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Although undocumented students face numerous stressors that can lead to mental health strain, they often underutilize their campus mental health services. To identify the barriers and motivations for talking to a campus mental health professional (MHP) and to extend the Health Belief Model (HBM), we conducted semi-structured interviews with 24 Latina/o/x undocumented college students. Family communication revealed views that undermined talking to an MHP, but that were deeply rooted in culture and immigration; having to prioritize basic needs; and growing up in an environment where mental health services were unavailable. Our findings reveal important communication, cultural, and structural elements that should be emphasized in the HBM when explicating Latina/o/x undocumented students' beliefs and behaviors about talking to an MHP. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Politicians tend to try deflecting scandals. Based on an attribution theory-driven perspective on persuasion, however, politicians should proactively confess. In a preregistered, multiple-message design, we conduct controlled, random assignment experiments. A mediation model is tested. Inspired by crisis communication’s change-of-meaning concept, the first variable appraises the extent to which voters perceive that the messaging indicates the politician is engaging in a cover-up. The second linkage is the politician’s credibility. The outcome variable is voters’ behavioral intentions. In Experiment 1 (N = 905 U.S. voters), stealing thunder and apologizing outperform stonewalling, changing the subject, sequentially apologizing plus deflecting, or silence. Experiment 2 (N = 277) finds that, in a sex scandal, stealing thunder and apologizing continue to perform equally well. Our theoretical contribution resides in enhancing the explanatory power of theories designed to explain image repair, as well as empirically testing the independent and combined role of apology and stealing thunder.

Investigations of networked public spheres often examine the structures of online platforms by studying users’ interactions. These works suggest that users’ interactions can lead to cyberbalkanization when interlocutors form homophilous communities that typically have few connections to others with opposing ideologies. Yet, rather than assuming communities are isolated, this study examines community-level interactions to reveal how communities in online discourses are more interdependent than previously theorized. Specifically, we examine how such interactions influence the evolution of topics overtime in source and target communities. Our analysis found that (a) the size of a source community (the community that initiates interactions) and a target community (the community that receives interactions), (b) the stability of the source community, and (c) the volume of mentions from a source community to a target community predicts the level of influence one community has on another’s discussion topics. We argue this has significant theoretical and practical implications. Lay Summary Political discussions online, especially those in the United States, seem to range between harmonious discussions of likeminded people and heated debates that end with few, if any, who have changed their minds. Researchers have often examined these balkanized/polarized situations by studying online communities as isolated echo chambers of opinion. Our study focuses on the interactions between online communities who have different worldviews. We examine communities engaged in the global refugee crisis. We consider how the inter-community interactions influence the agenda of the respective communities. Our longitudinal analysis on the one hand confirms previous studies, namely that intra-community interactions indeed resemble echo chambers. On the other hand, we also find that there is interdependence in the inter-community discussion topics, albeit some communities had greater influence on other communities’ discussion topics. For example, larger, more stable communities command more influence.

Past research suggests that journalists can (unintentionally) exacerbate affective polarization when reporting on growing levels of polarization in society. However, is there a way for journalists to report on the realities of growing political polarization without dividing people further? In our research with five pre-registered experimental studies (N = 3,414), we develop the polarizing content warning which, based on inoculation theory, warns readers that scientific research suggests reading news content about political polarization may drive further affective polarization. Results indicate that the polarizing content warning can be used both with online news articles and on social media sites, and is able to indirectly reduce affective polarization of readers. Additionally, the polarizing content warning is beneficial both when presented alongside news content and beforehand, and reduces readers’ perceptions of societal polarization, in turn reducing affective polarization. This warning allows journalists to report on societal polarization without further dividing people.

Corporate social advocacy (CSA) has emerged to promote change on social issues in response to publics’ expectations and demands, but how different publics might respond to CSA differently is little understood. Grounded in Du et al.’s (2010) corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication framework, social judgment theory (SJT), and the elaboration likelihood model (ELM), we conducted an online survey (N = 505) to examine whether publics perceived CSA differently depending on their existing stance on an issue and whether the existing stance interacted with their attitude toward the company and news credibility. The results showed that individuals’ reaction to the CSA differed in light of their existing stance on an issue. Furthermore, when an individual's stance was undecided, attitude toward the company and news credibility were significantly related to change in issue stance, attitude toward the CSA campaign, and skepticism toward the company’s motives. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)

We inquire into different perspectives and patterns of problematizing online hate speech within the social sciences from a systems-theoretical perspective. Our results identify five different research perspectives adopted by studies on the issue: (1) systematic perspectives on problems of operationalizing (online) hate speech; (2) intentionalist perspectives on actors and their motives; (3) consequentialist perspectives on victims of online hate speech; (4) perspectives on media affordances, infrastructures, and strategies of online hate speech; and finally, (5) normative perspectives on the consequences of online hate speech. Additionally, we want to propose a functionalist perspective on hate communication and, for this purpose, develop a systems-theoretical and media-sociological framework for analyzing online hate speech. A systems-theoretical perspective connects to a process-oriented paradigm of doing hate speech. Instead of asking what hate speech is, a systems-theoretical framework focuses on how different communicative contextures empirically produce different understandings of hate communication. We will make four research proposals: We will (1) conceptualize hate as hate communication, then proceed to (2) analyze different communicative contextures, (3) develop media archeology of negation and conflict communication, and finally (4) focus on the function of conflict and hate communication for the emergence of (counter-)publics.

