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Breakups are among the most distressing occurrences in life. The affective responses to and recovery from relationship dissolution are multifaceted. Scholarship investigating relationship dissolution and the ensuing processes that follow has come a long way in facilitating a more holistic understanding of affect. These findings have driven empirical and theoretical research exploring important intersections around distress and adjustment, while illuminating the need to replicate and expand findings to more diverse populations. This chapter highlights common variables and questions in empirical relationship dissolution research including dissolution strategies (unilateral and bilateral), breakup roles (initiator and noninitiator), sex differences (reasons and roles), time (relationship length and adjustment), age (life span), and relationship redefinition (continuance or termination). These moderating variables have been studied to understand affective responses to relationship dissolution, yet they fail to fully delineate the complex structures that individuals and couples encounter. This chapter concludes by outlining and discussing gaps in prior scholarship and providing evolutionary extensions for relationship dissolution related to contemporary dating practices. The emergent lexicon of the dissolution process extends conventional metrics stability regarding development, intimacy, and commitment of interpersonal relationships. We discuss future areas for applying an evolutionary psychological perspective and offer a unifying narrative around distress, adjustment, and the moderating variables that call attention to the complex process of romantic relationship dissolution.

This study explores the friendzone, or the lexicon surrounding the nexus between platonic and romantic relationships. The friendzone situates layperson and scholarly depictions of platonic and romantic relationships. Minimal scholarship explores this common vernacular from either perspective—those that communicate romantic attraction or those that react. Specifically, this study investigates how initiators (those who communicate interest) and respondents (those who react to declarations) participate in the communicative and relational process of friendzoning. Participants ( N = 787) completed open-ended questions about their friendzone experiences, communication from initiators, reaction of respondents, and changes to friendships. This study utilizes analytic induction to provide further conceptualization and delineation of the friendzone through identifying friendzoning types, initiator communication strategies, respondent reactions, and relationship changes. Findings allowed for: the conceptualizing of the friendzone, highlighting obstacles for navigating non-normative relationship scripts, and identifying risks involved with relationship change.

The stigmatization of suicidal thoughts and behaviors often prevents disclosure to others, including romantic partners. Minimal research has examined the disclosure or withholding of this stigmatized identity, resulting in a lack of knowledge about the benefits or consequences of informing others. Participants ( n = 61) were recruited from Reddit and completed open-ended questions about their prior suicidal ideation and behaviors while in a romantic relationship. Responses were separated by disclosers ( n = 31) and non-disclosers ( n = 30) to romantic partners. After utilizing a thematic analysis, the Disclosure Decision-Making Model (DD-MM) was applied to the results to make sense of decision-making processes. The three primary themes (assessing information, assessing emotional capacity, and assessing the receiver) provide insight into the psychological and communicative progression as well as the differences that arise for each individual. Findings discuss theoretical adaptations, implications, and future directions.

As relational partners document their romantic relationships in mediated contexts, they must manage virtual relational possessions to determine what should be kept or deleted, particularly followin...

This study explores the relationship between public speaking anxiety (PSA) and Imaginary Interactions (IIs). Participants ( N = 17) were recruited from the multi-section departmental introductory public speaking course. Virtual reality (VR) as a potential form of II treatment for PSA blurs the reality between imagined and actual interactions. This study utilized a sequential explanatory approach to examine inferential and descriptive findings. The inferential investigation employed a four-stage design requiring participants to complete pre-test PSA and post-test assessments before and after VR simulations, exploring II functions and attributions. The follow-up descriptive analysis expanded and generated new understanding for the complexities of II through participants’ experiences using directed content analysis. Utilizing VR as an extension of IIs highlighted the rehearsal function, and variations in attributions for discrepancy and specificity between VR realism and artificial simulated perceptions. The implications suggest that VR provides students in public speaking environments a treatment mechanism that minimizes the cognitive strain to imagine the scene and setting of the situation, while simultaneously providing assistance in PSA reduction.

This meta-analysis compared the educational impact of the method of notetaking in the college classroom – hand written or using electronic device. The findings involved 14 studies combining 3,075 p...

