Factors Associated with General Partner and Relational Uncertainty within Early Adulthood Sibling Relationships

Guided by the theoretical concept of uncertainty, the present study was an exploratory investigation of general partner and relational uncertainty within sibling relationships. Undergraduate and graduate student participants responded to a written survey utilizing scales measuring general partner uncertainty, relational uncertainty, extent of topic avoidance, and various relational and demographic items. Results revealed that siblings experience significantly more partner uncertainty than relational uncertainty, although both uncertainty types were experienced at low to moderate levels. Further, differing levels of partner and relational uncertainty were associated with frequency of sibling contact, but not with sibling dyadic gender composition. Finally, both general partner and relational uncertainty were significant predictors of levels of general topic avoidance, although neither uncertainty type predicted romantic/sexual relationship topic avoidance levels. Theoretical implications for uncertainty management are discussed in light of the unique sibling relationship.     

Privacy Recalibration in Personal Relationships: Rule Usage Before and After an Incident of Privacy Turbulence

Although privacy violations can be uncomfortable and disruptive, they have the potential for positive outcomes in relationships if addressed. Using Communication Privacy Management theory as a framework, this study surveyed a community sample of 273 adults to examine their retrospective accounts of privacy violations in personal relationships. Results showed that less than half of the sample offered explicit rules for information management, and the majority of participants blamed the confidant for the privacy turbulence. Findings indicated that people often do not share similar information with the violator in the future, but if they do, less than half offer explicit privacy rules during the privacy recalibration process. Confrontation efficacy was positively associated with initiating a conversation about the privacy turbulence and that people who engaged in privacy recalibration were more likely to report forgiveness and relational improvement and less likely to report relational damage than those individuals who did not.     

Korean Adoptees’ Discursive Construction of Birth Family and Adoptive Family Identity Through Names and Labels

Framed by a social constructionist approach to language, this study explored Korean adoptees’ naming and labeling practices for members of their birth family and the motives underlying these choices. In-depth interviews were conducted with 19 Korean adoptees who had reunited with at least one member of their birth family. Participants discussed how they addressed (named) and referred to (labeled) members of their birth family, and explained why these names and labels were used. Most participants used Korean terms of address (e.g., ??: omma for mother, ??: appa for father) to address members of their birth family. Other participants used labels from their own “native” (i.e., their adopted country’s) language, avoided addressing their birth parents, or, occasionally, used their birth parent’s first name. Participants tended to refer to their birth families as their birth/biological family, or Korean family; however, some participants stated that their terms of reference depended on context. Participants’ naming choices reflected three main motives: an appeal to family identity (relative closeness to their birth or adoptive family), an appeal to outsiders (to protect the feelings of their adoptive family), and an appeal to pragmatism (for clarity). Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Relational Maintenance Behavior and Shared TV Viewing as Mediators of the Association Between Romanticism and Romantic Relationship Quality

Nearly a century of research has demonstrated a positive association between romanticism—a relationship-type schema that emphasizes idealistic and positive experiences in romantic relationships—and quality of romantic relationships. This investigation examined whether relational maintenance behavior and shared TV viewing mediate that association. The sample contained 202 participants, including college students and older adults. Results demonstrated that relational maintenance behavior mediated the association between romanticism and relationship quality, but shared TV viewing did not. Nevertheless, shared TV viewing independently and positively predicted variance in relationship quality. These results both clarify the mechanism by which romanticism may operate and support shared media use as a maintenance behavior that may be meaningful in close relationships.     

Golden Handcuffs in the Fortune 1000? An Employee-Organization Relationship Survey of Public Relations Executives and Practitioners in the Largest Companies

This study delivered an employee-organization relationship survey to public relations executives and practitioners in Fortune 1000 companies. Almost two-thirds (64.3%) were the top-ranking public relations executives in their organizations, and most (79.2%) were paid $100,000 or more. Respondents had significantly higher scores on a majority (66.7%) of relationship outcome measures than did Millennials who worked for public relations agencies. The researcher found a statistically significant difference between salary categories at or above $100,000 and those below $100,000 on the combined dependent variables of trust, control mutuality, commitment, and satisfaction using a one-way between-groups multivariate analysis of variance: F(1, 50) = 4.586, p = .003; Wilks’ Lambda = .71; partial η² = .29. Results may be explained by age and workplace variables and/or the higher compensation and benefits embodied in the concept of the Golden Handcuffs. Results also suggest that relationship-type scales are not reliable.     