Attachment theory suggests that both the quality and consistency of early sensitive care should shape an individual's attachment working models and relationship outcomes across the lifespan. To date, most research has focused on the quality of early sensitive caregiving, finding that receiving higher quality care predicts more secure working models and better long-term relationship outcomes than receiving lower quality care. However, it remains unclear whether or how the consistency of early sensitive care impacts attachment working models and adult relationship functioning. In this research, we utilized data from the Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk and Adaptation to examine to what extent the quality (i.e., mean levels) and consistency (i.e., within-person fluctuations) in behaviorally coded maternal sensitive care assessed 7 times from 3 months to 13 years prospectively predicts secure base script knowledge and relationship effectiveness (i.e., interpersonal competence in close relationships) in adulthood. We found that larger fluctuations and lower mean levels of early maternal sensitivity jointly predict lower relationship effectiveness in adulthood via lower secure base script knowledge. These findings reveal that nonlinear models of early caregiving experiences more completely account for relationship outcomes across the lifespan, beyond what traditional linear models have documented. Implications for attachment theory and longitudinal methods are discussed.

The prevalence of postpartum depression (PPD) exceeds 20% in China. In this article, we unpack the coping strategies and involuntary responses to PPD among Chinese women and how such patterns are shaped by family communication dynamics and reflect distinct social, structural, and cultural contexts. Drawing upon the communication accommodation theory and the generic stress and coping model, we analyzed 661 posts collected under the hashtag #PPD (chanhou yiyuzheng) on Zhihu using the phronetic iterative approach. The analysis reveals that women self-identifying as having PPD often find themselves situated within a family environment marked by non-adaptive communication, culminating in insufficient support from their social circles. Furthermore, a significant number of these women lack effective coping mechanisms to manage PPD. Instead, they tend to stifle their expressions and needs through automatic responses, dedicating themselves to constant self-monitoring without practicing self-care. Our findings contribute to informed policymaking for postpartum support, addressing nuanced challenges encountered by new mothers in China.

This longitudinal study assessed the communication apprehension, willingness to communicate, and self-perceived communication competence for a group of participants across a 15-year span. In total, 220 of 237 participants completed the 15-year project. The data represent six time points, with data collections happening once every three years. The results show that meeting communication apprehension, dyadic communication apprehension, public communication apprehension, willingness to communicate, and self-perceived communication competence all changed across time, indicating these traditionally thought of trait-like variables behaved more as state-like characteristics. Group communication apprehension did not change over time, indicating it may be more trait-like than state like. Results are limited by evidence of poor temporal stability for the public communication apprehension, self-perceived communication competence, and willingness to communicate measures.

Participation in online support groups leads to improved health. While viewing others’ interactions is one of the major activities in online support groups and lurkers comprise the majority of online support group participants, the literature on how participants benefit from viewing others’ posts and comments is sparse. Building upon the Social Penetration Theory and the narrative persuasion process, this study focused on two key features of online support groups, self-disclosure and similarity. It tested their direct effects on viewers’ perceived similarity with the poster and indirect effects on viewers’ behavior intention through three mediators: perceived similarity, identification, and perceived support availability. A 2 (similarity vs. dissimilarity) by 3 (factual vs. cognitive vs. emotional self-disclosure) online experiment involving 280 overweight adult participants was conducted. Findings showed similarity of health status led to increased level of perceived similarity and moderated the effects of self-disclosure. Self-disclosure and similarity increased dieting intention through increasing perceived similarity, identification, and perceived support availability. This study provides experimental evidence suggesting viewers can benefit from online support groups through a narrative persuasion process.

The movement to reform dying in America promotes hospice as a model for change. Yet terminally ill patients increasingly are closer to death when they enter some 3,300 hospices. Hospice leaders blame physicians for delaying referrals and charge that delays cause hardships for their organizations and patients. Based on symmetrical theory and the coorientation model, a survey of one Southern hospice and its referring physicians was conducted to measure agreement, perceived agreement, and accuracy between the two sides on the issue of timely referral. Results showed that hospice leaders inaccurately perceive a high degree of disagreement when they and physicians generally agree on the issue.

In this article, the concept of “media lifestyles” is adopted in order to develop a comprehensive approach toward youth engagement in communication media. We explore how 503 Dutch eighth grade students with full access to new technology combine a broad range of media by focusing on their engagement with media while taking various contexts of use into account. Four different media lifestyles of media omnivores, networkers, gamers, and low-frequency users are described. Furthermore, we show how the methodology we used is able to provide more insight into how the distinguished media lifestyles were codetermined by particular media, functions and social contexts. Finally, the implications for the Uses & Gratifications theory are discussed.

Physician–patient conflicts are detrimental to doctor–patient relationship and sustainable healthcare delivery. In China, the status quo of the doctor–patient relationship is in great tension. Based on the uncertainty reduction theory (URT), the present study examined the relationship between patient-centered communication (PCC) and medical conflict, as well as the roles of perceived patients’ trust, doctors’ empathy, and expertise from physicians’ perspectives. In March 2020, 509 physicians in China were recruited to participate in an online survey. The results revealed that PCC was negatively associated with physician–patient conflicts and that patient trust mediated the relationship. Additionally, doctors’ empathy moderated PCC on patient trust, while expertise positively predicted physician–patient conflicts. Theoretical and practical implications for improving doctor–patient relationships were discussed.

Drawing upon the theory of reasoned action, the protection motivation theory, and theories of regret, this study proposes and examines three communication strategies to curb the overuse of low-value cancer screening: (a) highlighting negative affective consequences of screening; (b) providing information about diagnostic uncertainty, and (c) using a noncancer disease label. An online survey-based experiment using a 2 (affective message: absent vs. present) × 2 (diagnostic uncertainty information: absent vs. present) × 2 (disease label: thyroid cancer vs. a borderline thyroid neoplasm) full-factorial between-subject design with a control condition was conducted. A total of 612 South Korean women participated. As predicted, the affective message and diagnostic uncertainty information significantly reduced positive attitudes toward screening uptake and anticipated regret regarding screening nonuptake, respectively, thereby reducing screening intention. The noncancer label also reduced screening intention by lowering perceived severity and positive attitude in sequence.