When people end their relationships, they must choose which parts of the relationship to remember and forget as they prepare themselves for future partners. This memory process is complicated by the recordability and permanence of mediated messages because individuals must actively curate their virtual possessions—such as pictures with a previous partner or online relationship statuses. Using the relational dissolution model framework, this study investigated the behaviors people use online to manage the end of their relationships and how these choices may influence the way they adjust to the breakup. College students ( N = 234) were surveyed to examine how their keeping and deleting of virtual possessions are related to their post-breakup adjustment. Results suggest that keeping virtual possessions negatively relates to post-breakup adjustment. Participants who were more nostalgic were more likely to keep virtual possessions following a breakup, which mediated the relationship between nostalgia and post-breakup adjustment. The implications show how the persistence of mediated possessions has the potential to affect the breakup process as people struggle to manage their relational memories.

The study explores graduate teaching assistants’ (GTAs) perceptions of misbehaviors of other GTAs across multi-section introductory communication courses. Utilizing the teacher misbehaviors’ typolo...

This exploratory study investigates virtual environments (VEs) as a treatment intervention for the fear of public speaking (FoPS). Prior preliminary studies indicate fear reduction following VE simulations with few investigations examining participants’ perspectives. Participants (N = 17) recruited from a public speaking course participated in a virtual reality 360° digital recording simulation that carbon copied the physical reality of their classroom and audience. Before and after immersion, participants completed open-ended responses about the simulation, pre- and post-public speaking fears, and VE public speaking experience. Using thematic analysis on the open-ended responses, researchers coded the responses to understand the communicative performance experience surrounding their VE public speaking simulation. Negative-valence emotions occurred for both presentations; however, participants expressed value in experiencing and overcoming the negative feelings. Based on the anecdotal (or clinical) findings, participants reported experiencing fears similar to those experienced in physical reality as well as emotional and behavioral interventions when engaged in the VE. Additionally, a one-year follow-up (N = 6) provided a reflective process for participants to recall their VE experience and implications beyond the physical simulation. These open-ended responses offered implications surrounding emotional reaction, real audiences, and the speechmaking process. The findings suggest mitigation of audience-related fears by the presence of the virtual audience with participants reoriented to focus on execution of speech delivery. This exploratory qualitative investigation builds toward a future of optimal strategies for using instructional technologies to improve public speaking competency.

Ghosting describes a popular contemporary dating disengagement strategy that abruptly ends communication using technological medium(s). For the target of ghosting, the non-initiator, the action usu...

The history of the academic discipline of communication and the subsequent departments that followed are linked in some form or fashion to the evolution of the introductory communication course. Gi...

Course evaluations can be an effective tool for students to appraise a course and instructor; however, they can also be a communicative space for students to write comments instructors perc...

This investigation applies communication privacy management theory to examine sexual health disclosures from the perspectives of disclosers and confidants. A Qualtrics survey distributed through Amazon Mechanical Turk yielded 161 participants who disclosed sexual health information to a partner and 130 who received a disclosure. Accounts of the conversations were analyzed with content analysis to describe the linkage rules of the disclosures. Motivation to reveal or conceal, risks and benefits, and gender hypotheses and research questions were ascertained using descriptive statistics and tests of difference. Linkage rules for the majority of participants indicate that disclosures are made in a straightforward style before a sexual episode or on the day of diagnosis. Disclosures were perceived to be of above average quality and resulted in increased relational closeness. Tentative results suggest there may be disclosure differences based on privacy orientation. There were no significant differences based on type of diagnosis or gender.

Addressing student public speaking anxiety (PSA) through an introductory speaking course is a fundamental pedagogical touchpoint. The current study replicates and extends PSA research by seeking to...

This study examines sex differences in emotion word use in retrospective private and public relationship dissolution accounts through two studies. Study 1 (n = 423) found men’s use of negative emot...

This exploratory study investigates how emerging adults (EAs) experience catching feelings. Applying the Stages of Change Model and Relational Receptivity Theory, this study investigates how EAs understand the cognitive and behavior changes leading up to commitment and how they process precontemplation surrounding catching feelings. Using focus group interviews, collegiate EAs ( N = 17) define catching feelings as the unintentional, unexpected, and surprisingly desirable development of romantic feelings for another person (commonly beginning face-to-face). When confronted with catching feelings, EAs must delineate their preconditions for catching feelings and work through decision-making processes. Implications for relationship readiness, communication, and commitment are discussed.

