The relationship between perceived understanding and self‐disclosure in the sibling relationship

This study investigated the relationship between self‐disclosure and perceived understanding in the sibling relationship. Participants (N = 227.) completed a questionnaire based on their communication with their siblings. Participants reported on their self‐disclosure(intentionality, amount, positiveness, depth, and honesty) and their feelings of being understood by their siblings. The results showed that self‐disclosure was positively related to perceived understanding. This was especially true for the relationship between honesty of self‐disclosure and perceived understanding. Analyses involving sex of the individuals in the sibling dyad showed several differences. For men, besides honesty, the only other significant results were intentionality of self‐disclosure for brothers communicating with their sisters and positiveness of self‐disclosure for brothers communicating with their brothers. In contrast, intentionality, amount, positiveness, and honesty of self‐disclosure were all significantly related for women communicating with their brothers and their sisters.     

Professional attitudes toward a first‐course requirement in speech in central states colleges and universities

A discussion of the tendencies in the teaching of public speaking in college today, which presents a rationale for a study of the subject.     

The Influence of Instructor-Student Rapport on Instructors’ Professional and Organizational Outcomes

Students and teachers have relational goals and needs, yet little research has examined the relational goals of instructors and how achieving those goals may affect instructor outcomes. This study examined instructors’ perspectives on instructor-student rapport. Results revealed that instructors who build rapport with students are likely to experience teaching satisfaction, affective commitment to the institution, and enhanced teaching efficacy. However, instructor-student rapport was not related to instructor morale. The findings in this study highlight the importance of positive instructor-student relationships in the classroom and the implications for both instructors and administrators.     

Catalogers’ Perceptions and Use of Social Media and Conventional Information Sources for Professional Development

Many professional development information sources are available to catalogers, who may be constrained by limited time and money to devote to them. This article reports the results of a survey gathering information on six types of information sources: journal articles, conferences, electronic discussion lists, blogs, microblogs, and social networking sites. Catalogers rated these resources regarding their importance to filling professional development needs, the reliability of the information disseminated, and their usefulness for obtaining specific types of information. The results should help catalogers and their administrators decide where to focus their attention both as consumers and disseminators of continuing education information.     

Investigating married adults’ communal coping with genetic health risk and perceived discrimination

Increased genetic testing in personalized medicine presents unique challenges for couples, including managing disease risk and potential discrimination as a couple. This study investigated couples’ conflicts and support gaps as they coped with perceived genetic discrimination. We also explored the degree to which communal coping was beneficial in reducing support gaps and ultimately stress. Dyadic analysis of married adults (N?=?266, 133 couples), in which one person had the genetic risk for serious illness, showed that perceived discrimination predicted more frequent conflicts about alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency-related treatment, privacy boundaries, and finances, which, in turn, predicted wider gaps in emotion and esteem support, and greater stress for both spouses. Communal coping predicted lower support gaps for both partners and marginally lower stress.     

International students’ network patterns and cultural stress: What really counts

The cultural adaptation literature indicates that direct contacts with host people and international students have positive effects on adaptation. However, it is not clear how the quantity of host people affects this relationship. Therefore, this study investigates the question by exploring the role of “quantity”; in terms of the numbers of host people in international students’ communication networks and cultural stress (CS). This effect was examined from close interpersonal communication ties and casual communicative contacts perspectives (i.e., quantity alone versus quantity‐with‐quality of relationship). One hundred and two international students were asked to complete a questionnaire from which their CS scores were determined. The scores were used to determine the effect of casual versus close contacts for the students. In general, the findings indicate that the quantity of host people in a network is an important determinant of CS (i.e., both casual contacts and close communication contacts). However, the extent to which these interaction types are able to determine CS is dependent on the stress type.     