Our research examines perceptions of emotional support messages characterized by high verbal person-centeredness (VPC) when sent from an outgroup versus an ingroup member. We conducted two experiments in which White participants (N1 = 206, N2 = 166) imagined receiving a high VPC support message from a White (ingroup) or Black (outgroup) peer. Counter to our hypotheses drawn from expectancy violations theory, both studies revealed that participants perceived high VPC from a Black peer as more expected than high VPC from a White peer. In a highly salient intergroup context (Study 1), high VPC from the outgroup predicted greater perceived support effectiveness and support provider liking and trustworthiness. Implications of our findings for intergroup and supportive communication theory are discussed.

Although sexual refusal can be a complex, face-threatening interpersonal exchange, the nuances of these encounters are often overlooked by sexual and consent education messages. To examine this phenomenon more closely, the current study analyzed emerging adult college women’s descriptions of past sexual refusal episodes to better understand how they frame their sexual refusal experiences in terms of face needs and risks, and the cultural roles and scripts are reflected in the descriptions of sexual refusal. Two primary frames emerged through the analysis: Refusal as successful and refusal as failure. Thematic characteristics within each frame are examined in terms of politeness theory and face needs, as well as the broader cultural sexual scripts that impact norms surrounding who, how, when, and if sexual refusal can occur. Theoretical implications include consideration of how the discourse of U.S. sexual consent education emerges in the findings, the limitations of politeness theory in understanding sexual refusal, and suggest alternative theoretical approaches.

Body-worn camera and citizen device videos capturing police use-of-force are shared and commented upon widely within social media. This study investigated how point-of-view (POV: onlooker vs. officer perspective) and citizen skin color (dark skin vs. light skin), interacted to affect emotional responses, likelihood to comment and share, and comment on content. A predominantly White sample watched police use-of-force videos in which citizen skin color and camera POV varied. Body-worn camera (BWC) videos in which light-skinned citizens were harmed elicited the most likelihood to comment and share. Further, experienced negative emotion fully mediated this relationship. BWC videos in which dark-skinned citizens were harmed elicited the least negative emotion, the least likelihood to comment, and less normative commentary about officer behaviors.

Several mechanisms of processing (un)familiar messages-processing fluency, message fatigue, interest, and counterarguing-are documented but studied independently, preventing a holistic understanding of how we process (un)familiar messages. This research integrates these mechanisms under a coherent theoretical framework based on heuristic-systematic model and identifies which one becomes dominant as a joint function of message familiarity and audience favorability. Across two studies concerning social distancing (Study 1; N = 412) and smoking (Study 2; N = 300), message fatigue and counterarguing were heightened in unfavorable audiences processing familiar and unfamiliar messages, respectively. Interest was dominant among favorable audiences processing unfamiliar messages in Study 2. Processing fluency was not heightened under any conditions. In models testing mediational capacities of the four mechanisms simultaneously, message fatigue and interest were significant mediators of the effects of audience favorability and message familiarity on persuasion, respectively. This research underscores the importance of considering audience favorability when studying the effects of message familiarity.

Understanding why patients seek informational and/or emotional support online is fundamental to providing patients with accurate and reliable support that is tailored to their needs, preferences, and personal situation. Based on the stress and coping theory and uses and gratifications theory (UGT), this study aimed to identify theoretically-founded profiles of cancer patients differing in their motives for seeking informational and/or emotional support online, and to compare the profiles in terms of patients’ psychological and background characteristics, and perception of health care services. Hierarchical cluster analysis was conducted, using questionnaire data from patients visiting a large Dutch health website (N = 181). This revealed three distinctive profiles, i.e., overall seekers (n = 83, 46.0%), occasional information seekers (n = 83, 46.0%), and contact exchangers (n = 15, 8.0%). Patients across these profiles differed in their eHealth literacy, with the contact exchangers being more eHealth literate than the overall seekers and occasional information seekers. The results can be used to create awareness among health care providers, web designers, and patient organizations on different types of cancer patients with different motives for seeking informational and/or emotional support online, and help them to tailor recommendations to and development of (online) sources that fit patients’ needs. Future research could further investigate the integration of stress and coping theory with UGT by acknowledging the interplay of different coping strategies and different gratifications.

Purpose This study aims to investigate the factors that affect an audience's purchase decisions on a new type of social media, namely live video streaming platforms. Design/methodology/approach This study is based on data from an online survey providing 488 valid responses. These responses are used to test the research model by employing partial least squares (PLS) modeling. Findings Three antecedents (consumer competitive arousal, gift design aesthetics and broadcaster's image) influence the audience's purchase decisions (impulse buying and continuous buying intention). Chinese impression management (mianzi) acts as a moderator. Self-mianzi, mutual mianzi and other mianzi (i.e. three subtypes of mianzi) moderate the effects of consumer competitive arousal, gift design aesthetics and broadcaster's image on impulse buying. Practical implications The findings encourage practitioners developing marketing strategies for live video streaming platforms in the Chinese cultural context to consider peer influence, gift appearance, broadcaster's image and mianzi. Originality/value Drawing on the community gift-giving model and face-negotiation theory, this study provides an integrated research model to investigate a new type of social media (live video streaming). It offers insight into virtual gifting behaviors by confirming the effects of three antecedents on the audience's purchase decisions, with mianzi acting as a moderator.

The use of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) is increasing around the world, with contemporary trends outpacing scientific understanding of the health implications. Such trends include do-it-yourself eJuice mixing (DIY eJuice), which involves the unregulated homemade mixing of fogging agents, nicotine salts, and flavorants to create personalized liquid for ENDS products. The purpose of this study was to employ a grounded theory approach to gather formative data on the communicative processes surrounding the behavior of DIY eJuice mixing among international, young adult ENDS users. Participants were recruited locally for mini focus group discussions via SONA (n = 4) and internationally for an open-ended survey via Prolific (n = 138). Questions explored experiences with the online DIY eJuice community, motivations for mixing, information seeking strategies, flavor preferences, and perceived benefits of mixing. Thematic analysis and flow sketching revealed the underlying processes of social cognitive theory to explain the communicative processes of DIY eJuice mixing behaviors. Specifically, environmental determinants emerged in the form of online and social influences; personal determinants in the form of curiosity and control; and behavioral determinants following a benefits/barriers analysis, particularly regarding cost. These findings provide theoretical implications for the role of health communication constructs in understanding contemporary trends in ENDS use and practical implications for tobacco prevention messaging and tobacco control regulations.

