Alice E. Veksler

Affectionate Communication Can Suppress Immunity: Trait Affection Predicts Antibodies to Latent Epstein-Barr Virus

The communication of affection in close relationships has been linked empirically to multiple physical and mental health benefits that are attributable largely to its stress-alleviating effects. Because affectionate communication frequently involves tactile contact of an intimate nature, however, it may also elevate vulnerability to opportunistic illness and infection, increasing the chances for immune system suppression. Using a sample of 52 healthy adults in cohabiting romantic relationships who were seropositive for latent human herpesvirus-4 (also known as the Epstein-Barr virus), the present study documented that self-reported trait expressed affection predicts antibody titers to Epstein-Barr virus viral capsid antigen complex, indicating viral replication and suppressed cell-mediated immunity.

Relational Maintenance in the Digital Age: Implicit Rules and Multiple Modalities

The present project utilized a mixed methods approach to examine how individuals use CMC to maintain proximal relationships. Nine different communication channels were examined concurrently to elucidate how frequently mediated relational maintenance is used and to examine what participants reported in terms of motives for use and avoidance of particular channels. Findings indicate that participants in proximal relationships are hyper-aware of the amount of intimacy implied by a particular communication channel and strategically engage channels to suit their needs. We propose that relationships will be difficult to maintain if people violate the implicit rules that appear to govern channel selection.

Communicatively Restricted Organizational Stress (CROS) I Conceptualization and Overview

In this article, we conceptualized a new organizational variable, Communicatively Restricted Organizational Stress (CROS). CROS is a perceived inability to communicate about a particular stressor and functions to exacerbate negative outcomes related to the appraisal of that stressor. To aid in our conceptualization, we reviewed extant literature on organizational stress and social support. We also collected open-ended data from a national sample of 354 workers. The responses to these questions lead us to specific themes about the nature and function of CROS. Finally, we propose a conceptual conditional process model with two primary propositions: (a) An organizational member who reports high levels of CROS will experience negative outcomes, regardless of reported level of social support and (b) an organizational member who reports high levels of CROS will experience negative outcomes, regardless of the severity of the stressor.

Identity Management in Interpersonal Relationships Contextualizing Communication as Central to Research on Emerging Adulthood

The idea for this issue began with a simple question—what role does communication play in emerging adulthood? Most emerging adulthood scholarship does not center on communication. At best, communication is a variable or an implied afterthought cast as secondary to larger issues of life stage and transition. Although interdisciplinary approaches to emerging adulthood are expanding, communication has yet to become part of these larger academic discussions. The radical suggestion that communication perhaps constitutes and even structures emerging adulthood centers our approach in this issue. What about this particular period of life impacts communication skills? How does emerging adulthood shape communication patterns? What is distinctive about emerging adulthood from a communication perspective? If children and adolescents are no longer allowed the kind of agency and direction afforded in previous generations, and parents play a larger role in shaping and defining behavior until emerging adulthood, it makes sense that today’s emerging adults may be lacking important communication skills. Cote (1996) situates emerging adulthood within cultural tensions between modern and late-modern sensibilities, observing that identity for emerging adults has become increasingly image oriented. Identity as image oriented directs emerging adults toward a process of ‘‘reflexively and strategically fitting oneself into a community of ‘strangers’ by meeting their approval through the creation of the right impressions’’ (p. 421). The idea that identity is a process warrants a subsequent link to communication—emerging adults utilize specific communicative strategies in order to manage their identity. Emerging adulthood thus becomes the training ground for navigating interpersonal relationships with family, romantic partners, friends, and potential employers. In fact, emerging adulthood may be the most important time developmentally for the establishment of positive (or negative) interpersonal communication patterns that continue throughout the life course. The articles assembled for this issue examine communication as central to emerging adulthood. These projects are methodologically diverse, highlighting the value of multiple paradigmatic perspectives. Our authors identified three major topics where communication plays a central role in identity management for emerging adults; relationships with peers, relationships with parents, and the use of technology. Communication plays a pivotal role in the establishment, management, and dissolution of interpersonal relationships in emerging adulthood. Arnett (2004) observes that for emerging adults, ‘‘the late teens and early twenties become a time for exploring their options, falling in and out of love with different people, and gaining sexual experience’’ (p. 73). Emerging adults are also navigating transitions from high school to college or the workforce, and as a result, their day-to-day interpersonal relationships are changing as well. Knight (2014) examines friends with benefits relationships (FWBRs) and the communication patterns that emerge in this interpersonal context. Perhaps her most intriguing finding is that participants identified communication as work—a process of constant image management wherein individuals were positioning themselves in relationship to their partner as well as in reference to their own (and cultural) expectations about FWBRs. In a different context, Kerrick and Thorne (2014) examine relational talk within close friendships, specifically noting that identity positioning at the micro level of communication is common during emerging adulthood. What these studies indicate is that much more needs to be done on conceptualizing how communication functions interpersonally as part of social relationships and, in particular, how rich qualitative approaches to emerging adult research will enhance our understanding of communication at this life stage. Moreover, it is clear that the parent–child relationship continues to play a crucial role in emerging adulthood. The articles in this issue indicate that parents’ communication exerts an important influence on their children (e.g., Carlson,

