Do We Need to Put God into Emotional Support?: A Comparison of Caucasians’ and African-Americans’ Evaluations of Religious versus Non-Religious Comforting Messages

The current study explored whether ethnicity influences young adults’ evaluations of two different sets of comforting messages: those in which concepts such as God, prayer, religion, and faith are woven into low, moderate, and high person-centered strategies (called ‘‘religious strategies’’) and those in which such concepts are not embedded (called ‘‘non-religious strategies’’) into the messages. One hundred ninety-seven college students (63% African-American; 37% Caucasian) rated the sensitivity and effectiveness of religious and non-religious comforting messages. Several significant differences were observed between Caucasians and African-Americans in their evaluations of these strategies. Findings are discussed in terms of their practical implications for ‘‘real world’’ comforting efforts as well as the theoretical significance they hold for the concept of person-centeredness

Men’s and women’s evaluations of communication skills in personal relationships: When sex differences make a difference—and when they don’t

Abstract OnlyMuch recent research on gender and communication has emphasized differences in men's and women's communicative conduct, with some theorists going so far as to claim that men and women constitute different cultures. However, comparatively little research has assessed both similarities and differences in men and women's communication to determine whether the sexes are more alike or different. The present paper provides such assessments with respect to men's and women's evaluations of the importance of diverse communication skills in two relationships, friendship and romance. Two studies are reported. In Study 1, participants (N = 382) evaluated the importance of eight communication skills in same-sex friendships. Results indicated that although females rated affectively oriented communication skills as somewhat more important than males and males rated instrumentally oriented skills as somewhat more important than females, both males and females overwhelmingly viewed affectively oriented skills as more important than instrumental skills. Study 2 sought to replicate and extend the findings of Study 1 by having participants (N = 685) evaluate the importance of eight communication skills for either same-sex friendship or opposite-sex romances. Results virtually identical to those of Study 1 were obtained in Study 2 for both friendship and romance. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for our understanding of communication in personal relationships and the different cultures perspective

Which comforting messages really work best? A different perspective on Lemieux and Tighe’s “receiver perspective”

Abstract OnlyThis article responds critically to a recent article by Lemieux and Tighe (Communication Research Reports, 21, 144–153, 2004) in which the authors conclude that recipients of comforting efforts prefer messages that exhibit a moderate rather than high level of person centeredness. It is argued that an erroneous assumption made by Lemieux and Tighe about the status of “receiver perspective” research on the comforting process led to faulty interpretations of the data and unwarranted conclusions about recipient preferences regarding comforting messages. Alternative interpretations of Lemieux and Tighe's data are presented; these are guided by the extensive previous research that has assessed evaluations and outcomes of comforting messages

Communication skills predictive of interpersonal acceptance among college students in a group living situation: A sociometric study

This project investigated the contribution of communication skills to the maintenance of friendships among young adults living in fraternities and sororities. More specifically, three core research questions were pursued: (1) What communication skills predict interpersonal acceptance among young adults? (2)What communication skills do young adults value in their same-sex friends? and (3) What is the relationship between the communication skills people value in friends and those that actually predict success? In an effort to identify the skills most relevant to the maintenance of friendships, literatures on friendship conceptions and behaviors were examined. This review suggested eight skills as potentially important in the friendship relation. Four of these skills were affectively oriented (comforting, ego support, conflict management, and regulation) and four were nonaffectively oriented (narrative skill, referential skill, conversational skill, and persuasion). Direct assessments of individual differences in four of these skills (comforting, ego support, conflict management, and persuasion), sociometric information, evaluations of communicative abilities, measures of communicative competence and motivation, and correlates of acceptance were obtained from 208 subjects (102 males, 106 females) living in either fraternity or sorority houses. Weak and generally nonsignificant associations were observed between communication skills and indices of interpersonal acceptance. However, small, but statistically significant relationships were found between a lack of ability in conflict management and comforting and peer rejection. Students valued affectively oriented skills in friends more than nonaffectively oriented skills. Results also indicated that while the skills people valued did not predict peer acceptance, they did predict peer rejection. Subsidiary findings indicated that the motivation to communicate was an important predictor of communication skill, skill valuings, and peer acceptance. Implications of these findings were discussed

How Gender and Cognitive Complexity Influence the Provision of Emotional Support: A Study of Indirect Effects

The current study examined the extent to which cognitive complexity—a well known predictor of message behavior—mediated sex differences in the production of person-centered comforting messages. Two hundred and eight students (102 men and 106 women) representing a variety of majors at a large midwestern university participated in the study. They responded to Crockett\u27s (1965) Role Category Questionnaire (a measure of cognitive complexity) and three hypothetical situations designed to elicit their levels of comforting ability. Responses to the comforting scenarios were coded for their degree of person-centeredness (Burleson, 1984). Results demonstrated the partial mediating effects of cognitive complexity. However, the effects of sex were large and remained significant even when controlling for complexity

Communicative Characteristics of the Lonely Person\u27s Friendship Circle

The project described in this article examined several qualitative features of the friendship circles of lonely college students. It was expected that because communication is the cornerstone of young adult friendship, individuals whose social companions lacked important communicative attributes would experience poor peer relationships and, therefore, greater loneliness than individuals whose social companions possessed relevant communicative attributes