Corporal punishment and communication in father‐son dyads

This study was based on a communication‐oriented perspective of corporal punishment of children. The perspective posits that physically aggressive influence tactics would be associated with aggressive communication and a set of communication outcomes. The perceptions of 74 father‐son dyads were solicited to test these relationships. Results indicated that when there was lower argumentativeness and higher verbal aggressiveness in father‐son communication there was more corporal punishment as an influence tactic and that fathers and sons perceived the relationship as less favorable in terms of influence success, communication competence, affirming style, and credibility.     

Books received

In this study, children were shown one of three violent TV clips. Each clip showed an identical act of aggression but the perpetrator's motivation and punishment for the violent act were manipulated. Children also filled out a questionnaire that asked about their family communication patterns (FCP). Overall, children who rated higher on the communication dimension were more likely to see motivated violence as more justified, whereas children who rated higher on the control dimension were likely to see punished violence as less justified. In addition, children who were more control‐oriented and who had perceived the violent clip as justified chose aggressive story endings significantly more frequently than other children.     

The Relationship Between Family Communication Patterns and Child Vaccination Intentions

This study examined the role of family communication patterns in assessing the intentions of individuals to vaccinate their children. Using the theory of planned behavior, we constructed a path model whereby family communication patterns led to perceptions regarding vaccinations and finally to the intentions. The model showed excellent fit, with both communication and conformity orientations inversely related to vaccination beliefs. There were also significant inverse indirect effects between the two orientations and vaccination intentions. The family communication patterns interacted to predict both vaccination control and perceived norms outside the family. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

Perceptions of conflict strategies and communication competence in task-oriented Dyads

Individuals in temporary task-oriented dyads or groups must manage conflict competently if they hope to be successful in reaching their goals. Thus far, however, research on the associations between conflict styles and communication competence has focused on acquainted dyads, such as relational partners and coworkers, rather than unacquainted dyads assigned to work on tasks. The present study tests the applicability of the competence model of interpersonal conflict to temporary task-oriented dyads. Dyads (N = 100) who had little or no relational history completed a simulated decision-making task that involved choosing two out of four employees to lay off in response to a company's need to downsize. Results indicate people generally perceived the solution-oriented strategy as appropriate and effective. Although people perceived their partners' use of the controlling strategy to be inappropriate, people rated themselves as more effective when they used the controlling strategy. People evaluated nonconfrontational strategies as particularly incompetent.     

Perceptions of conflict strategies and communication competence in task‐oriented Dyads

Individuals in temporary task‐oriented dyads or groups must manage conflict competently if they hope to be successful in reaching their goals. Thus far, however, research on the associations between conflict styles and communication competence has focused on acquainted dyads, such as relational partners and coworkers, rather than unacquainted dyads assigned to work on tasks. The present study tests the applicability of the competence model of interpersonal conflict to temporary task‐oriented dyads. Dyads (N = 100) who had little or no relational history completed a simulated decision‐making task that involved choosing two out of four employees to lay off in response to a company's need to downsize. Results indicate people generally perceived the solution‐oriented strategy as appropriate and effective. Although people perceived their partners' use of the controlling strategy to be inappropriate, people rated themselves as more effective when they used the controlling strategy. People evaluated nonconfrontational strategies as particularly incompetent.     

The Effects of Sports Media Exposure on College Students' Rape Myth Beliefs and Intentions to Intervene in a Sexual Assault

An online survey was fielded to freshmen living in residence halls at a northwestern university in the United States. Structural equation modeling was used to investigate the structure of relationships among exposure to mainstream sports media, rape myth acceptance, and intentions to intervene in sexual assault situations while controlling for gender traits. Given that prior research suggests men and women differ in their beliefs about sexual assault, analyses were performed on male (n = 111) and female (n = 241) respondents separately. Among women, exposure to sports media was positively associated with rape myth acceptance, which in turn was negatively associated with intentions to intervene in sexual assault situations. Among men, consuming sports media was negatively associated with intentions to intervene in a sexual assault. The findings suggest that exposure to some sports media may be negatively associated to individuals' intentions to intervene in a sexual assault.     

Comparative Optimism in Online Credibility Evaluation Among Parents and Children

This study investigates comparative optimism—whereby people perceive themselves as relatively invulnerable to risks as compared to others—in the evaluation of online information credibility by children and their parents. Results of a representative national survey of Internet users revealed significant antecedents of children's and parents' comparative optimism, including demographic characteristics, cognitive thinking style, and perceived self-efficacy. Parental optimism was also found to relate to the mediation strategies used to regulate children's Internet use, and comparative optimism in children was associated with tendencies to believe online information and specific evaluation behavior. Findings are considered in terms of their theoretical implications and with regard to the role of parents in children's digital information literacy development.     