Measuring Interpersonal Liking as a Cognitive Evaluation: Development and Validation of the IL-6

The purpose of the present project is to present a conceptually derived, six-item, interpersonal liking measure (the IL-6) based on a cognitive evaluation of liking. Results from three studies with a total sample size of N = 1,959 indicate high reliabilities (ranging from .87 to .91) across studies. Results of confirmatory factor analyses are reported along with data supporting content, criterion, discriminant, and convergent validity. Results indicate that the IL-6 is both valid and reliable and is a short but effective means for accurately assessing interpersonal liking across various relational contexts.

Social Inclusion Predicts Lower Blood Glucose and Low-Density Lipoproteins in Healthy Adults

ABSTRACT Loneliness has been shown to have direct effects on one’s personal well-being. Specifically, a greater feeling of loneliness is associated with negative mental health outcomes, negative health behaviors, and an increased likelihood of premature mortality. Using the neuroendocrine hypothesis, we expected social inclusion to predict decreases in both blood glucose levels and low-density lipoproteins (LDLs) and increases in high-density lipoproteins (HDLs). Fifty-two healthy adults provided self-report data for social inclusion and blood samples for hematological tests. Results indicated that higher social inclusion predicted lower levels of blood glucose and LDL, but had no effect on HDL. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Communicatively Restricted Organizational Stress (CROS) II: Development and Validation of the CROS-14

ABSTRACT In this article, we operationalize Communicatively Restricted Organizational Stress (CROS). CROS is a new variable previously conceptualized as a perceived inability to communicate about a particular stressor within an organizational context and operationalized as having two dimensions of prevalence and distress. The present investigation presents data from two studies (total N = 918) aimed at developing and validating a measure of CROS. In Study 1, we generated and tested a series of items intended to tap into the dual dimensions of CROS with currently employed organizational members (n = 373). In Study 2, we collected a second sample (n = 545) and confirmed the factor structure of the measure identified in Study 1. We present evidence of reliability, content validity, and construct validity. The final result is a two-dimensional measure of CROS we call the CROS-14. Our discussion includes information on implementation, scoring, and potential future applications of the CROS-14.

Co-rumination and Immune Inflammatory Response in Healthy Young Adults: Associations with Interleukin-6 and C-Reactive Protein

A rich literature exists reinforcing the notion that both perceived and received social support has stress ameliorating and protective benefits both psychologically and physiologically. However, recent literature suggests that excessive dyadic negative problem talk about an issue, a phenomenon labeled co-rumination, may reverse much of the beneficial effects of social support. Healthy young adults participated in a laboratory research study exploring the associations between co-rumination and immune system inflammatory response. Partial correlations indicated a positive association between co-rumination and C-reactive protein and a negative association between co-rumination and interleukin-6 after controlling for stress, anxiety, and temperature. Discussion focuses on the means by which co-rumination may lead to negative health outcomes.

