Exploring Tough Love Communication in Parents’ Relationships with Their Young Adult Children

Communication between parents and their young adult children serves as an important foundation for healthy development and successful socialization. When communicating support, parents may struggle to find a balance between comforting their child while also encouraging their personal growth and development. In certain situations, parents may communicate tough love in order to accomplish their different goals. This study examines 67 interviews involving parents and their young adult children to explore how they discuss and understand tough love in their relationships. Results illuminate five themes regarding the distinguishing features of tough love and three themes around the outcomes of tough love in parent-child relationships.     

Comparing Physically Abused,Neglected, and Nonmaltreated Children During Interactions with their Parents: A Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies

A meta-analysis of 30 observational studies compares abused, neglected, and nonmaltreated children's behavior during interactions with their parents. Drawing on the relational communication literature, children's behaviors from various coding schemes were grouped into those communicating positivity (e.g., affection, approval), aversiveness (e.g., anger, resistance), and involvement (e.g., attention, interest). Results reveal that abused and neglected children are distinguished from nonmaltreated children on all three behavioral clusters, with overall mean weighted effect sizes ranging from d=.29 to .55. Several moderators qualify the magnitude though not the direction of these differences, including maltreatment type, child/parent age, and observation length and setting. These findings have implications for understanding the etiology and outcomes of child maltreatment as well as for intervention and prevention efforts.     

Muslim Women’s Use of Internet Media in the Process of Acculturation in the United States

This study examines how Muslim women use Internet-based media in the process of acculturation in the United States. Grounded theory methodology (Glaser, 1992) and Sam and Berry’s (2006) model of acculturation were used as theoretical and analytical frameworks. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 Muslim women to learn about their media use and experiences in forming and maintaining relationships in the United States. Educational opportunities were an emerging theme in the determining factors of immigrating to the United States. The data indicated that Muslim women use a variety of Internet-based media such as Facebook, Skype, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Viber for communicating with family and friends locally and abroad. A majority of the participants reported that social media allowed them to express a part of their identities. The data suggests that the participants attained the level of acculturation defined as integration. The participants use these media to build and create relationships in their new communities. The combined relationships the participants maintain both locally and abroad seem to play a role in the creation of balance in their lives, which allows them to thrive in their new communities, at school, and at work.     

图书馆员沟通满意感的测量与分析

基于问卷调查,从5个维度测量图书馆员的沟通满意感,即对组织整体沟通氛围的看法、沟通开放性、相关工作信息的获取、直接主管的沟通意识及态度与主动性、同事之间的沟通关系等。在此基础上,从性别、入馆年限、职称、职位、教育背景方面,对不同馆员群体的沟通满意感及其相关因素进行考察,以发现其规律和特点。     

从管理学角度谈图书馆部门管理中的信息沟通

从管理学的基本思想出发,阐述了图书馆部门管理中信息沟通的功能、主要类型以及提高沟通效率的几个有效途径。     

Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans? Internet Communication, Geographic Community, and Social Capital in Crisis

This study investigated Internet communication and use in a crisis situation, Hurricane Katrina, to explore the role of the Internet in supporting or diminishing geographically-based community during a crisis. The researchers conducted an online survey of Internet users (n=1192) from the dispersed metropolitan New Orleans area. The survey focused on amount, type, function, and importance of Internet use to creating and maintaining social capital, supporting geographically-based communities, activating social networks, reducing uncertainty, and achieving both expressive and instrumental communication goals. The results indicated that Internet users in a crisis situation went online to seek interactive fora specific to their neighborhoods and to activate weak ties in their social networks. They engaged in more uncertainty reduction behavior when experiencing higher degrees of damage. They turned to the Internet in place of other media as a result of disruptions caused by the crisis. Women valued online expressive communication more than men did. The findings suggest that social capital theorists would benefit from a communication perspective on the Internet. The study also led to the formation of suggestions for emergency preparedness agencies, shelter providers, crisis victims, and online news providers that can improve emergency response.     

The effect of interactivity on initial interactions: the influence of information valence and modality and information richness on computer‐mediated interaction

Research investigating relationship development through computer‐mediated channels has failed to acknowledge the importance of initial interactions. Increasingly, multimodal forms of communication, such as audio‐ and videoconferencing, in addition to text‐only formats have emerged on socially oriented websites designed for relationship initiation. Utilizing the principle of interactivity as a conceptual framework, the present study investigates whether increased structural interactivity provided by the additional aural and visual modalities influences initial interaction processes and outcomes online. The results indicate that increased availability of nonverbal modalities, combined with the valence of the information acquired, significantly affected interaction involvement and mutuality, which are markers of processual interactivity, as well as the interaction outcomes of uncertainty, predicted outcome value, and information seeking. Additional analysis revealed that mutuality mediated the effect of richness on postinteraction uncertainty level and the evaluations of future relationship potential.