herpes: The effects of mood and message framing

This paper examines the effect that mood and message frame has on perceived threat, efficacy, attitude, intention and, ultimately, behavior regarding genital herpes information seeking. A 2 (message frame: negative/positive) X 2 (mood: happy/sad) independent groups experiment examining the interaction between mood and message framing was conducted. A two‐way interaction between mood and message framing on the dependent variable(s) was hypothesized such that persons in a sad mood will be more persuaded (as evidenced by heightened threat, efficacy, attitude, intention and behavior) by a negatively framed message given its mood congruent qualities. And, persons in a happy mood were posited to be more persuaded by a positively framed message given its mood congruent qualities. A main effect for mood was also proposed, given that sad persons are expected to pay closer attention to the message(s) overall. These data were partially consistent with the hypotheses. In the main, frame and mood elicited separate effects. Sadness is positively correlated with severity and susceptibility of genital herpes. Frame increases response efficacy. A path model articulating the relationships among all variables is proposed.     

Relational Maintenance Behavior and Shared TV Viewing as Mediators of the Association Between Romanticism and Romantic Relationship Quality

Nearly a century of research has demonstrated a positive association between romanticism—a relationship-type schema that emphasizes idealistic and positive experiences in romantic relationships—and quality of romantic relationships. This investigation examined whether relational maintenance behavior and shared TV viewing mediate that association. The sample contained 202 participants, including college students and older adults. Results demonstrated that relational maintenance behavior mediated the association between romanticism and relationship quality, but shared TV viewing did not. Nevertheless, shared TV viewing independently and positively predicted variance in relationship quality. These results both clarify the mechanism by which romanticism may operate and support shared media use as a maintenance behavior that may be meaningful in close relationships.     

The Influence of Emotional Contagion on Student Perceptions of Instructor Rapport,Emotional Support,Emotion Work,Valence, and Cognitive Learning

This study examined how emotional contagion may influence student perceptions of rapport with the instructor, emotional support received in the classroom, emotional work performed, and perceived cognitive learning. Participants revealed that emotional contagion was positively related to perceptions of rapport with instructors but unrelated to emotional support from instructors, emotional work performed in the classroom, and valence. Students who were high in emotional contagion reported significantly more rapport, emotional support, and positive valence. When controlling for emotional contagion, only classroom valence predicted students’ perceptions of cognitive learning.     

A study of Australian and Singaporean perceptions of source credibility

This study investigated the difference between Singaporean and Australian perceptions of source credibility. The data suggested that whereas the Australians employed the main factors of expertise and trust, the Singaporeans employed one factor to cover these two dimensions that seemed to be a combination of expertise and trust.     

Relational Maintenance and Social Support in the Aftermath of Sudden and Expected Death

Bereavement is a state of grieving after the loss of a loved one. Past research has suggested that bereavement is particularly challenging, both physically and emotionally, in the aftermath of unexpected death. Here, we examine bereavement in which death occurred suddenly, compared to a chronic condition where death was expected, in terms of perceived social support and relational maintenance with the deceased in the form of imagined interactions and social media interactions. Results indicated that individuals experiencing sudden death bereavement were more likely to engage in both postmortem relational maintenance techniques and perceived less social support than individuals in the expected death bereavement group. Results are discussed in terms of previous findings.     

Planning Improves Vocal Fluency and the Appearance of Concern When Communicating Emotional Support

Emotional support is often conveyed to people with cancer; however, not all support messages are effective, leading some potential supporters to fear appearing incompetent when communicating support. Additionally, nonverbal behaviors, such as vocal fluency, pitch variety, eye contact, and conveying concern, have previously been associated with support recipients’ outcomes and perceptions of speaker competence. This experiment determines whether these nonverbal behaviors can be increased through message planning. Participants were randomly assigned to either a planning condition or a distraction task condition before recording emotional support messages for a friend hypothetically diagnosed with cancer. Results showed that planners spoke with significantly more vocal fluency and conveyed significantly more nonverbal concern than nonplanners. Planners also used more eye contact and pitch variety than nonplanners, but these differences were not statistically significant. Results suggest that planning may improve some nonverbal aspects of communicating support, which may in turn improve perceptions of supporters’ competence.     

Living with a rare health condition: the influence of a support community and public stigma on communication,stress, and available support

People affected by rare diseases often have limited coping resources and sometimes face stigma. They build communities with others who share their conditions, but not all members may benefit from these communities. This study investigated how adults with a rare genetic health condition (Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency; AATD) think about both the Alpha-1 community and public stigma about AATD, and how these cognitions predict their communication responses and well-being. The results showed that people with AATD-encountered stigmatization from various sources. Stronger public stigma predicted more secrecy, more stress, and less available support. Stronger group identification with the Alpha-1 community predicted less secrecy; stronger group activism predicted more available support and more communication to challenge stigmatizers. Post hoc analyses showed significant interactions between public stigma and group cognitions on communication to challenge stigmatizers. Practical implications for bolstering communities to improve the well-being of people with rare diseases were discussed.     

Psychological Well-Being as a Function of Affectionate Communication and Emotional Intelligence

This study examined indicators of psychological well-being as a function of affectionate communication and emotional intelligence. Two hundred and seventeen college-aged students completed measures of expressed and received affection; mental health, happiness, self-esteem, depression, and stress; and emotional intelligence. Results indicated that expressed affection is negatively associated with stress; received affection is positively associated with mental health and self-esteem and negatively associated with depression and stress. Furthermore, results provided support for models in which emotional intelligence impacts psychological well-being after accounting for the variance explained by expressed and received affection.     

Enacted Support and Well-Being: A Test of the Mediating Role of Perceived Control

This study examined the unique effects of three forms of enacted (i.e., received) support (emotional, unpaid assistance, financial) on well-being and tested the potential mediating role of perceived control. The analysis was based on a national sample collected through the second wave of the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) survey conducted in 2004–2006. Findings revealed emotional support exhibited a positive effect direction on well-being, while unpaid assistance and financial support both showed negative effect directions. Perceived control was found to fully mediate the relationships between all three forms of enacted support and well-being: Emotional support boosted well-being through higher perceived control, while unpaid assistance and financial support reduced well-being through lower perceived control. Findings provide evidence that effects of social resources on well-being are mediated through psychological resources.