This investigation tested a theoretical model of communication behavior with specificFacebook friends, such that attitudes toward (a) online self-disclosure, and (b) online social connection, predict Facebook communication frequency and, in turn, relational closeness. Participants included both undergraduates and older adults. Results generally supported the model, with the interaction effect between self-disclosure and social connection directly predicting Facebook communication and indirectly predicting relational closeness. For both dependent variables, online social connection was a positive predictor at low and moderate levels of online self-disclosure, but high levels reduced the association to nonsignificance. One implication of these results was that high-warrant information may discourage those with social anxiety from social network site communication.

No abstract

No abstract

Abstract:This study examined the relationship between relational quality and media use in interpersonal relationships. In addition, the impacts of other potentially important variables such as sex and relationship type of participants and their partners were explored. College student participants focused on interaction experiences with an acquaintance, friend, romantic partner, or family member. Questions addressed the sex of relational partners, how much of participants' total communication with relational partners is conducted in each of three media (i.e., face-to-face, phone, and internet), and the quality of relationships.Results indicated that participant sex and partner sex did not affect reported media use, whereas relationship type had significant effects on the extent to which face-to-face and telephone communication were used. Specifically, among the college students studied, face-to-face communication was used least with family members and the telephone was used most with family members. Relationships with acquaintances had the lowest relational quality and romantic relationships, while closer, were less satisfying than either family or friendship relationships. Same-sex relationships were perceived as more satisfying than cross-sex relationships. Finally, media use did not predict relational closeness or satisfaction. Results are discussed in light of previous research on mediated interpersonal communication and conceptualizations of the role of communication technology in one's social life are highlighted.Key Words: relational quality, relational satisfaction, relational closeness, media use, relationship type, sex Baym, N., Zhang, Y. B., . Relational quality and media use in interpersonal relationships. New Media & Society, 9, 735-752. Publisher's official version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1461444807080339, Open Access version: http://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/dspace/. 2 Text of paper:Relational Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Adrianne Kunkel, Department of Communication Studies, 102 Bailey Hall, 1440 Jayhawk Blvd., University of Kansas, Lawrence, Email: adkunkel@ku.edu). . Relational quality and media use in interpersonal relationships. New Media & Society, 9, 735-752. Publisher's official version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1461444807080339, Open Access version: http://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/dspace/. 3With the proliferation of the internet and mobile telephones, communication in interpersonal relationships is increasingly mediated by technology. Questions about whether mediation enhances or detracts from relational quality are thus increasingly relevant. Although research findings have been mixed (e.g. Walther, 1996), both scholarly research and popular perception have held that computers are a nonverbally-impoverished "lean" medium (Daft & Lengel, 1984), which makes it challenging to create a sense of social presence (Short, Williams, & Christie, 1976) and convey the interpersonal cues so important to creating and maintaining emotional closeness. Accordingly, much rese...

In this study, demand/withdraw patterns and feeling caught were tested as mediators of family communication patterns and young adults' mental well-being. Participants included 567 young adults from divorced and nondivorced families. For young adults in nondivorced families, family conversation orientations had both a positive, direct effect on mental well-being and an indirect effect on well-being through witnessing marital demand/withdraw patterns and feeling caught. For young adults in divorced families, however, conversation orientations had only a direct, positive effect on wellbeing, whereas conformity orientations had a negative, indirect effect through witnessing demand/withdraw patterns. Interestingly, respondents from divorced families reported more feelings of being caught between their parents, yet such feelings predicted diminished well-being only for respondents from nondivorced families.

In this study, both face-to-face and online relational maintenance behaviors were tested as mediators of family communication patterns and closeness with a same-sex friend. Participants included 417 young adults recruited from communication courses at a large university in the Midwestern United States. The obtained structural model demonstrated that family communication patterns are associated with friendship closeness though face-to-face and online maintenance behaviors fully mediate this association. Specifically, young adults from high-conversation-orientation families engage in more face-to-face maintenance behaviors, which are positively associated with friendship closeness. These findings inform understanding of how family communication patterns influence extrafamilial relationships, suggesting that parents' cognitions and communication behaviors are associated with children's social well-being.

This study used psychological reactance theory (PRT) to investigate (a) the effectiveness of 2 message features (freedom-threatening language and character frame) and (b) the role of trait reactance and issue involvement as moderators of a perceived freedom threat. Within the context of organ donation, the results indicated no differences for character frame among the donor, recipient, or waiting list narratives. However, freedom-threatening language was positively associated with a perceived freedom threat. In turn, a perceived freedom threat was positively associated with state reactance, which was inversely, albeit nonsignificantly, associated with organ donation attitudes. Attitudes predicted intentions to be an organ donor. Results also revealed that trait reactance was positively associated with a perceived freedom threat. Although not associated with a freedom threat, issue involvement was positively associated with organ donation attitudes and intent to be a donor. Additionally, a trait reactance by issue involvement by freedom-threatening language interaction predicted a perceived freedom threat. Results are discussed with an emphasis on these moderators in PRT.

In this study we examined family conversation and conformity orientations as mediators of the association between young adults' perceptions of their parents' communication competence and their own self-reported communication competence. Participants included 417 young adult children from the United States. Although measurement invariance was established for both sons and daughters, separate models were tested to account for significant differences in correlations between both groups. For daughters, the association between perceptions of parents' communication competence and their own competence was fully mediated by conversation orientations. For sons, conversation orientations only partially mediated the effects of parental communication competence. Conformity orientations did not emerge as a significant predictor of young adults' competence, although perceptions of mothers' competence were an inverse predictor of family conformity. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships