Communication

This article reports tests of hypotheses derived from a theory of supportive message outcomes that maintains that the effects of supportive messages are moderated by factors influencing the motivation and ability to process these messages. Participants (N = 331) completed measures of attachment style, which provided individual-level assessments of processing motivation, and responded to either a mildly or moderately severe problem, which manipulated situational motivation. They subsequently evaluated the helpfulness of comforting messages that varied in person centeredness and were attributed to either an acquaintance or a close friend. Although message evaluations were strongly influenced by person centeredness, this effect, as expected, was also moderated by attachment style and problem severity. Results are discussed in terms of the dual-process theory of supportive message outcomes.

Utilizing a cognitive appraisal approach, this study examines how acculturation affects racial minority members' appraisals of and responses to racial discrimination. Racial minority members (N = 345) completed questionnaires about their prior experiences with racial discrimination and coping responses. Controlling for participants' prior experiences with racial discrimination and primary appraisals, the results revealed that acculturation helped explain individuals' need for social support, support message evaluations, and the pursuit of disengagement coping strategies. Findings from this study provide helpful information for the development of intervention and outreach programs for individuals in our communities who are coping with racial discrimination.

This chapter describes a community-based participatory research project that embraces opportunities to augment the skills necessary to excel in an increasingly diverse workforce, especially in terms of proficiency in communication, social interaction, and technology. The Intergroup Communication Intervention (ICI) provides needed technology skills training to older adults in a community setting to improve intergroup relationships, foster positive civic attitudes and skills, and reduce ageist attitudes of younger adults. Participants build workforce skills necessary for future success as the project advances group and interpersonal communication skills across generations using technology pedagogy to bridge the divide. The ICI approach is systematic and grounded in theory. Analyses across the project’s last three years demonstrate how communication processes ignite the powerful bonding that can occur over technology. This chapter encourages future research with similar goals of using longitudinal, communication studies to enhance community, competencies, and the future workforce.

Universities are important organizational sites for the promotion of diversity and inclusion. Drawing from systems theory and intergroup contact theory, this study explains how institutional, interpersonal, and individual factors affect college students' attitudes about diversity and organizational belongingness. Survey results from 120 college students from a predominantly white institution indicated that organizational policies and resources, along with interpersonal interactions with international faculty and students, were predictive of diversity attitude, while organizational policies and interethnic contact were predictive of university belongingness.

To test a recently proposed dual-process theory of supportive communication outcomes, participants (N = 328) assumed they had experienced a mildly or moderately problematic situation. They then evaluated supportive messages varying in person centeredness, purportedly provided by either an acquaintance or a friend. Participants' perceived support availability (PSA) was also assessed. As predicted, the recipient factor (PSA) individually and in conjunction with the contextual factor (problem severity) moderated the effect of the message factor (message person centeredness) on helpfulness evaluations. Modest support was observed for the hypothesis that the source factor (friend vs. acquaintance) influences evaluations when messages are processed less extensively. Implications for the dual-process theory of supportive communication outcomes are discussed.

We report tests of hypotheses derived from a theory of supportive communication outcomes that maintains the effects of supportive messages are moderated by factors influencing the motivation and ability to process these messages. Participants in two studies completed a measure of cognitive complexity, which provided an assessment of processing ability, and reported their degree of upset with a problem situation, which was hypothesized to impact both motivation and ability; they subsequently evaluated the helpfulness of comforting messages that varied in person centeredness. Consistent with predictions, an index of message processing depth-the degree to which participants discriminated between the helpfulness of better and worse supportive messages-was associated with the factors additively in both studies and interactively in one study.

Although the demand for faculty service has increased substantially in recent years, the workload is not
shared equitably among tenure-track faculty (Guarino & Borden, 2017; Pyke, 2011). Women faculty tend
to spend more time on service activities than men, and they tend to perform important yet less
institutionally recognized forms of service like mentoring, committee work, emotional labor, and
organizational climate control (Babcock, Recalde, Vesterlund, & Weingart, 2017; Misra, Lundquist,
Holmes, & Agiomavritis, 2011). Drawing from the theory of gendered organizations (Acker, 1990), this
interview study examined how institutional gender biases impact the visibility and evaluation of faculty
service across the tenure-track career trajectory. Our findings reveal how task-oriented forms of service
tend to be more visible and valued than relationally oriented service. In addition to addressing a gap in
the literature, our study presents practical recommendations to make service more visible, valuable, and
equitable across faculty ranks and gender identities.

Colleges and universities in the United States often promote diversity through a neoliberal
lens by framing diversity as a celebration of individual differences or a commodity that
students can gain by attending their institution. In communication courses, diversity has
been conceptualized through both neoliberal and critical lenses, but limited research has
investigated how communication students define and explain diversity. The focus of this
study was to understand how communication students define diversity. We performed
thematic analyses on open-ended survey responses to investigate how communication
students define diversity. Four themes emerged from our analyses: (a) diversity is
a mechanism for unifying communities, (b) diversity is an affirmation of individual
differences, (c) diversity is a harbinger of acceptance and equality, and (d) diversity is
a disruptive force that re-centers the voices of traditionally marginalized people. Our
findings indicate most communication students define diversity through a neoliberal lens.
However, 3% of our participants conceptualized diversity through a critical lens by
explaining that diversity should create space for those who are marginalized to have
their voices heard. We conclude by providing recommendations for communication
instructors to incorporate more critical conversations about diversity into their classrooms
and foster diverging discourses about diversity across communication curricula.

integrated model of health disclosure decisionmaking. In T. D. Afifi & W. A. Afifi (Eds.), Uncertainty and information regulation in interpersonal contexts: . New York, NY: Routledge) and examines how couples experience uncertainty and interference related to one partner's chronic health condition. Specifically, a model is hypothesized in which illness uncertainty (i.e., stigma, prognosis, and symptom) and illness interference predict communication efficacy and health condition management. Participants include 308 dyads in which one partner has a chronic health condition. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Results indicate that there are significant differences in (a) how patients and partners experience illness uncertainty and illness interference and (b) how appraisals of illness uncertainty and illness interference influence communication efficacy and health condition management. We discuss the findings and implications of the study.