Doctor, Heal Thyself: Treatment Seeking for Stress and Health Researchers

Toward the end of my first year at my new job, I noticed that my hair was falling out. Suddenly it seemed that I needed to sweep my floors with increasing frequency. There seemed to be hair everywhere. I started dreading showers. Washing my hair meant handfuls of hair down the drain. After the third time I had to have the drain snaked, I started trying to catch the hair as it came out. Each shower was spent staring at a carefully collected pile on the side of the tub. Each time, it seemed to get bigger and bigger. I started washing my hair once a week, trying to save the precious little I had left. When I went to the salon, I dropped my head in shame as I warned my stylist that I would be shedding as she colored my hair. I watched, mortified, as she tried to hide her shock. Thick, gloopy chunks of hair coated her comb as she worked in the color—the hair literally dislodging from my head in clumps with her every stroke. Perfectly juxtaposed against the newly darkened roots, I could see the white of my increasingly exposed scalp. It seemed like there was nothing I could do to make it stop. So I swept my floors, I collected my little piles, I stopped going to the salon, and I pretended that it wasn’t that bad. At the time I was busy developing new courses in health communication, building the new lab that I would ultimately become the director of, applying for research grants, submitting work for publication, and socializing with my new coworkers and friends. I was living the completely normal life of an average assistant professor. I ignored the hair loss as medically insignificant. I was perfectly healthy. Besides, I expected to be stressed. In fact, I was relieved that my life was relatively easy. I reminded myself of how stressed I was during my comprehensive examination and dissertation years. This was nothing. Even if I was a bit stressed, I had an amazing support network of close friends, wonderful coworkers, and enough free time to pursue my hobbies. I stayed active with dance classes and weight training, and I even joined a football team. Yet by the following year, I had lost so much hair that I was wearing a hairpiece full time. I had difficulty sleeping and I was taking daily anxiety medication. Something was wrong. I began a seemingly endless tour of physicians, blood labs, and specialists. Nobody could give me any answers and I was passed around from office to office, each time with a new hypothesis concerning my condition. Furthermore, I fell victim to the all too common problem associated with poor interoffice communication. My health records were all electronic (EHRs), but since each office used a different system, they lacked interoperability, which meant that I was poked and prodded numerous times as tests were double (and sometimes triple) ordered. What was even more frustrating was that by failing to communicate with one another, none of my physicians ever looked at the full picture of what the others had found. Tests were examined in isolation rather than in aggregate, and the failure to effectively communicate resulted in numerous misdiagnoses. Initially, I was diagnosed with lupus after an abnormally high antinuclear antibody test, but the rheumatologist I was sent to did not agree with this diagnosis. He wanted me to see a nephrologist because he suspected a kidney disorder. The dermatologist I was referred to diagnosed me with telogen effluvium (a.k.a. hair loss—cause unknown), which was particularly unhelpful. I was sent back to my primary care doctor for more tests. Finally, I decided to take a closer look at my lab results. After all, these are the types of analyses I run in my own lab; surely I could make some sense of what was going on. I realized that what my physicians were overlooking (and what I was uniquely qualified to notice) was that my observable symptoms coupled with my lab results (ordered by various specialists but never examined as a whole) added up to chronic stress. Stress is defined in numerous ways in the academic literature. A commonly used definition is that stress is a response to real or perceived external forces (Hellhammer & Hellhammer, 2008) leading to a psychological and physiological reaction from the individual (Ganster & Rosen, 2013). When perceived coping ability (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984) and self-esteem (Hamilton & Veksler, 2014) are low, the effects of stress are exacerbated. The symptoms of chronic stress are multiple and varied and can include depression, hippocampal atrophy, increased susceptibility to upper respiratory infections (Kemeny, 2003), anxiety, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, downregulation of the immune system (Boren & Veksler, 2015), sleep disturbances, headaches, fatigue, diabetes, or any number of other symptoms (Ganster & Rosen, 2013). In fact, there is no single diagnostic marker of “a stress disorder” (Kemeny, 2003), and excessive exposure to stress can ultimately lead to all-cause mortality (Ganster & Rosen, 2013).