Amy S. Ebesu Hubbard

Is There Something I Should Know?: Topic Avoidant Responses in Parent-Adolescent Communication

This exploratory study examined late‐adolescents’ responses to parents’ direct requests for information about a topic that the adolescent was trying to avoid. Open‐ended questions from 119 participants were analyzed using a grounded theory approach. From this analysis, a total of 12 topic avoidant responses were found: deception, aggression, direct rejection, indirect rejection, assertiveness, disinterest, listening, terminating the conversation, discussing the topic, reassurance, crying, and discomfort. Consistent with Communication Boundary Management theory, this study revealed that when adolescents are faced with a parental privacy invasion, adolescents describe fortifying and renegotiating their boundaries, as well as creating boundary illusions. Implications for research on topic avoidance and Communication Boundary Management theory are discussed.

Intercultural Communication in the Global Village: How to Understand “The Other”

Intercultural communication scholarship is poised to be a powerful force in the communication field as well as social sciences in general. In this paper, we focus on four main areas which we hope will spur creative academic inquiry in the future. More productive efforts will move beyond the ethnocentrism that permeates current communication research and will entail a thorough redefinition of personhood. Future work will move beyond discussions of how cultures assimilate to include how other cultures interact in a host culture to sustain multiple cultural identities. Additionally, research will move beyond examining linguistic and cultural differences, to also recognize the social-action nature of communication. Finally, future endeavors will move beyond the study of culture-typed identities and question the very notion of cultural boundaries. We predict that the inevitable challenges posed by multiculturalism will allow intercultural communication studies to play a more central role as an interdisciplinary “clearing-house” within the social sciences.

Incorporating Culture into the Theory of Planned Behavior: Predicting Smoking Cessation Intentions among College Students

The validity of the theory of planned behavior is quite well established in the literature. Thus, the goals of this study were to apply the theory of planned behavior to college student smokers and to test the addition of self-construals to the theory of planned behavior (specifically in predicting perceived behavioral control and subjective norms). Current college-aged smokers were surveyed on the key predictive components of the theory of planned behavior and their self-construals. In support of the theory of planned behavior, perceived behavioral control and subjective norms were significantly related to intention to quit smoking. However, attitude toward quitting smoking failed to significantly predict intention to quit smoking. A good fit was found for a modified theory of planned behavior model with self-construals. Interdependent self-construal was linked to subjective norms, which predicted intention to quit smoking. Independent self-construal was linked to perceived behavioral control, which predicted intention to quit smoking. Further research delineating other cultural antecedents of variables identified in the theory of planned behavior is required, as well as investigation into the potential of the modified model used in this study as a culturally sensitive framework for intervention.

Managing the outcomes of discovered deception

This study analyzed strategies individuals use to manage the discovery of deception in a relationship. A sample of 210 participants completed questionnaires detailing their use of repair strategies subsequent to deception. Findings showed that the use of repair strategies differed across relational types and that the use of prosocial relational repair strategies was positively correlated with the targets increase in trust for the deceiver, the targets expressions of affection for the deceiver, and relational intimacy. Relational satisfaction was positively correlated with the tendency to use prosocial strategies. The deceivers message selection was partially constrained by perceptions of the targets attributions concerning the relational significance of the deception; prosocial strategies were correlated with the deceivers belief that the target attributed relational significance to the deceptive act.

The Communicative Value of Tattoos: The Role of Public Self-Consciousness on Tattoo Visibility

Using impression management principles, the communicative value of tattoos was investigated. The extent to which tattooed individuals will report using their tattoos to communicate to others, the relation between communicative value and tattoo visibility, and the association between public self-consciousness and tattoo visibility was examined. Tattoo shop patrons and undergraduate students completed a survey about their tattoos. The results indicated that tattoos were viewed as somewhat communicative, and as the communicative value of the tattoo increased, the tattoo visibility increased. In addition, as public self-consciousness increased, tattoo visibility decreased when tattooed individuals thought that others would evaluate them negatively. The findings indicate that concerns about minimizing disapproval govern impression management of tattooed individuals.

Conflict between relationally uncertain romantic partners: the influence of relational responsiveness and empathy

The management of conflict in close dating relationships was examined through a relational competence model. This model of competence emphasizes the need for appropriate and effective behaviors. The current study explored appropriateness by assessing relational messages that are prescriptively expected during conflict, the association between relational responsiveness and communication satisfaction, and the influence of empathic processes on relational responsiveness for couples who were relationally uncertain (i.e., contemplated breaking-up). Findings indicate that people expect their relational partners to convey messages of affiliation and non-dominance during disagreements of important issues. The results also reveal that behaving in ways that meet or positively exceed expectancies are associated with more satisfaction. This is especially true for dominance. Finally, the evidence suggests that empathy is not for everyone. Attempts at being more empathic can result in less relational responsiveness.The management of conflict in close dating relationships was examined through a relational competence model. This model of competence emphasizes the need for appropriate and effective behaviors. The current study explored appropriateness by assessing relational messages that are prescriptively expected during conflict, the association between relational responsiveness and communication satisfaction, and the influence of empathic processes on relational responsiveness for couples who were relationally uncertain (i.e., contemplated breaking-up). Findings indicate that people expect their relational partners to convey messages of affiliation and non-dominance during disagreements of important issues. The results also reveal that behaving in ways that meet or positively exceed expectancies are associated with more satisfaction. This is especially true for dominance. Finally, the evidence suggests that empathy is not for everyone. Attempts at being more empathic can result in less relational responsiveness.

Effects of Timing and Sincerity of an Apology on Satisfaction and Changes in Negative Feelings During Conflicts

Using attribution theory, this study examined the effects of apology timing, apology sincerity, and feeling understood on communication satisfaction and changes in negative emotions (e.g., anger and sadness) during conflict discussions. Sixty romantic couples engaged in conversations about recurring disagreements in their relationships. One partner from each couple apologized either earlier or later during the discussions. The findings showed that different variability existed between the timing of the apology and reports of communication satisfaction. Later apologies, rather than earlier apologies, given during conflict discussions that were completed in less than 10 minutes were associated with more communication satisfaction. Earlier apologies, rather than later apologies, given during conflict discussions that could have continued past 10 minutes were associated with more communication satisfaction. Additionally, reports of feeling understood and apology sincerity predicted communication satisfaction and apologies seen as more sincere were related to reports of less hard negative emotions such as anger, but were not related to reports of soft negative emotions, such as sadness. These findings have implications for the process of forgiveness and the mediation of disputes.

Interpersonal coordination in interactions: Evaluations and social skills

Interactional synchrony and behavior matching is a fundamental, and often taken for granted, aspect of communicative situations. The level of interpersonal coordination exhibited during an interaction can vary depending on who is talking to whom. However, little empirical attention has been devoted to determining how people interpret the degree of coordination during interactions and what skills are associated with interactants who are more or less “in‐sync”; with their interaction partners. Using a sample of conversations between members of the same and different cultures, this preliminary study examined how interpersonal coordination is evaluated and the relationship between interpersonal coordination and social skills. The findings suggest that interpersonal coordination is a desirable and positively evaluated characteristic of interactions. The results further indicate that more socially skilled communicators can help facilitate interpersonal coordination in interactions.