This study examined how group members with differential levels (highest, middle, and lowest) of ability contributed to argumentative communication while facilitating a cooperative learning ...

Instructors often struggle with how to make sense of and handle hurtful student course evaluation comments. These comments can be difficult to resolve when they move from constructive course critic...

The purpose of this study is to examine relational dissolution using the technique of ghosting. This qualitative study explores the emerging adults’ dissolution strategies leading up to and through...

This study examines preservation of voicemail artifacts. Applying an exploratory approach through grounded theory, participants ( N = 52) from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk provided common reasons for retaining voicemail artifacts. Results highlighted why participants retained or deleted general and specific voicemails. Five categories, past-focused, important, future-focused, sentimental, and neglectful, represented retaining reasons. The oldest and most important artifacts represented sentimental messages. Three categories, past-focused, technological affordance, and unremarkable or undesirable calls, represented reasons for deletion. Voicemails are paralleled to mass and interpersonal communication and implications make connections between information retention, temporality, and interpersonal memorialization. Findings indicate that asynchronous communication exchanges and relics, such as voicemails, offer linkages to and reverberations of old and emerging technologies.

This study examined the current operationalization of communication centers. Surveying center directors (N = 47), day-to-day operations were analyzed through descriptive statistics and them...

This study catalogues student (N = 828) self-described fears related to public speaking. Specifically, this investigation adds to the knowledge of public speaking anxiety through an initial inductive analysis of students’ fears about public speaking and a second analysis (of different data) to authenticate emergent categories. Resulting categories included both internal and external fears about public speaking, providing meaningful implications for teaching and learning within the introductory communication course.

This study explored how fluctuations in satisfaction and perceived partner commitment were associated with stability measures (e.g., commitment, perceived stability, relational uncertainty, turbulence) in both on-again/off-again and noncyclical relationships. Participants completed an initial survey, 8 weekly surveys, and a final survey. Results suggest fluctuation in perceived partner commitment across the weekly surveys was associated with all measures of stability when moderated by relationship type; fluctuation was negatively associated with the stability measures for noncyclical relationships but positively for on–off relationships. For fluctuation in satisfaction, this same pattern was found for commitment only. Overall, fluctuation, particularly in perceived partner commitment, was not viewed as disruptive for on–off partners; rather, fluctuation appeared to foster more steady and viable views of the relationship.

This study explores extent and frequency of conventional practices in the basic communication course: speeches, video replay, and self-evaluations from 45 basic course directors and instructors. Results indicated three to four speeches per curriculum, with two prominent speech types: informative (97.8%) and persuasive (91.1%). Approximately 76% of curriculums used video replay. Self-evaluation questions (N = 254) used 52.8% open, 40.6% closed, 21.9% circular, and 21.9% strategic questions. Most frequently used questions focused on: delivery (12.1%), content (10.6%), or delivery and content (11.1%). Findings suggest pedagogical practices vary across the discipline, and the discussion offers practical applications for improving practices.

Tinder, a mobile dating application (app), facilitates the initiation of new, potentially romantic relationships and promotes itself as a social discovery platform dominating the U.S. with 1.4 billion swipes per day. This exploratory study investigates how people engage in relationship initiation behaviors through Tinder and highlights how interpersonal relationship initiation, selection processes, and strategic pre-interaction behaviors are evolving through contemporary-mediated dating culture. Participants ( N = 395) were recruited from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk to complete an online survey about their Tinder usage. The study employed descriptive statistics and thematic analysis to analyze reasons for selecting and deleting Tinder, pre-interaction processes, swiping strategies, and Tinder hookup culture. The prevalent view that Tinder is a sex, or hookup app, remains salient among users; although, many users utilize Tinder for creating other interpersonal communication connections and relationships, both romantic and platonic. Initially, Tinder users gather information to identify their preferences. Their strategies show clear implications for explicating the relationship development model and associated information pursuing strategies. Overall, this study argues that new emergent technologies are changing how interpersonal relationship initiation functions; the traditional face-to-face relationship development models and initiation conceptualizations should be modified to include the introduction of the pre-interaction processes apparent in mobile dating applications such as Tinder.