Factors that Predict Married Partners' Disclosures about Infertility to Social Network Members

This study draws upon the revelation risk model and the disclosure decision-making model to deduce hypotheses linking perceived stigma, communication efficacy, and relational closeness to married partners’ tendencies to disclose information about their infertility experiences to members of the couple's social network. Data from 50 couples reporting on disclosures to a total of 250 social network members were analyzed using multilevel modeling. Results indicated that aspects of stigma, communication efficacy, and closeness impact infertility-related disclosures. The discussion highlights how the application of these theories sheds light on the multiple factors that influence the extent to which husbands and wives engage their social network when coping with infertility.     

What Motivates Parents to Mediate Children’s Use of Smartphones? An Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior

Applying the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), this study examines parents’ attitudes, social norms, self-efficacy, and intentions regarding parental mediation of children’s smartphone use. A survey conducted with parents of young smartphone users aged 10–17 shows that parents tend to perceive discussion-based active mediation to be more desirable, as compared to rule-making restrictive mediation. Findings also indicate that the extent to which parents believe that they have control over their parental mediation practices plays an important role in forming positive intentions to practice parental mediation, regardless of the mediation domain.     

Autonomy and parent-child relationship satisfaction: the mediating role of communication competence

ABSTRACT

Research shows that autonomous individuals have greater psychological well-being and high-quality relationships. The present study, from a communication perspective, aimed to understand the dynamics between child autonomy, communication competence, and parent-child relationship satisfaction. Participants in this study were 169 parent-young adult child dyads. Results showed that autonomous children reported being more communicatively competent, and both themselves and their parents reported greater satisfaction. Further, mediation analyses showed that child autonomy was positively associated with children’s satisfaction with parents through their disclosure competence, and child autonomy was positively associated with parents’ satisfaction with children through child conflict management competence. Overall, the findings revealed that young adult child being autonomous was beneficial to both themselves and their parents.     

Colorimetric measurement of anxiety: A clinical and experimental procedure∗

This study investigated the effects of leader structuring style (attention to group interaction procedures) on group member satisfaction and communication performance when the task‐orientation of group members varied. Results indicated little difference in the behavior of high task‐oriented subjects regardless of whether they interacted with structuring or nonstructuring leaders. Subjects low in task‐orientation, however, were significantly more satisfied with their leader and their group's task performance, and were rated by judges of discussion tapes as being in higher quality discussion groups and as making more communication skills statements and fewer social‐emotional contributions when they worked with structuring leaders than when they worked with nonstructuring leaders.     

Mass media and cultural identity: Issues of ethnic co‐existence in India

This study aimed to analyze the respective effects of cognitive and emotional elements on political judgments, and the effects of media use and political talk on those two elements. Along with the cognitive judgment about political and economic issues/policies, we explored the effect of emotional responses to political and economic situations. During this process, we also looked at the effect of media use and interpersonal communication channels. By analyzing survey data gathered in December 2007, it was first found that voters' cognitive judgment and emotional responses to political and economic situations, respectively, affected their evaluation of the incumbent president. Second, emotional reactions such as ‘pride’ in politics, and ‘hope’ and ‘anger’ for economics, showed significant influence on their evaluation of the president's performance. Third, voters' patterns of media use and interpersonal talk appeared to exert significant influences on those cognitive judgments and emotional responses to political and economic reality.     

高校图书馆华裔留学生延伸服务策略研究——基于两所“侨校”的问卷调查

[目的/意义]了解华裔留学生的信息素养、偏好与倾向、对图书馆的认知及个性化需求,提出华裔留学生延伸服务的策略。[方法/过程]在对国内外相关研究文献进行调查的基础上,对两所"侨校"的华裔留学生进行问卷调查,回收376份有效问卷,并进行统计和分析。[结果/结论]华裔留学生的基本信息素养不高,对图书馆移动终端服务的关注程度较低,使用图书馆的频率总体偏低;华裔留学生偏好人际直接交流的方式、倾向于"实地"学习;华裔留学生对图书馆的必要性及重要性的认知程度较高,其需求呈多样化特点。提出识别华裔留学生群体的需求和倾向,发掘后备人力资源,关注文化差异等高校图书馆对华裔留学生延伸服务的策略。     

Caregivers' beliefs about library visits: A theory-based study of formative research

Currently, no research has systematically investigated the beliefs underpinning caregivers' intentions to visit public libraries with their young children. Drawing from the theory of planned behaviour, this study adopted a three-phase program of formative research to examine the decision making processes of parents and carers with young children living in a low socio-economic area. Phase 1 identified seven behavioural, five normative, and ten control beliefs as modal salient beliefs held by parents and carers. Phase 2 identified a variety of key behavioural, normative, and control beliefs as significant predictors of intention to visit the library with their young child. Phase 3 elicited the reasons underpinning these key beliefs guiding parents' and carers' intentions, identifying 34 reasons that could be used in messages to promote library visits. The results provide useful information that intervention designers, councils, and library services can use to encourage library use among parents and carers with young children.     