This study uses a three-wave prospective longitudinal survey (at 6-month intervals) to test effects of information seeking and scanning on attitudes toward marijuana among college students in Israel (N = 700). We integrate constructs from the elaboration likelihood model to contrast processes of attitude change among individuals who vary in moderators of information processing depth (motivation and ability). In addition, we test whether trust in the information source moderates these processes, and use propensity score matching to reduce bias. Results of autoregressive cross-lagged structural equation models show that scanning from interpersonal sources predicted attitudes toward marijuana among individuals who were low in elaboration motivation or ability. Seeking and scanning information about marijuana from interpersonal sources were positively associated with attitudes toward marijuana among individuals higher in elaboration motivation and ability, who had greater trust in the source. Implications for information processing models, seeking and scanning, and campaigns are discussed.

Health communicators in the United States face substantial challenges in their efforts to increase parent uptake of the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine for their children. One major set of challenges involves low levels of trust in medical science behind vaccination safety and effectiveness, pharmaceutical companies who produce these vaccines, and government health agencies who promote vaccination. We conducted a two-wave randomized experiment (N = 1,000 at time 1, t1, N = 803 at time 2, t2) to test whether messages designed to convey the expertise, trustworthiness, or caring/goodwill of a governmental source of information (the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) increased perceived source credibility, increased parent intentions to vaccinate their children, and/or reduced vaccine hesitancy. We found no support for any of the study’s original, pre-registered hypotheses. However, post-hoc analyses reveal a variety of promising directions for future work on strategic messaging to increase source credibility in the context of vaccine hesitancy. A message designed to convey source expertise produced greater perceived caring/goodwill among parents overall. Furthermore, among parents who were vaccine hesitant at baseline, a message originally designed to convey source expertise produced greater perceived trustworthiness and reduced vaccine hesitancy among this group.

Drawing on the goals-plans-action (GPA) model, we explore how individuals encourage hesitant family members to get vaccinated for COVID-19. We test models analyzing how multiple goals mediate associations between (a) perceived threat to the family member’s health, (b) anticipated resistance, and (c) participants’ political ideology, with their (d) planning effort and (e) message features. Participants who perceive a greater threat, anticipate greater resistance, and are more liberal put greater emphasis on the primary goal, which in turn predicts greater effort, directness, and reason giving. Liberal participants also place less emphasis on secondary goals, and thus exert more pressure. Theoretical implications linking the GPA model with fear appeals and intergroup communication frameworks and practical implications for families and public health campaigns are discussed.

Advertisements promoting and discouraging electronic nicotine products (ENPs) are widespread on social media. User interaction is a hallmark feature of social media sites. This study examined how user-comment valence (i.e. positive versus negative comments) influences attitudes toward counter-marketing ads, and determinants of ENP abstinence according to the theory of planned behavior (TPB). College students were randomly assigned to one of three conditions, a positive comment condition (n = 121), in which they were shown a YouTube comment section with eight positive comments and two negative comments; a negative comment condition (n = 126), in which they were shown a YouTube comment section with eight negative and two positive comments; and a control condition (n = 128). Then, all groups were shown a YouTube video advocating for ENP abstinence and completed measures about their attitudes toward the ad (Aad), attitudes toward ENP abstinence, injunctive and descriptive norms about ENP abstinence, perceived behavioral control (PBC) toward ENP abstinence, and intention to abstain from ENPs. Results indicated that exposure to negative comments yielded significantly less favorable Aad when compared to the positive condition, but no difference in Aad was observed between the negative and control conditions, or between the positive and control conditions. Further, there were no differences for any determinants of ENP abstinence. Additionally, Aad mediated the effects of negative comments on attitudes toward ENP abstinence, injunctive norms and descriptive norms about ENP abstinence, and behavioral intention. Findings indicate that negative user comments depress attitudes toward counter-persuasion ads targeting ENP use.

Walther’s social information processing theory (SIPT) and hyperpersonal model provided key theoretical foundations guiding interpersonal computer-mediated communication and modality switching research. However, both the affordances and norms for use of mediated channels have changed considerably. This essay provides an in-depth reexamination of modality switching research including how the primary predictive variables (time, reduced communication cues, asynchronicity, and rate of exchange) may still predict modality effects in interpersonal communication. Then secondary predictive variables (cognitive resource allocation, selective self-presentation, external interference, the experience of commonality, violation import, magnitude and valence of idealized perceptions, and anticipation of future interactions) are identified. Finally, given the greater likelihood of experiencing modality weaving than modality switching, a framework for guiding future modality weaving research is offered.

The Egyptian government has acquired COVID-19 vaccines from different sources; however, the vaccination rates and vaccine acceptance among the public remained low. News media play an influential role in shaping the public’s understanding of medical issues and promoting health behaviors such as vaccination. Guided by the Extended Parallel Processing Model (EPPM) and the framing theory, a content analysis of COVID-19 vaccines coverage in two established Egyptian newspapers in Arabic (Al-Goumhuria and Al-Masry Al-Youm) between January 2020 and November 2021 was conducted. Findings suggested that the Egyptian newspapers focused on the efficacy of the vaccines but downplayed the severity of COVID-19. Most articles from both newspapers did not use gain or loss frames, although Al-Goumhuria was most likely to use both (loss and gain) frames simultaneously. Specific vaccine information regarding its safety, side effects, and effectiveness was minimal in both newspapers. The differences in COVID-19 vaccine coverage between the two newspapers were limited, suggesting a high level of government control of COVID-19 related content, regardless of whether it is state- or private-owned newspaper. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings were discussed.

