I\u27m Not Rude, I\u27m Just Moody: The Impact of Affect on Politeness in Initial Interactions

A growing body of research on the role played by affect within interpersonal interaction has shown it to be a critical element in communication choices

Adolescents\u27 Avoidance Tendencies and Physiological Reactions to Discussions about Their Parents\u27 Relationship: Implications for Postdivorce and Nondivorced Families

A model was constructed to test the argument that when the topic of the parents\u27 relationship is introduced in conversations between parents and \u27adolescents, 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\u27 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\u27 feelings of being caught, which influenced their need for protection. This need for protection, in turn, predicted adolescents\u27 self-reported anxiety and changes in SCL. Unlike what was hypothesized, SCL was not associated with adolescents\u27 avoidance tendencies. Nevertheless, self-reported anxiety was associated with adolescents\u27 self-reported topic avoidance. The implications of these results, and a new observational coding scheme for avoidance, are discussed

Romantic Reconciliation as Influenced by Implicit Theories of Relationships and Information Seeking Style

This investigation examined the associations among implicit theories about the nature of relationships, information-seeking style, and the desire to reconcile. Participants included 217 individuals who were asked to recall a romantic relationship breakup that had occurred within 4 months of their participation in the study, and then complete a survey assessing implicit theories, information-seeking style, and desire for reconciliation

The importance of relationship maintenance in marriage at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic

The theory of resilience and relational load (TRRL) was used to understand the disparate impact of COVID-19 on married individuals. We hypothesized that women and people of color would experience greater stress, more conflict with their marital partners, and express more anger over time due to the increased financial hardship and additional stressors of work-family life during COVID-19. Married individuals (N = 3601 at T1) completed online surveys at four time points from April to June 2020. We found few sex and racial differences. Across all groups, financial hardship at T1 was positively associated with stress the following month, which predicted conflict and anger expression over time. Moreover, relationship maintenance counteracted the effect of financial hardship on stress, conflict, and anger.</p

Facts versus `Feelings How Rational Is the Decision to Become an Organ Donor?

Researchers are already aware that decision making about health issues is not necessarily driven by rational or cognitive-based decision-making processes. This appears to be especially true for the decision to donate organs. Although hints about what is actually driving the decision-making process are scattered throughout the literature, noncognitive factors have not been tested systematically. Structural equation modeling of data gathered from 4426 participants at six different geographic locations in the United States demonstrates that cognitive-based factors (such as knowledge about donation) are less influential on the decision to donate than noncognitive variables such as the desire to maintain bodily integrity, worries that signing a donor card might `jinx' a person, and medical mistrust

In Their Own Words: The Reasons Why People Will (Not) Sign an Organ Donor Card

This multisite, qualitative study of 78 family-pair dyads provides rich data on the reasons people cite for (not) wanting to sign an organ donor card in the context of family conversations. In this study, dyads were videotaped as they discussed 8 questions pertaining to their views on organ donation, beginning with the most general opinions and progressing to more detailed questions. Analysis of the transcribed data revealed that the most common reasons for wanting to donate organs were based on religion or a desire to help other people in need. The most common reasons cited for not wanting to donate organs were mistrust (of doctors, hospitals, and the organ allocation system), a belief in a black market for organs in the United States, and deservingness issues (that one's organs would go to someone who brought on his or her own illness, or who could be a "bad person"). One of the most surprising findings is that religion is offered far more often as a rationale for wanting to help sick people through organ donation than it was for not wanting to donate organs. These findings both support and contradict past studies based on quantitative survey data. Implications for the construction of more effective future organ donor campaigns are discussed

When Families Talk: Applying Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to African American Families Discussing Their Awareness, Commitment, and Knowledge of Organ Donation

This paper applies interpretative phenomenological analysis as a tool to understand ways African American families discuss and make sense of their knowledge, awareness, and commitment of the organ donation process