A Typological Examination of Communication Competence and Mental Health in Stepchildren

Despite continued interest in communication and family functioning, researchers have been challenged to adequately describe the complicated dynamics and complex configurations of stepfamilies. This study extends previous stepfamily research by classifying stepchildren according to their beliefs and experiences with key dimensions of stepfamily life, and by examining differences in perceptions of communication competence and mental health among different stepfamily types. Participants included 586 stepchildren from four different states who completed a series of survey measures. Results of cluster and discriminant analyses revealed five discrete types of stepfamilies, including bonded, functional, ambivalent, evasive, and conflictual stepfamilies. Estimates of validity for the typology revealed significant differences in self-reported communication competence and mental health among the five stepfamily types, as well as significant differences in perceptions of mothers’ and stepparents’ communication competence.     

The Push and Pull of Stepfamily Life: The Contribution of Stepchildren's Autonomy and Connection-Seeking Behaviors to Role Development in Stepfamilies

Role negotiation in stepfamilies is an important process that involves and affects all family members. Although researchers have focused on stepparent role development and the influence of stepparents' behaviors, less attention has been given to the influence and experience of stepchildren in role development. This investigation examined the contribution of stepchildren to the type of stepparent roles developed in stepfamilies, as well as stepchildren's experience of role ambiguity and the impact of stepchildren's role content and clarity on relational quality. Fifty-two stepchildren completed questionnaires about their relationships and interaction with their stepparent during adolescence. Findings indicate that stepchildren's autonomy and connection-seeking behaviors predict stepchildren's reports of stepparent role types, stepchildren's reports of stepparents' warmth displays predict stepchildren's role ambiguity, and stepchildren's behavior and role ambiguity relate to their relational satisfaction. Suggestions for future research in this area are proposed.     

Centered but not Caught in the Middle: Stepchildren's Perceptions of Dialectical Contradictions in the Communication of Co-Parents

The researchers adopted a dialectical perspective to study how stepchildren experience and communicatively manage the perception of feeling caught in the middle between their parents who are living in different households. The metaphor of being caught in the middle is powerful for stepchildren and this metaphor animated their discourse. A central contribution of the present study was to understand the alternative to being caught in the middle and what this alternative means to stepchildren. Reflected in the discourse of stepchildren is that to feel not caught in the middle is to feel centered in the family. Stepchildren's desire to be centered in the family was animated by the dialectic of freedom–constraint, which co-existed within the contradictions of openness–closedness and control–restraint. These contradictions are detailed in the analysis, along with advice to parents from the perspective of stepchildren. Implications for the interaction of stepchildren and their parents are discussed.     

Centered but not Caught in the Middle: Stepchildren's Perceptions of Dialectical Contradictions in the Communication of Co-Parents

The researchers adopted a dialectical perspective to study how stepchildren experience and communicatively manage the perception of feeling caught in the middle between their parents who are living in different households. The metaphor of being caught in the middle is powerful for stepchildren and this metaphor animated their discourse. A central contribution of the present study was to understand the alternative to being caught in the middle and what this alternative means to stepchildren. Reflected in the discourse of stepchildren is that to feel not caught in the middle is to feel centered in the family. Stepchildren's desire to be centered in the family was animated by the dialectic of freedom-constraint, which co-existed within the contradictions of openness-closedness and control-restraint. These contradictions are detailed in the analysis, along with advice to parents from the perspective of stepchildren. Implications for the interaction of stepchildren and their parents are discussed.     

The Assimilation of In-Laws: The Impact of Newcomers on the Communication Routines of Families

Although our popular culture stereotypes relationships with in-laws as problematic, these relationships have largely been overlooked by communication researchers. In contrast to existing studies focusing on dyadic relationships, this study looked at how in-laws are assimilated into the family group as newcomers, using structuration theory to examine how routines are reproduced in families. In personal interviews, participants described how their families had assimilated newcomers or how they themselves were received into their spouse's families. A thematic analysis revealed specific communication routines that had to be adjusted upon entry of newcomers, including conversational topics, expected amount of interaction, use of joking, and conversational styles. Adjustments to these routines, although difficult to negotiate because they were not openly discussed, helped to transform the family of childhood into the family of adulthood. Structuration theory would suggest that the perceived stress in relationships with in-laws occurs because newcomers upset the comfort of families by disrupting their communication routines.     