This study gathered data about communication centers and built on past investigations of how centers function across the United States. Communication center directors or individuals who oversee centers at two- and four-year institutions of higher education (N = 47) were surveyed. Participants responded to questions about center structure and configuration, logistics and operation, directorship, staff and training, and services. The findings highlight current and changing trends of centers. Overall, this study offers a summative discussion of how centers should be re-envisioned to provide broader impacts for institutions of higher education.

Grandmothers-raising-grandchildren narratives challenge normative familial preconceptions. Utilizing the life-course theory to examine the turbulence and time-disordered role orientations, this study showcases the familial development punctuated by transitions and highlights the transformations experienced in grandparent relationships. This qualitative phenomenological study investigates six grandmothers’ experiences about their unforeseen life circumstances and their renegotiation of normal age-appropriate transitions that cause them to reconstruct their life plans. Five themes (obligation, desperation, intervention, salvation, and normalization) emerged from their experiences that underscore the transformative generational structures and explore adaptive life-course trajectories.

This study examined self-awareness and self-reflective writing effects on performance in an online task environment. Participants (N = 98) were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: self-awareness (private vs. public) and self-reflection (reflection vs. no-reflection). They were instructed to complete two successive online survival tasks that required analytical thinking and problem-solving skills. Findings demonstrated that participants in the private self-awareness condition performed better after writing a self-reflection than the no self-reflection condition. However, participants in the public self-awareness condition performed worse in the second task upon completion of their self-reflection compared with those that did not write a self-reflection. Additionally, a post-hoc linguistic analysis of the self-reflections illustrated that high-performers discussed their task completion using more cognitively complex language compared to low-performers.

Research on openness and disclosure has prioritized the perspectives of disclosers and largely omitted the experiences of confidants. In particular, we contend that it is important to learn more about how emerging adult (EA) confidants perceive parental disclosure episodes and how parental openness manifests in ways that lead to increased intimacy. In Study One, participants’ open-ended descriptions of parental disclosures were thematically analyzed to reveal three dimensions of parental openness: access to information, candor, and relating as peers. These dimensions were developed into quantitative scales and employed to test a conceptual model of post-disclosure outcomes in Study Two. When EA confidants perceived that parents gave them more access to information and treated them more as peers, they reported higher ratings of disclosure quality and, in turn, greater relational closeness following the disclosure.

The current investigation explored the association between relational uncertainty and communication quality in on-again/off-again (on-off) relationships using partners’ recalled turning points. We assessed how changes between, and patterns across, turning points were associated with communication quality. On-off partners reported on up to 10 turning points in their relationship. Changes in uncertainty between turning points were negatively associated with changes in communication. Regarding patterns, fluctuation in uncertainty across the turning points was associated with more current openness. In addition, the association between uncertainty fluctuation and current intimacy depended on the proportion of turning points that were breakups.

Video continues to be used in many basic communication courses as a way for students to self-evaluate speechmaking. In this study, students (N = 71) presented speeches, viewed the video recordings, and produced self-generated feedback. Comparing student's self-estimated grades from the self-evaluation against earned grades resulted in composite scores that were organized in three estimator categorizations: under-, accurate-, or overestimators. The estimators' feedback was analyzed by new software, the Meaning Extraction Helper, to identify specific themes. The common content words that emerged provided themes that were then inductively categorized. Results indicated unique categories/subcategories for each estimator type and minor subcategory similarities across estimators. Findings discuss estimator perceptions influencing student understanding of their speaking skills.

Building on scholarship indicating that uncertainty is a fundamental component of the cancer experience, this study focuses on an understudied population: adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with cancer. Because AYAs' health outcomes lag behind those of older and younger people with cancer, scholars have recommended that the subjective experiences of AYAs be better understood. Using the tripartite model of uncertainty sources as a guiding framework, we analyzed naturally occurring messages from an online discussion forum for AYA cancer survivors. The majority of messages communicating uncertainty expressed medical uncertainty regarding the complexities of understanding treatment options and sequelae. Results indicated that several overarching areas of AYA uncertainty correspond to themes reported by other cancer populations, but that some distinctive concerns arise amid the normative complexities of late adolescence and young adulthood.