Uncertainty and previvors’ cancer risk management: understanding the decision-making process

Women who test positive for a BRCA genetic mutation, but who have not been diagnosed, or 'previvors,' experience intense, chronological risk-related uncertainty. Women’s risk management medical decisions can be a way to manage their uncertainty, but little is known about how uncertainty informs their decision or how uncertainty is impacted by these medical decisions. Using an uncertainty management theoretical lens, we interviewed 46 previvors about their decision-making process. A thematic analysis revealed two uncertainty management (i.e., risk-reducing) decision-making pathways (preventive surgery and increased surveillance) with each pathway encompassing a three-part process of 1) uncertainty appraisal, 2) medical decision (i.e., uncertainty management strategy), and 3) outcomes. The findings advance theoretical thinking about uncertainty and risk management as an ongoing, distressful chronic experience, and highlight the importance of life-span phenomena in women’s decision-making process. Based on the findings, we constructed a translational tool to aid genetic counselors and previvors facing these medical decisions.     

Young adults’ contact experiences and attitudes toward aging: age salience and intergroup anxiety in South Korea*

From the theoretical perspectives of communication accommodation and intergroup contact, this study examined South Korean young adults’ (N?=?301) perceptions of their communication experiences with a frequently-contacted grandparent, as well as attitudes toward older adults and own aging. Findings from structural equation modeling indicated that the participants’ attitudes towards older adults were positively predicted by contact frequency with the grandparent and negatively predicted by perceptions of the grandparent’s non-accommodative communication. Analyses of indirect effects revealed that young adults’ intergroup anxiety explained these associations. Although the direct effects of contact frequency and the grandparent’s non-accommodation on attitudes toward own aging were nonsignificant, the indirect effects through intergroup anxiety were significant. Moderation analysis indicated that these direct and indirect associations between non-accommodation and aging attitudes were significant only when age salience was low – a finding contrary to existing theory and research. Results are discussed in terms of intergenerational communication and culture, and theories of intergroup contact.     

Korean immigrants’ viewing patterns of Korean satellite television and its role in their lives

The present article investigates the Chinese peoples’ interdependent and independent self‐construals, including how these self‐construals are influenced by socio‐demographic factors such as age, gender, and rural‐urban residence. A modified version of Singelis’ (1994) self construal scale was administered to 237 Chinese respondents’ in an urban and a rural area of Shandong Province, China, and qualitative data (focus group and in‐depth interviews) were collected to enrich the quantitative findings. Our results suggest that the Chinese self‐construal varies across age, gender, and urban‐rural residence, and is also influenced by the changing political, economic, and socio‐cultural context in China. The theoretical and practical implications for the field of intercultural communication are outlined in the discussion section.     

Teacher’ use of humor,self‐disclosure,and narrative activity as a function of experience

This investigation reported normative data for experienced (N = 20) and less‐experienced (N = 20) college teachers’ use of humor, self‐disclosure, and narrative activities. Results indicated that both groups of teachers observed in the study incorporated the three behaviors within their 50‐minute lectures. Experienced teachers, however, used humor, self‐disclosure, and narrative activities more frequently than the less‐experienced teachers. Additionally, the experienced teachers used the behaviors to clarify course content.     

The relationship between physicians’ use of power stategies and type a orientation in physician‐patient communication

Employing a two sample design, this study examined the relationship between physicians’ use of Behavior Alteration Techniques (BATs) and physicians’ type‐A orientation. Patient and physician respondents reported selection of antisocial BATs was a significant predictor of type‐A physicians.     

Effects of reintegration difficulties,perceived message acceptance and perceived autonomy support on U.S. military Veterans’ evaluations of messages encouraging them to seek behavioral health care

This online experiment integrates confirmation, politeness, and self-determination theories to examine how Veterans evaluate family members’ messages encouraging them to seek behavioral health care. Veterans (N?=?226) evaluated messages manipulated to express high or low levels of acceptance and autonomy support, completed outcome measures (persuasiveness, relational impact, identity management, emotions), and reported on their own reintegration difficulties. Positive associations were found between perceived message acceptance and three outcomes, and perceived autonomy support and two outcomes. Reintegration difficulties were associated with more negative message perceptions. Perceived acceptance and autonomy support also mediated a number of associations between manipulated message features and outcomes, as well as reintegration difficulties and outcomes. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Learn after reading: effects of news framing and responsibility attribution on Chinese college students’ perceived efficacy in identifying others and themselves with depression