Children of immigrant families are placed at high risk of acculturation stress due to their role serving as a cultural broker for their family members. Communication theory of identity (CTI) explains that the discrepancies between one’s personal, enacted, relational, and communal layers of identity lead to negative health outcomes. Guided by CTI, the present study investigated indirect effects of acculturation stress on Mexican-heritage adolescents’ depressive symptoms and substance use behaviors via identity gaps. Using the cross-sectional survey data (N = 210), path analysis revealed direct effects of acculturation stress on the personal-enacted identity gap and on the personal-relational identity gap. Indirect effects of acculturation stress on depressive symptoms via the personal-relational identity gap were also detected.

The incidence of postpartum depression (PPD) among Chinese women surpasses the global average, and this disparity is closely associated with the level of social support they receive. Using Sensitive Interaction Systems Theory and Family Communication Patterns Theory as guiding frameworks, we conducted a content analysis of 705 posts gathered from the hashtag #PPD (chanhou yiyu) on Zhihu, a popular Chinese social media platform. Our findings reveal that postpartum women primarily seek social support from their husbands and mothers-in-law through indirect nonverbal and direct verbal communication strategies. They tend to receive more problem-focused support than emotion-focused solace. Moreover, the use of direct verbal communication strategies promotes potential support providers' problem-solving behaviors, while the use of indirect nonverbal strategies elicits their avoidance behaviors. In addition, the conversation-oriented family communication pattern strengthens the positive association between direct verbal communication and support-providing behaviors, whereas the conformity-oriented family communication pattern weakens this relationship. This study contributes to the applicability of the abovementioned theories in the Chinese context and provides insights for future interventions aimed at addressing PPD among women.

Using contrapuntal analysis to explore interviews with 25 women in the U.S., we contribute to understandings of maternity leave as an ideologically laden and contested experience through multilevel (micro-meso-macro) themes within centripetal-dominant and centrifugal-marginalized discourses. The centripetal discourse of Maternity Leave as a Manageable Transition (MLMT) animated leaves as restful vacations, relational experiences, and predictable processes designed to facilitate workplace re-entry. In contrast, the centrifugal discourse of Maternity Leave as Maternal Experience (MLME) framed maternity leave from a maternal-centric perspective characterizing leaves as spaces of effortful recovery, isolation, and fluid/unpredictable processes. We contribute to relational dialectics theory (RDT) by exposing the complexities and controversies surrounding motherhood, mothers’ wellbeing, and maternity leave in the United States with theoretical and practical implications. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)

The hyperpersonal communication model was used to investigate the implications of the reduced social cues in computer-mediated communication (CMC) for the production of social support messages. Participants were randomly assigned to interact with a confederate seeking help about a problem for which the confederate was or was not responsible. The interactions took place either face-to-face or in one of two CMC conditions. The results were partially consistent with the intensification effect proposed in the hyperpersonal model. Participants evaluated the confederate most negatively, but produced the highest quality support messages, in the CMC condition with visual anonymity followed by the CMC condition and face-to-face condition. Participants’ evaluations of the confederate were also influenced by the confederate’s responsibility for their problem. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)

This study uses an experimental design to examine the uncertainty-reducing effect of online dating profiles on initial first-date interactions. Zero-history dyads (N = 108) participated in a brief first meeting in the lab, where they were randomly assigned to either a dating profile (experimental) condition or a no-profile control group. Results indicated that profile viewing had an amplification effect on initial interactions. Profiles strengthened the actor effects of eagerness to communicate before the interaction, disclosure during the interaction, and uncertainty and similarity after the interaction on an individual’s own communication satisfaction with the first date. Profiles also intensified the partner effect of nonverbal affiliation during the interaction on communication satisfaction. Implications for uncertainty reduction theory and profile design are discussed.

We examined advice response theory’s (ART) propositions over time with mixed methods. College students (N = 122) received advice from a close other (predominantly White U.S. friends) and completed surveys preconversation, postconversation, and approximately 12 days postconversation, as well as essays 4 weeks postconversation. ART’s propositions about direct and indirect effects were partially supported: recipient preconversation evaluations of relational satisfaction indirectly predicted later implementation intentions and actual enactment via efficacy ratings. ART’s understudied moderation propositions were not supported when using ability and motivation as moderators, which we selected based on dual-processing logic. Qualitative analyses reinforced that participant views were predominantly favorable and unchanging. They also indicated that dual-processing might vary based on whether recipients remember the advice and factors such as problem and solution complexity, emotional reactions to advice, and ongoing discussions of complex problems in close relationships. We discuss implications for advice and interpersonal research.

Family communication patterns theory (FCPT) and family sex communication research herald openness. However, scholars have begun to question whether openness operates differently when considering the difficult nature of sex talk in families. Therefore, regression analyses were conducted to better ascertain the role of openness amongst young adults’ reports of family communication patterns and reports of family sex talk from the Family Sex Communication Quotient (FSCQ). Analysis revealed conformity orientation to be a greater predictor of family sex talk via the FSCQ, negatively predicting young adults’ reports of the comfort and information dimensions, which conceptually measure openness. However, conversation orientation did not significantly predict either dimension associated with openness, instead negatively predicting the value dimension of the FSCQ, which measures the perceived importance of the family to discuss sex and related topics. No significant interaction effects of family communication patterns were found, yet gender did appear as a constraining factor on the meaning of openness measured. Results signify that openness is operationalized within family sex communication differentially from FCPT, particularly conversation orientation. Implications and directions for future research on family sex communication conclude the paper.