In order to develop more effective ways of helping adolescents and young adult (AYA) cancer survivors cope with cancer-related uncertainty, it is important to understand how AYAs respond communicatively to each other's uncertainty. We designed this project to gain insight into the patterns of social support that occur in response to AYAs' expressions of uncertainty. We analyzed 510 responses to posts in an AYA-focused online discussion group. Eighty-two percent of messages responding to uncertainty contained informational support. Sixty-seven percent contained multiple types of support. Among medical, personal, and social sources of uncertainty, the most typical response tended to be a combination of informational support accompanied by emotional and/or esteem support. AYAs who express uncertainty in online support groups should be advised that their posts are likely to be met with information, such as advice and referrals, which may either facilitate or impede their uncertainty management goals.

The present study explores how people use social networking sites to adjust to breakups by studying their postdissolution behaviors. We apply Rollie and Duck’s (2006) relationship dissolution model by examining how collegiate Facebook users ( N = 208) enact behaviors in breakups to extend the model to online environments during and after breakups. Furthermore, we employed a retrospective design utilizing qualitative methods to define categories of behavioral responses to a breakup on Facebook. The analysis revealed online behaviors that overlapped with the dissolution model as well as paralleled previous research into online behaviors. Results are discussed using the relationship dissolution model framework to individuals modifying online relationship statuses, “unfriending” previous partners, and limiting profile access in order to manage relationship termination.

This study examines (1) the factor structure of social networking site relational behaviors (SNSRB), (2) the association between the behaviors and relational quality and breakup adjustment, and (3) whether behaviors vary as a function of relational status. Participants’ responses ( N = 363) indicated that the majority of variance in SNSRB was accounted for by 10 factors—surveillance, managing impressions through photographs, regulating usage, maintaining shared networks/contacts, oversharing, communicating directly via private messages, posting about offline activity, relationship broadcasting, status management, and privacy. Additionally, each factor was associated with the participants’ romantic relationships such as quality of current relationships, adjustment to dissolved relationships, or relational status. This study extends understanding of how technology reflects the way people interact throughout the romantic relationship lifespan.

The present study examined how turning points reported by individuals in on-again/off-again (on–off) relationships reflected relationship trajectories. Participants ( N = 581) completed an online Retrospective Interview Technique asking them to report on up to 10 turning points. Participants indicated their commitment level at each turning point. Based on the variations in commitment across turning points, five trajectories emerged. Trajectory groups were compared regarding relational stability factors. Results suggest that on–off partners with a steady-low commitment trajectory reported less stability than individuals with steady-high commitment. Additionally, partners in the fluctuating trajectory, which would seemingly represent less stability, reported moderate perceptions of their relationships, faring better than the low-steady commitment group. Overall, findings add to an understanding of how to best characterize on–off relationships.

This single story investigation explores the ontological framework for analyzing how personal stories emerge. This analysis delineates a story told by Emma in a fashion to resemble that of audience members listening to a story for the first time. This article breaks apart the traditional narrative research approach of beginning, middle, and end facilitating a renewed focus on the role of orator and audience’s involvement. The purpose of this paper demonstrates how Emma as the orator builds a narrative while involving the audience and forces the listeners to consider the multiple paths she may experience. Showcasing Emma’s story evolution simultaneously demonstrates a theoretical understanding of how small and big stories intersect with antenarratives and narratives. The multiple paths encourage readers to interactively reinterpret their understanding of the narrative and experience antenarrative. This exploration addresses a gap in narrative research and scrutinizes antenarrative analysis applicability through a singular oral story performance.

The increased usage of online cancer support groups as a resource for health-related information and social support has sparked numerous discussions about the role of online support in healthcare. However, little is known about the role of social-networking groups focused on supporting adolescents and young adults (AYAs) dealing with cancer. The current investigation report findings from a content analysis designed to explore how AYAs use an online support group to meet their psychosocial needs. Overall, members of the community focused on exchanging emotional and informational support, coping with difficult emotions through expression, describing experiences of being an AYA dealing with cancer through language (metaphors), enacting identity through evaluations of the new normal (life with and after cancer), and communicating membership as an AYA with cancer. This study highlights the unique needs of the AYA cancer community and offers a preliminary roadmap for practitioners, and network members, such as family and friends, to attempt to meet the needs of this unique community.