The Assimilation of In-Laws: The Impact of Newcomers on the Communication Routines of Families

Although our popular culture stereotypes relationships with in-laws as problematic, these relationships have largely been overlooked by communication researchers. In contrast to existing studies focusing on dyadic relationships, this study looked at how in-laws are assimilated into the family group as newcomers, using structuration theory to examine how routines are reproduced in families. In personal interviews, participants described how their families had assimilated newcomers or how they themselves were received into their spouse's families. A thematic analysis revealed specific communication routines that had to be adjusted upon entry of newcomers, including conversational topics, expected amount of interaction, use of joking, and conversational styles. Adjustments to these routines, although difficult to negotiate because they were not openly discussed, helped to transform the family of childhood into the family of adulthood. Structuration theory would suggest that the perceived stress in relationships with in-laws occurs because newcomers upset the comfort of families by disrupting their communication routines.     

Family Communication Patterns and Adolescent Experiences During Parental Military Deployment and Reintegration: The Role of Inappropriate Parental Disclosures and Perceived Family Understanding

This study examines associations between adolescent reports of family communication patterns (FCPs) and difficulties experienced during the deployment and reintegration of a military parent. Data from 106 adolescents (9–17 years) in 72 National Guard families where a parent had recently returned from overseas deployment were analyzed to examine direct and indirect links between FCPs, perceived family understanding, inappropriate parental disclosures, and adolescent difficulties. Results indicate direct effects for conformity orientation, with it being inversely associated with adolescent difficulties during both deployment and reintegration. Conversation orientation exerts mixed effects on adolescent difficulties during deployment. At a trend level, conversation orientation shares a direct, negative association with adolescent difficulties during deployment but also an indirect, positive association via family inappropriate parental disclosures. Implications of the findings for future research on FCPs as well as programs working with military families are discussed.     

近代西方人在华建立自然史博物馆类型及目的取向研究

自然史类博物馆是中国近代以来出现最早的博物馆类型之一,中国最早的在华大英博物馆、徐家汇博物院、上海亚洲文会博物馆以及北疆博物院等都是自然史类的博物馆。深入考察这些博物馆建设之初的讨论,并对比这些博物馆建设者的具体意图和办馆实践,可以看出这些博物馆都以服务西方自然史研究为主要目的,但却有着不同的建设取向。这些自然史博物馆不仅为西方的自然史研究提供中国的标本资料,有的博物馆还成为了西方人在华开展自然史研究的平台,为西方提供自然史的研究成果。     

The Effect of Anticipated Future Interaction and Initial Impression Valence on Relational Communication in Computer-Mediated Interaction

This study applies the critical paradigm of “rhetorical enterprise” to the case of nineteenth‐century British reform efforts, particularly the organization and the “gospel” of the Birmingham Political Union, and concludes that cases of rhetorical enterprise challenge critics to account for the enterprising consistency of tactics and creed regardless of the relatively inconsistent factors of men andevents.     

被经验的中介和被中介的经验——从传播理论教材的译介看传播学在中国

本文以国外传播理论教材的译介作为视角,考察了欧美传播理论话语在中国的诠释和变异,研究了西方客观经验主义的大众传播理论如何被潜移默化地等同于传播学的过程,同时以《传播理论导引:分析与应用》为例,对我国目前传播学的教学与研究中存在的一些问题进行了探讨,提出应该进一步开阔视野、注重研究范式、重新思考传播理论的教学与应用。     

The Creation of Defensiveness in Social Interaction II: A Model of Defensive Communication among Romantic Couples

This investigation extends the work of Stamp, Vangelisti, and Daly (1992 Stamp, G. H., Vangelisti, A. L. and Daly, J. A. 1992. The creation of defensiveness in social interaction. Communication Quarterly, 40: 177–190. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]) and others by explicating the multifaceted process of defensive communication among romantic couples. Qualitative data were derived from self-reports about a distinct episode of defensive communication in individual interviews, as well as direct analysis of couples’ communication in joint interviews. The proposed theoretical model reflects a more comprehensive, holistic, and precise framework that accounts for the triggers, core episode, outcomes, and contexts of defensive communication. The detailed model, which draws attention to interactive and person-centered features of defensive communication, is illustrated through the narrative account of one couple. Eleven data-based postulates are offered to fuel and focus subsequent investigations.     

Discursive Struggles in Families Formed through Visible Adoption: An Exploration of Dialectical Unity

This study is the first to provide best practices exclusively for communication about crises that involve issues of culture, ethnicity, and/or race from expert crisis managers' perspectives. Using complexity theory as a framework, this study provides an in-depth, theoretically grounded understanding of managing issues and crises involving culture, ethnicity and/or race through the experiences of 34 senior crisis communicators. Complex insider perspectives suggest that responsibility for crisis management must move beyond any managerial bias to become more organic, normative, inclusive, and community spirited. First, issues and crises involving culture, ethnicity, and/or race are defined, laying a foundation for future theory development on ways these issues can become or exacerbate crises. Second, research participants’ stories coalesce to produce best practices and a useful decision-making framework for practical application in organizations.     