Physicians have an opportunity to provide accurate and timely information about sexual behavior to individuals in their care. However, many young people, and in particular college women, are reticent to talk to their physicians about sexual behavior. One explanation for this reticence may be the fact that physicians’ implicit bias has the potential to denigrate communication between physicians and patients. However, little is known about how patients perceive physicians’ implicit bias, or to what extent it shapes a patient’s beliefs about communicating with their physician. Qualitative analysis of in-depth, semi-structured interviews was used to describe and explain the way women college students perceive issues concerning physicians’ implicit bias. Results were interpreted through the lens of Communication Privacy Management theory and revealed that participants either avoided or limited communication with a physician as a result of anticipating implicit bias. Major themes included “untangling identity and the effects of physicians’ implicit bias” and “seeking to understand physicians’ cognition and emotion.” These findings have the potential to improve communication interventions both for women college students and healthcare professionals by introducing evidence of patients’ perceptions of implicit biases along the intersection of race, young age, sexuality, and female gender in physician-patient communication about sexual behavior.

Online self-disclosure is a key ingredient of social media. Although disclosure practices may strengthen close relationships, revealing emotional problems might also intensify co-rumination. Co-rumination refers to excessive interpersonal dwelling about negative feelings that might bear harmful consequences on psychological well-being. To disentangle the relationships between these constructs, emerging adults (16–21 years) completed a two-wave panel survey that included measures of online self-disclosure, co-rumination, loneliness, and self-esteem. Based on a measurement invariant structural equation model, findings suggest that only informational self-disclosure, but not emotional self-disclosure, positively predicts co-rumination over time. However, co-rumination positively predicts both informational and emotional self-disclosure suggesting that social encouragement matters for disclosing online. Unexpectedly, co-rumination has no association with loneliness or self-esteem over time. Thus, we find no longitudinal evidence for psychologically negative consequences of co-ruminative interactions, suggesting that online self-disclosure and co-rumination may be less harmful than previously thought.

The present study employed a national sample of Americans aged 65+ years to explore social network site (SNS) relational reconnection among older adults. Nearly 60% of the sample had reconnected with a former partner during the previous year; primarily involving dormant friendships and familial relationships, but also encompassing former coworkers and ex-romantic partners. Whether a relationship persisted beyond the initial act of reconnection was related to its level of development prior to losing touch, and the extent to which partners engaged in modality expansion by embracing multiple channels of communication after reconnecting. Older adults with more developed pre-loss-of-contact relationships were also more likely to engage in modality expansion after reconnecting. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)

Although the topic of social support has received significant attention from communication scholars, the role of support seekers and seeking warrants greater consideration. We synthesize research examining cultural differences in support seeking, support seeking message properties, dilemmas of support seeking, and connections between support seeking and provision. An agenda for future scholarship rooted in dynamic systems theory is then proposed. Support seeking is conceptualized as a phenomenon that is co-constructed during conversation with support providers. Opportunities for connecting existing domains of support seeking research as part of conversations and relationships are discussed.

Loneliness is considered an epidemic in the United States due to its widespread and harmful effects to psychological and physiological well-being. Twitter provides the option of anonymity, a large audience and a space where feelings of loneliness can be expressed, and feedback received. In this mixed-methods study, based on a sample of 4 million tweets containing expressions of loneliness, we examine factors associated with eliciting feedback and types of possible social support therein. We examine feedback both quantitatively in terms of number of likes, retweets, and replies, and qualitatively by annotating its content. We apply the categorization of social support and test the applicability of concepts of directedness, person-centeredness and invisible support to a sample of replies. Supporting previous literature, we show that Twitter users with larger social networks and those who use a more positive language are more likely to receive feedback, conversely swearing is associated with fewer responses. Most common social support provided is emotional, followed by esteem and information support, all of which often include the elements of invisible support including smileys, images, and text formatting. However, there is a fraction of replies which may be considered online bullying, pointing to avenues of possible needs for intervention.

Live streaming platforms have enabled ordinary people to become sources of information online, with some of them attracting legions of viewers and commanding an audience that surpasses traditional media sources in size. What makes these live streamers achieve credibility? We examined three predictors: their expertise, their level of interaction with viewers, and sponsorship status. These were conceptualized with the aid of the Modality-Agency-Interactivity-Navigability (MAIN) Model as three distinct interface cues: authority, interactivity, and sponsorship. The persuasive effects of these cues on source credibility, purchasing intention, and subscribing intention were examined in two online experiments, with the first one being a pilot study focusing on the difference between levels of interactivity and the second one probing the combinatory effects of all three cues. Data indicate that a continuous, real-time flow of interaction most improves viewers’ perception of interactivity. Second, the streamer’s authority and sponsorship disclosure have the potential to mitigate or even reverse the positive effect of interactivity. In addition, mediation analyses reveal the psychological mechanisms by which each interface cue affects source credibility and purchasing intention, thereby enhancing our theoretical understanding of persuasion in live-streaming platforms.

Problematic integration theory is a theory in communication that deals with the processing of messages by humans. It is helpful to study challenges and their solutions in the health communication context to develop effective relationships, treat patients, and, ultimately, ensure the well-being of society. A scoping review was conducted. Three databases were searched following the PRISMA‐ScR statement without a time frame. Independent screening of titles, abstracts, and full texts was performed, and the studies selected based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria were assessed. The required information was then extracted from the studies and entered into Excel software. A total of 43 studies related to PI theory were identified in the databases. The results indicated that PI theory is used to interpret feelings, beliefs, challenges, concerns, and problematic dilemmas in five thematic categories: elderly care, cancer care, infertility, pregnancy, and childbirth care, illness care, and sexual care. Each of the papers also offers distinctive and valuable considerations for interventions such as communication strategies, coping mechanisms, uncertainty and certainty management, information management, education, training, support groups, and campaigns to improve decision-making and meet the challenges of health communication.

