Workplace Relationship Quality and Employee Information Experiences

This study examined the extent to which the amount and quality of work‐related information employees received was associated with the quality of their relationships with peer co‐workers and their immediate supervisors. Results indicated that supervisor–subordinate relationship quality was positively related to both the amount and quality of information employees received from their immediate supervisor. In addition, employees’ proportions of information peer relationships were negatively related, and their proportions of collegial peer relationships were positively related, to the quality of information they received from their co‐workers. Regression analyses also indicated that the quality of information employees received from their supervisors and co‐workers was positively related to their job satisfaction and commitment to the organization.     

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.     

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.     

Continuing the tradition… advancing the boundaries

This study investigated the influence that social and emotional support have on attributional confidence in the brother‐brother relationship. Two‐hundred thirteen males reported on the relationship with their brother. Social support dimensions of relational support, interpersonal depth, relational conflict and emotional support were examined as a function of attributional confidence. Results indicated positive relationships between social support dimensions of relational support and interpersonal depth with attributional confidence. Relational conflict was negatively related to attributional confidence. No significant relationship between emotional support and attributional confidence was observed.     

The Effects of Attachment Styles and Efficacy of Communication on Avoidance Following a Relational Partner's Deception

This investigation examined the effects of attachment styles and efficacy of communication on avoidance following a relational partner's deceptive communication. Efficacy of communication was explored as a mediating variable. Students (n = 123) who reported being deceived by their relational partner were recruited for the study. The data revealed that, compared to individuals with other attachment styles, those with a high anxious/ambivalent attachment tendency were more likely to avoid discussing the deception with their partner. In addition, efficacy of communication was negatively associated with avoidance. The results further revealed, however, that efficacy of communication mediated the link between attachment and avoidance. More specifically, highly anxious/ambivalent individuals were more likely to perceive relatively low efficacy of communication, and such perception, in turn, influenced their avoidance. Findings of the study provide an explanation for the association between attachment and avoidance.     

Romantic Relationship and “Yuan”: A Preliminary Study of Chinese in Hong Kong

This study investigated how the traditional Chinese concept of “yuan” influences perceptions of romantic relationships. A small-scale survey of young people in Hong Kong indicated that the belief in yuan was prevalent among respondents. In addition, a significant, positive correlation was observed between participants' belief in yuan and relationship satisfaction. However, romantic love was a better predictor of satisfaction and commitment than was the belief in yuan.     

Types of touch in cross-sex relationships between coworkers: perceptions of relational and emotional messages,inappropriateness, and sexual harassment

This study examined observers' perceptions of nine different types of touch (including a "no touch" control condition) used in cross-sex relationships between coworkers. Results showed that face touch sends particularly strong relational and emotional messages. A soft touch in the cheek area of the face was seen as signaling more affection, attraction, flirtation, and love than the other types of touch. Face touch was also rated as the most inappropriate and sexually harassing of the nine types of touch examined. Arm around the waist was also rated as showing relatively high levels of attraction and flirtation, as well as inappropriateness and harassment. No touch and handshaking conveyed the most formality. Observers rated women as more affectionate, trusting, happy, and composed than men across the touch conditions. Men, however, were judged to be more attracted to their cross-sex partners than were women. These and other findings are discussed to shed light on the multiple interpretations of touch within the context of relationships between cross-sex coworkers.     

A Grounded Theory of Control over Communication Among Individuals with Cancer

This study explored the meanings that people attribute to talking about their cancer. Framed by interpersonal and health communication scholarship on privacy management and multiple meanings, we asked cancer survivors to describe how and why they discussed their cancer with others. Interviews (focus group or one-on-one) were conducted with 40 survivors. Using a grounded theory approach, we developed a conceptual framework that describes how communication about cancer may be particularly meaningful because it is something that people feel as though they can control during a highly stressful and turbulent time. However, attempts to manage communication are challenged by constraints imposed by others, such as unfavorable and unpredictable reactions to disclosure, which ultimately place limits on survivors’ control.     

Emerging Adult Siblings' Use of Verbally Aggressive Messages as Hurtful Messages

The purpose of this study was to identify the specific types of verbally aggressive messages emerging adult siblings use with each other and to determine whether these types of verbally aggressive messages differ in perceived hurtfulness, intensity, and intent. Participants were 115 individuals who identified a verbally aggressive message recently used by a sibling. Results indicated that siblings use seven types of verbally aggressive messages (i.e., name calling, insults, withdrawal, physical acts or threats, repudiating the relationship, negative affect, unfair comparison), and the seven types of verbally aggressive messages do not differ in their perceived hurtfulness, intensity, and intent.     

Developing and Testing the Anti-Drinking and Driving PSA

This study examines uncertainty in long-distance dating relationships (LDDRs) from two different perspectives. While uncertainty reduction theory (URT) posits that uncertainty could be problematic for LDDRs, uncertainty management theory (UMT) recognizes that evaluations of future possibilities should be considered before determining whether or not uncertainty is problematic. Results indicated that participants who were uncertain about ever living in the same city as their partners were significantly more distressed, less satisfied, and rated communication coping strategies as less helpful than those who felt more certain about reunion. Uncertainty was not as problematic when evaluations about the future were taken into account.