Hope communication as a predictor of documented and undocumented Latina/o high school students’ college intentions across an academic year

Drawing from hope theory, we examined whether hope communication predicted undocumented and documented U.S. Latina/o youth’s college intentions across an academic year. With three waves of survey data from 172 documented and 253 undocumented Latina/o high school students, auto-regressive cross-lagged analyses revealed that parent, teacher, and friend hope communication at the beginning of the year indirectly increased students’ college intentions by the end of the year. A trend emerged whereby undocumented students reported significantly less hope communication and weaker college intentions than documented students within most of the waves. Our findings suggest that hope communication has the potential to increase the educational, economic, and social mobility of Latina/o immigrant students by increasing their intentions to attend college.     

The Dark Side of Instruction: Teacher Anger as Classroom Norm Violations

Based on norm violation theory, we examined students' reactions to teachers' normative and nonnormative expressions of anger. College students ( N = 301 ) judged the appropriateness and intensity of teachers' anger in the classroom for four modes of expression: Distributive Aggression, Passive Aggression, Integrative Assertion, and Nonassertive Denial. Students rated both types of aggressive expressions as highly intense and inappropriate (or nonnormative), but assertive displays as appropriate and less intense. Additionally, aggressive expressions were negatively related to students' affect, whereas assertive expressions were positively related to affect. Findings extend norm violation theory by identifying how teacher anger should be expressed and when during the semester anger is more likely to be perceived as inappropriate. Moreover, this study illustrates how normative violations of anger are associated with negative evaluations of the teacher and course.     

Charles Grandison Finney: Herald of modern revivalism

By the year 2000, up to 40 million workers are expected to be surveilled electronically in American workplaces. Management often views surveillance as an attempt to achieve certain organizational goals better by more fully utilizing time and other resources. This article adopts the alternative perspective, that of employees/members, from which surveillance can be understood as an attempt to create new power relationships based on an electronic version of Bentham's panopticon. The study postulated four elements of such panoptic relationships and tested the first and most important of these, perception of being surveilled, in a state‐wide survey of information workers (n = 465). Results supported the hypotheses that the more surveilled workers perceive themselves to be the less a) privacy, b) certainty about their role in the work place, c) self‐esteem, and d) workplace communication they experience.     

Practically Perfect in Every Way: Communication Strategies of Ideal Relational Partners

This study utilized social exchange constructs to examine communication strategies used by self-defined ideal relational partners when initiating dating relationships. Two hundred forty-four participants generated 1183 communication strategies they would use to initiate relationships if they believed themselves to be ideal partners. A content analysis revealed 15 categories of communication strategies enacted by ideal relational partners. These categories included initiation, emotional disclosure, direct inquiry, impression management, shared activities, supportive behaviors, information gathering, gift giving, compliments, other-initiated behaviors, assistance from others, self-acceptance, pickup lines, bragging, and use of humor. Implications for interpersonal communication research are discussed.     

Attitudes and parental factors as intervening variables in the television violence‐aggression relation

This study examines the relationship of cognitive and parental factors affecting adolescents viewing of television violence. Participants in the study were 422 adolescents and 298 of their parents who were surveyed for their viewing behaviors, perceptions of violent portrayals, and aggressive behavioral tendencies. Regression analysis indicated that attitude was the strongest predictor of aggression. The more adolescents reported liking television violence, the more aggressive were their intentions. Results suggested that while exposure to violence and parental factors both play a part in mediating subsequent aggression, viewing violence is less important than liking violence.     

The Relationships between Driver Anger and Aggressive Communication Traits

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between college students’ level of driver anger and their aggressive communication traits. Driving anger is an individual's tendency to become angry while driving. In 1994 the driving anger scale (DAS) identified six dimensions of driver anger: hostile gestures, illegal driving, police presence, slow driving, discourtesy, and traffic obstructions. Results of Pearson correlations show that police presence, slow driving, discourteous driving, and traffic obstructions were positively related to all of the aggressive communication traits. “Hostile gestures” was related to assertiveness. Illegal driving was related to indirect verbal aggression and assertiveness.