Guided by the revelation risk model, we conducted an online experiment (N = 400) to assess five strategies (i.e. initiate, response, third-person disclosure, humor, evidence) used to hypothetically disclose two types of sexual dysfunction (SD) – vulvovaginal pain (VVP) and erectile dysfunction (ED) – in romantic relationships of six months or less. Results indicated that relationship investment varied depending on the SD disclosed, such that participants who imagined that their partner disclosed ED were less invested than those who imagined that their partner disclosed VVP. Results also indicated that intention to continue the relationship varied depending on the SD disclosed and strategy used, such that participants who imagined that their partner disclosed VVP were most likely to intend to continue their relationship when their partner responded to a reference to their SD, whereas participants who imagined that their partner disclosed ED were most likely to intend to continue their relationship when their partner left behind evidence of their SD. Theoretical and practical insights that advance our understanding of disclosing SD in newly established romantic relationships and disclosure theorizing are offered.

This study investigates resilience processes in the context of identity-based discrimination through the lens of the communication theory of resilience (CTR). Participants enacted all CTR processes delineated in the theory utilizing both in-person and online communication when facing six identity-related triggers. Participants described how social media, virtual tools, and online communities empowered them to adapt each communicative resilience (CR) process digitally, particularly when feeling unsafe in face-to-face interactions. Utilizing thematic co-occurrence analysis, we identified relationships within triggers and CR processes, both in person (maintaining networks, productive action, and alternative logics) and online (crafting normalcy, affirming identity anchors, and maintaining networks). These findings offer valuable insights into resilience strategies across communication channels for individuals navigating identity-based disruptions. The findings also illuminate the intricate interplay of triggers, CR processes, and communication channels in response to identity-based discrimination, underscoring the need for a holistic understanding of the vital role of building resilience both in-person and online.

The current study builds on the multiple goals approach and planning theory of communication to test how support seekers’ goals and plans for a conversation with a friend moderate the association between received support and conversation satisfaction. The results of the 3-group-comparison experimental design (N = 116; Condition 1: No goals and No plan, n = 38; Condition 2: Goals but No plan, n = 41; Condition 3: Goals and Plan, n = 37), found that although plans were not necessary to improve conversation satisfaction across all types of support and goals, three unique conditions emerged in which plans and goals were important. The results provide partial support for the planning theory of communication, suggest goals and plans may function as expectations or scripts for support seekers, and offer useful recommendations for emerging adults seeking support from friends.

Using contrapuntal analysis to explore interviews with 25 women in the U.S., we contribute to understandings of maternity leave as an ideologically laden and contested experience through multilevel (micro-meso-macro) themes within centripetal-dominant and centrifugal-marginalized discourses. The centripetal discourse of Maternity Leave as a Manageable Transition (MLMT) animated leaves as restful vacations, relational experiences, and predictable processes designed to facilitate workplace re-entry. In contrast, the centrifugal discourse of Maternity Leave as Maternal Experience (MLME) framed maternity leave from a maternal-centric perspective characterizing leaves as spaces of effortful recovery, isolation, and fluid/unpredictable processes. We contribute to relational dialectics theory (RDT) by exposing the complexities and controversies surrounding motherhood, mothers’ wellbeing, and maternity leave in the United States with theoretical and practical implications. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)

A robust literature documents the health benefits of affectionate communication. The present study offers a meta-analysis of this literature to estimate general effects of affectionate communication on several areas of health, including cardiovascular, stress hormonal, stress reactivity, and mental health. We also examined potential moderators, including the type of affectionate communication and sex, while predicting that the benefits of expressed affection outweigh the benefits of received affection. We found a weighted mean effect of r = .23 for the relationship between affectionate communication and health, with differences based on type of health outcome but none for type of affection or sex. The effect of expressed affection exceeded the effect of received affection. The paper discusses the implications of these results.

This study investigates individuals’ perceptions of reciprocal relationship maintenance in their marriage over time during the Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19). Using a Qualtrics Panel, married individuals (N = 3,601) completed online surveys at four time points during the initial 3 months of the pandemic. Both the between- and within-person effects were consistent with the theory of resilience and relational load. On average, married individuals who reported giving greater relationship maintenance to their partners also reported receiving greater relationship maintenance from them, as well as reported greater communal orientation and flourishing and lower relational load. Giving relationship maintenance to one’s partner was a stronger predictor of receiving maintenance than the reverse, even though both influenced each other. Giving relationship maintenance to one’s partner was also a stronger and more consistent predictor of communal orientation, relational load, and flourishing than maintenance received. Finally, relational load in one’s marriage was the strongest predictor of flourishing.

This study examined how increased stress during the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to relational turbulence and undermined dyadic coping. Using longitudinal data, this study also explored how enacting communal coping mitigates stress and conditions of relational turbulence over time. A sample of 151 U.S. dyads (302 individuals) completed online surveys about their relationship once per week for four weeks during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were analyzed using multilevel modeling. Consistent with hypotheses, stress was positively associated with the relationship conditions that give rise to relational turbulence and heightened relational turbulence was negatively associated with communal coping. Longitudinal analyses revealed that communal coping enacted in one week was associated with decreased stress and improved relationship quality in subsequent weeks. The findings are discussed in terms of their practical implications and contributions to theory.