Susceptibility to Deception in a Political News Interview: Effects of Identification,Perceived Cooperativeness,and Ingroup Vulnerability

This article explores people’s susceptibility to political deception. Participants watched a news interview in which a politician either answered all the questions or deceptively evaded a question. In Study 1 (n = 202), deception is perceived through the dodge being irrelevant for voters who do not identify with the politician. In Study 2 (n = 618), partisan voters consider the politician more deceptive, and acting more deceptively, when the politician has their opposing party affiliation, independent of whether he dodges. When the politician shares their party identification, voters identify with the politician more and consider his responses more relevant. Findings are consistent with theoretical positions of identification, the cooperative principle, and social identity.     

Daughters' Perceptions of Communication with Their Fathers: The Role of Skill Similarity and Co-Orientation in Relationship Satisfaction

This study examines the communication skill similarity between fathers and daughters. Participants were 186 daughters who identified perceptions of both their own communication competence and their father's communication competence. Results indicated that perceived similarity was related to relational satisfaction and quantity of communication. Using the Family Communication Pattern (FCP) model, father-daughter relationship satisfaction and communication skill similarity varied depending on the family type (i.e., consensual, pluralistic, protective, laissez-faire).     

The Communication Privacy Management of Adopted Individuals in Their Social Networks: Disclosure Decisions in Light of the Discourse of Biological Normativity

Although adoptees are often stigmatized for their nonnormative identity, adopted individuals must communicate with nonfamily members to integrate their adoptive identity into their definition of self. In the current study, adult adoptees (n = 25) were interviewed about their processes for disclosing their adoptive status in their social networks. Drawing upon communication privacy management (CPM) theory, inductive analyses demonstrated that adoptees created motivational and contextual criteria to enact privacy rules surrounding adoption. Adoptees maintained privacy to avoid messages of “difference,” insensitive comments, imperviousness, and negative opinions about adoption. Adoptees disclosed about their adoption to build relational closeness and to educate/advocate for adoption. These privacy decisions were undergirded by the societal assumption that families are biologically linked or the discourse of biological normativity (Suter et al., 2014).     

Effects of Actual (Manipulated) and Perceived Similarity on Liking in Get-acquainted Interactions: The Role of Communication

The effects of actual and perceived similarity on interpersonal outcomes (e.g., liking) in initial interactions were examined in a live interaction paradigm, which also included a pre-interaction manipulation of bogus similarity or dissimilarity. Pairs of previously unacquainted students engaged in a two-segment interaction using a structured self-disclosure task. One member of the pair was assigned to disclose while the other listened in the first segment; the two then switched roles in the second segment. Participants who received bogus information (prior to the interaction) that the other was similar expected to experience more liking toward the other and enjoyment of the interaction, relative to those who received bogus dissimilarity information. The pre-interaction manipulation of similarity/dissimilarity, however, did not generally affect liking and other affiliative outcomes once the pairs interacted. Perceived similarity was strongly associated with liking, closeness, and the other affiliative outcomes. Furthermore, more support was found that liking leads to similarity (Morry, 2005) than that similarity leads to liking in the initial interactions.     

Communication Privacy Management: A Thematic Analysis of Revealing and Concealing Eating Disorders in an Online Community

This study analyzed the discourse of a pro-anorexia website, prettythin.com. Narratives and posts were thematically analyzed using communication privacy management as a framework to understand the tension between revealing and concealing an eating disorder. Two themes were constructed during data analysis: (a) personal ownership and control, with the subtheme strategies for maintaining control and (b) communication choices surrounding disclosure and two subthemes, (i) seeking to fulfill needs face-to-face and (ii) positive fulfillment of needs online. Theoretical and practical contributions are addressed in terms of how communication theory can help understand people living with eating disorders. Specifically, how these individuals manage their personal information online and face-to-face and how prettythin.com provides support to men and women with eating disorders.     

尘封的图书馆——20世纪初俄罗斯人在哈尔滨创办的图书馆

论文对20世纪初俄罗斯人在哈尔滨创办的图书馆的类型、藏书情况、服务体系和馆藏图书的流向进行了详细的介绍,以期引起人们对历史资料的重视.