Exploring Pedagogical and Emotional Response in Higher Education Classrooms During the Boston Marathon Bombing Crisis

Using qualitative interviews, the study explored pedagogy and emotional responses of undergraduate and graduate teaching faculty during and after the Boston Marathon bombing crisis. The study interviewed nine undergraduate and graduate faculty members who were teaching across six Boston area universities and colleges when the Boston Marathon crisis occurred. Results found instructors felt a responsibility to emotionally respond to students during the crisis by acknowledging the crisis and highlighting resources in the classroom. The study further found that instructors often maintain curricular structure and invoke the crisis as a teaching tool to manage the classroom dynamic post-crisis. Limitations, directions for future research, and practical applications are discussed.     

Money as Relational Struggle: Communicatively Negotiating Cultural Discourses in Romantic Relationships

Using the lens of Relational Dialectics Theory, this study sought to uncover how competing U.S. cultural financial discourses are negotiated in people’s everyday conversations with their romantic partner. The investigation uncovered that in multiple and varied ways, participants understood money to be a major source of tension in their romantic relationships. One overarching discursive struggle animated participants’ financial talk with their partners: “money is everything” versus “money isn’t everything.” Within this struggle, participants communicatively negotiated the cultural value of money in an attempt to marginalize its power and potential negative influences on relational and economic well-being. Although money is critical in helping people meet their basic needs, this study suggests that deemphasizing the importance of money as all-consuming and omnipotent has the potential to alter couples’ financial and relational well-being.     

Immigrants and host nationals at work: Associations of co-worker relations with employee well-being

The aim of this study was to investigate how co-worker relations are associated with psychological well-being and job satisfaction among immigrants and host nationals working at the same workplace. Among immigrants, we examined co-worker relations with co-culturals, host nationals, and foreign immigrants, whereas among host nationals, we focused on co-worker relations with co-nationals (i.e. co-culturals) and immigrants. The study was conducted as a survey, of which the response rate was 45%. The participants consisted of immigrant (n = 164) and host national employees (n = 186) in a transport company (in Finland), the majority (90%) of whom were men. Co-worker relations were measured with a composite score, tapping broadly positively experienced relations and their frequency as well as the desire to interact with a defined group of co-workers. The results showed that all kinds of co-worker relations were positively associated with psychological well-being and job satisfaction. However, the co-worker relations between host nationals and immigrants were more strongly associated with job satisfaction than relations between these and other co-workers. Thus, attention should be paid to fostering the development of positive intercultural co-worker relations, as this may positively impact immigrant as well as host national employee well-being; job satisfaction in particular.     

“I Said What?” Partner Familiarity,Resistance, and the Accuracy of Conversational Recall

We examined the influence of two structural parameters on the content and valence of conversational recall. 144 females had two conversations defined by relationship type (close friend or stranger) and partner resistance (resistance or none). Conversational recall statements were coded for accuracy of content (self, partner, or neutral) and valence (positive, negative, or neutral). Overall, respondents were less accurate in recalling the content of stranger conversations than friend exchanges, and when partners were agreeable compared to resistant. However, those who experienced little partner resistance more accurately recalled positively valenced information than respondents who encountered resistance. When partners resisted, friend interactions were recalled less accurately in terms of positivity, but more accurately for negative information, compared to the recall of stranger conversations.     

Adolescents’ Avoidance Tendencies and Physiological Reactions to Discussions about Their Parents’ Relationship: Implications for Postdivorce and Nondivorced Families

A model was constructed to test the argument that when the topic of the parents’ relationship is introduced in conversations between parents and ‘adolescents, adolescents from divorced families may be especially likely to feel caught between their parents due to a need for protection (of themselves, their parent, and their relationship), which should make them anxious (i.e., self-reported anxiety) and physiologically aroused (i.e., changes in skin conductance levels or SCL). When adolescents feel aroused, we argued that they should attempt to avoid talking about their parents’ relationship with their parent. Self-report and observational data, as well as physiological data, were collected from 112 parent-adolescents dyads. The results revealed that divorce predicted adolescents’ feelings of being caught, which influenced their need for protection. This need for protection, in turn, predicted adolescents’ self-reported anxiety and changes in SCL. Unlike what was hypothesized, SCL was not associated with adolescents’ avoidance tendencies. Nevertheless, self-reported anxiety was associated with adolescents’ self-reported topic avoidance. The implications of these results, and a new observational coding scheme for avoidance, are discussed.