Recent research of healthcare providers identifies the critical role that professional identity plays in the provision of healthcare, interactions within healthcare teams, and healthcare provider perceptions of their work. However, much remains to be known regarding the role of professional identity in routine interactions for emerging healthcare professionals. This study enriches understandings of this particular issue by exploring pediatric residents’ experiences with a structured hand-off tool at a children’s hospital in the western United States. This study employed qualitative interview methods and iterative interpretive qualitative data analysis. Participants were 20 residents in a children’s hospital. Data analysis indicated that the discourses that disseminate negotiations of face can, and often do, take place during patient hand-off, as the statements exchanged between team members can maintain or threaten face and professional identity. We suggest that shifts in organizational culture and training are necessary to optimize the environment in which residents use structured hand-off. Further, the culture and practice of training emerging physicians should include attention to the important role of hand-off as a critical site of professional identity construction and negotiation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

The current study integrates communicated narrative sense-making (CNSM) theory with the ecological systems model to investigate intergenerational family storytelling (IGFS) in Palestinian families. Amidst historical and ongoing persecution, members of the Palestinian diaspora are tasked with making sense of their cultural and familial experiences. This study aims to understand how IGFS affects members’ meanings, values, and beliefs related to their Palestinian identity. Interviews with 25 Palestinians in the U.S. revealed that their IGFS was unified under “sumud” – a Palestinian concept highlighting steadfastness across generations. Sumud was illuminated through themes of shaping identity and connecting through generations. Findings contribute to CNSM theory by illuminating the unique functions of IGFS and can inform culturally sensitive interventions for communities facing intergenerational trauma and adversity.

Research on consent communication focused on the experiences and perspectives of heterosexual individuals, leaving sexual minority individuals potentially vulnerable in their communication with partners. The current study relied on normative rhetorical theory and semi-structured interviews with individuals who self-identified as lesbian, gay, and bisexual. To participants, consent communication meant engaging in a clear, verbal discussion; showing enthusiasm; coming to an agreement; and, consulting with oneself and one's partner throughout a sexual encounter. Participants also shared consent communication dilemmas that were related to the difficulties of defining “sex” in same-sex sexual encounters, heteronormative consent standards, discomfort voicing one's sexual needs, partners who were resistant to sexual communication, and past sexual assault. The discussion reviews key findings, offers possible explanations with directions for future research.

This study examined how increased stress during the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to relational turbulence and undermined dyadic coping. Using longitudinal data, this study also explored how enacting communal coping mitigates stress and conditions of relational turbulence over time. A sample of 151 U.S. dyads (302 individuals) completed online surveys about their relationship once per week for four weeks during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were analyzed using multilevel modeling. Consistent with hypotheses, stress was positively associated with the relationship conditions that give rise to relational turbulence and heightened relational turbulence was negatively associated with communal coping. Longitudinal analyses revealed that communal coping enacted in one week was associated with decreased stress and improved relationship quality in subsequent weeks. The findings are discussed in terms of their practical implications and contributions to theory.

Guided by the Intersectional Theory of Closeting (ITC), our study analyzed in-depth interviews of how international graduate student-parents (IGSPs) negotiate their new parental identity, which was considered as deviating from the ideal graduate student norms at a U.S. public research university. Findings revealed that IGSPs enacted various closeting configurations— fully closeting, involuntary uncloseting, and coming out of the closet— to conceal and/or disclose their parental identity to workplace contacts. We developed the concept of closeting labor to capture IGSPs’ efforts to achieve work and family goals including labor outside the closet to “pass” as “normal” graduate students; inside the closet as IGSPs engaged in privatized work-family negotiations often without institutional support, and inbetween the closet door as IGSPs constantly assessed the necessity to (un)closet and crafting strategies to minimize negative career impact. Our analysis captures the adaptive and transformative negotiations with normative structuring of academic workplaces and advocates for systematic changes to queer ideal graduate student norms.

There is extensive evidence that when people are experiencing health stressors, they are also coping with communication stressors. Although the literature tends to loosely classify these experiences as “communication challenges,” we propose a more defined way of theorizing how people encounter and manage communicative demands. To that end, this article introduces an Integrative Theory of Communication Work. We first surface and summarize the underlying theoretical principles that support communication work logic. We present the primary assumptions of the theory and a typology of communication work tasks, positioning them in conversation with established scholarship and demonstrating how they are supported by emerging empirical evidence on communication work. Finally, we suggest opportunities to extend research by investigating factors that make communication more or less work.

Guided by theories of communicative disenfranchisement (TCD) and memorable messages (ToMM), this study analyzes 60 open-ended survey responses detailing experiences of grief following the onset of invisible, physical illness (e.g., chronic overlapping pain conditions, autoimmune rheumatic diseases). Employing reflexive thematic analysis, we identify (1) illness-related losses that are disenfranchised by discourses surrounding grief and (2) opportunities to enfranchise these losses via memorable messages. Situated at two points in time, before and after the onset of illness, we identify disenfranchised losses as what once was (e.g., physical [in]dependence, relational connection, images of self, and trust in institutions) and what will never be (e.g., family planning and career dreams). Next, we identify opportunities to disrupt this disenfranchisement through memorable messages of presence (e.g., nonverbal acknowledgment and verbal expressions of belief) and finding the fit (e.g., physical restructuring and community connection). In doing so, we extend theoretical understanding of both memorable messages, in the form that they can take (of experience) and as points of (dis)enfranchisement, and communicative (dis)enfranchisement. This study contributes to a growing body of health communication research on disenfranchising experiences in chronic illness by highlighting a resulting experience of illness not often talked about – illness-related loss and its grief process. Theoretical and practical implications, as well as limitations and future directions, are discussed.

This activity helps students conceptualize and apply systems theory principles to a family communication context by having them create personal whole systems using paper, string, index cards, and the floor. In completing this exercise, students see how their subsystems interact and emerge as something greater than the sum of their parts. They also grasp how environmental factors and feedback loops influence change and impact growth. Finally, this exercise helps students identify the complexities and interconnections of individual and family units.

The purpose of the current study is to further test interdependence theory as a predictor of relational maintenance behaviours. The study sought to understand the relational maintenance behaviours of romantic interracial and intraracial dating partners. This study conceptualized a method to explore how equity, according to interdependence theory, is associated with relational maintenance strategies of interracial and intraracial dating couples. Participants included 133 interracial dyads and 131 intraracial dyads who had been in a romantic relationship with their partner for at least a year. Findings indicate that there is a significant difference in the use of maintenance strategies.