Depression is now one of the most severe public health threats in China and among Chinese college students. To examine the effects of depression news coverage on Chinese college students’ mental health literacy, focusing on their perceived efficacy in recognizing depression symptoms, a 2 (news framing: episodic vs. thematic)?×?2 (responsibility attribution: individual vs. societal)?×?2 (gender: female vs. male) between-subjects experiment was conducted among 187 students at a large research university in China. The key findings, after controlling for depression issue involvement, include: (1) the main effects of attribution on perceived efficacy in identifying others (friends and family members) with depression; (2) the association between gender and perceived efficacy in identifying family members with depression; and (3) the three-way interactions on how framing, attribution, and gender jointly affect not only perceived efficacy in identifying others but also themselves with depression. These findings provide insights on how depression news coverage can help enhance mental health literacy and build stronger depression symptom resilience among Chinese college students. Implications for health journalists and public health communication professionals in China are discussed.     

Using the Theory of Planned Behavior to Predict College Students’ Intent to Use LinkedIn for Job Searches and Professional Networking

College students and recent graduates are the fastest-growing user demographic on LinkedIn, with an estimated 40 million profiles for these groups. Guided by the theory of planned behavior, 107 college students completed an online survey to determine their LinkedIn use, attitudes, perceived control, and social influences for networking and job/internship searching. The results of this study suggest that students are infrequent and passive users of LinkedIn. Past behaviors, attitudes, perceived behavioral control, and actual behavioral control were related to the effectiveness of LinkedIn to help them find internships and jobs. Parents and friends, attitudes, and past use of LinkedIn were related to their intention to use LinkedIn. Past use of LinkedIn and parents were the significant predictors of future intention to use LinkedIn.     

A Review of “How to Create and Manage a Mutual Fund or Exchanged Traded Fund: A Professional’s Guide”

Business students comprise a significant proportion of the Library's reference workload at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB). A literature review on business students and their use of libraries provided limited, dated material which indicated that business students are infrequent users of libraries and possessed minimal research skills. CSULB business faculty were surveyed to determine attitudes on student library use and learning. Students were surveyed to determine library attitudes, use, and skills. While library use has increased dramatically over the years, skills needed for independent research have not. Suggested solutions include the targeting of core business courses for instruction and increasing involvement of the faculty.     

Using a theoretical model of communal coping to understand changes in language brokers’ coping patterns: Implications for Latina/o early adolescents’ brokering stress and efficacy

Language brokering occurs when immigrant youth linguistically and culturally mediate for family and members of U.S. mainstream culture. Under some circumstances, brokering can be stressful. Based on a theoretical model of communal coping, this study utilized two waves of survey data from 342 Latina/o sixth- to eighth-grade students to identify different types of copers: (a) communal copers, (b) tentative copers, and (c) declined-ownership copers. Communal copers reported greater brokering stress than tentative brokers in the middle of the year, but not by the end of the year. Communal copers reported greater brokering efficacy than tentative copers in the middle and end of the year. Declined-ownership copers consistently had the lowest brokering stress and moderate brokering efficacy.     

Improving cancer caregivers’ emotion regulation and supportive message characteristics: Results of a randomized controlled expressive writing intervention*

This study tested whether a 17-day randomized controlled expressive writing (EW) intervention improved cancer caregivers’ emotion regulation ability and if improved emotion regulation predicted increases in verbal person-centered message characteristics present in caregivers’ recalled support conversations with cancer survivors. Participants (N?=?64) were spousal caregivers of hematopoietic stem cell transplant cancer survivors assigned to one of three writing conditions: traumatic disclosure (TD), benefit finding (BF), or a time-management control. Caregivers completed writings three times at one-week intervals, along with pre- and posttest reports of emotion regulation and written accounts of supportive conversations with spousal survivors. Both EW conditions (TD and BF) predicted reduced emotion regulation difficulty compared to the control condition. Cognitive, pronoun, and positive affect word usage within EWs did not predict emotion regulation improvement. However, use of negative emotion words predicted significant increases in emotion regulation difficulty across conditions. Verbal person-centeredness (VPC) message characteristics significantly increased from pre- to posttest for those assigned to the BF and control conditions. Despite change in VPC, emotion regulation did not mediate the relationship between condition assignment and message characteristic outcomes.