This study examined the influence of the social networking site Facebook and face-to-face support networks on depression among (N = 361) college students. The authors used the Relational Health Communication Competence Model as a framework for examining the influence of communication competence on social support network satisfaction and depression. Moreover, they examined the influence of interpersonal and social integrative motives as exogenous variables. On the basis of previous work, the authors propose and test a theoretical model using structural equation modeling. The results indicated empirical support for the model, with interpersonal motives predicting increased face-to-face and computer-mediated competence, increased social support satisfaction with face-to-face and Facebook support, and lower depression scores. The implications of the findings for theory, key limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.

An experiment examined how veracity, modality, and experimenter sanctioning of deception influenced credibility assessments made by professionals who conducted interviews face-to-face (FtF) or by video conference (VC). Participants (N = 243) completed a trivia game with a confederate who encouraged cheating. Some lies were sanctioned by the experimenter and others were unsanctioned. The professional interviewers educed a high number of confessions in the sanctioned (58%) and unsanctioned (79%) lie conditions. Overall accuracy of the interviewers ranged from 45% to 67%. Interviewers were more accurate when judging veracity FtF than in VC. Those in the deceptive VC conditions (especially sanctioned liars) were rated by interviewers as more dominant, involved, relaxed, and active than those in the FtF condition, revealing that modality affected deceivers' demeanor.

Drawing upon Kreps's (1988) Relational Health Communication Competence Model (RHCCM), this study examined the effect of perceived communication competence on perceived stress and subsequently perceived job burnout. In addition, the role of social support satisfaction as a potential mediator between perceived communication competence and perceived stress was explored. The extended RHCCM was proposed and tested in a survey of 221 health care workers from three Veterans Administration hospitals in the United States. The model was tested by structural equation modeling. The results indicated support for the extended model. The implications of the findings for the extended RHCCM are discussed along with limitations of the study and directions for future research.

Recent acts of violence have demonstrated the impact of violent ideological groups worldwide. However, the systematic study of these groups is somewhat limited. The Internet is a valuable tool for investigating ideological group behavior because it is easily accessible and commonly used by these groups. This study attempted to extend previous research by examining online message boards to assess processes particular to ideological group membership. A content analysis was conducted on several group process variables using 29 groups with message boards. A Kruskal‐Wallis test with follow‐up pairwise comparisons was used to find that violent ideological groups differed from nonviolent ideological and nonviolent nonideological groups on 7 group process variables and 3 content variables. Implications are discussed.

This study uses structural equation modeling to investigate several predictors of hospital system satisfaction. Drawing on Street's ecological perspective, the researchers explore several individual, provider-patient interaction, and system perceptions and expectations, test a model of hospital system satisfaction, and discuss the implications of the structural equation modeling analysis. Specifically, it was hypothesized that individuals who rated themselves as having high self-efficacy would report higher levels of patient satisfaction than individuals who reported lower self-efficacy scores. In addition, it was hypothesized that patient perceptions of physician affirming nonverbal behavior and patient expectations, as well as the amount of time the patient must wait, will likely affect physician credibility. Last, patient perceptions of physician credibility and patient satisfaction were hypothesized to ultimately affect overall patient satisfaction with the health system. The results indicate partial support for the model. The implications of the findings for Street's model and the limitations of this study are discussed.