Brian R. Patterson

Construction and validation of a communication based emotional support scale

A review of the emotional support and social support literature indicates a paucity of instruments which directly measure the phenomena of interest. While many have utilized assessments of “strong” or “weak” links between relational partners, they have not examined the communication modalities specifically. They have also tended to view emotional support as a unilateral product of a source or receiver rather than a product of communicative interactions. In order to examine support more carefully, a unidimensional instrument was developed to measure the communication of emotional support in relationships. As tests of convergent validity, it was suggested that perceptions of emotional support will be positively correlated to perceptions of relational solidarity and relational quality. The final instrument consisted of 13 communication based items with high reliability and evidence of internal, face, and convergent validity.

The Influence of Employee Burnout Syndrome on the Expression of Organizational Dissent

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of employee burnout syndrome on organizational dissent. Two hundred nine employees from various organizations in the midwestern United States participated. Results indicated employees who report high levels of emotional exhaustion, feelings of failure, and isolation from fellow workers report low levels of articulated dissent and avoid using latent dissent. Displaced dissent did not significantly contribute to the equation.

Student interest, empowerment and motivation

Literature from the fields of educational psychology and instructional communication are reviewed to lend insight into the relationship between interest and empowerment. Theoretical similarities of these two constructs are highlighted in an attempt to argue for concept isomorphism. Results obtained from Pearsons Correlations, factor‐analytic techniques, and relationships with other known constructs (motivation) suggest that the Learner Empowerment Scale is a valid and reliable means for the assessment of Student Interest.

The meaning of friendship across the life‐span: Two studies

Details of two studies aimed at the initial exploration of friendship among the elderly and across the life‐span are reported in this article. In Study One, twenty elderly subjects were interviewed to determine the way in which they conceptualize friendship. The interview data were reduced through analytic induction and cluster analysis. Results produced nine (9) definitional clusters consisting of: (1.) Devotion; (2.) Commonality; (3.) Reciprocity; (4.) Relational Stratification; (5.) Frequent Contact; (6.) Positive Attributions; (7.) Positive Impact; (8.) Understanding; and (9.) Familial Comparison. Based on the results obtained in the first study, the second study developed and piloted an interval level instrument for the assessment of friendship intimacy. The General Inventory of Friendship Intimacy (GIFI) was factor analyzed and found to have two dimensions. The factors were labeled: (1.) Reciprocation, and (2.) Absent Dysfunction. The second study also compared elderly responses to the GIFI scale wi...

Relational reconciliation: Toward a more comprehensive model of relational development

On the basis of a developmental model of relational growth, this paper seeks to extend the model through an exploratory examination of relational reconciliation strategy use. Thirty‐six couples were interviewed and asked to describe their reconciliation experiences. Strategic statements were inductively derived and submitted to Q‐sort and cluster analysis. This provided a typology of seven strategy types: (1) Spontaneous Development; (2) Third Party Mediation; (3) High Affeet / Ultimatum; (4)Tacit I Persistence; (5) Mutual Interaction; (6)Avoidance; and (7)Vulnerable Appeals. The study finds that many of the strategies used in other relational contexts are used in reconciliation as well. However, sufficient variations in reconciliation strategies compared to maintenance / repair strategies suggest that reconciliation strategies are substantively different and may be indicative of an additional period of relational development.

Age, depression, and friendship: Development of a general friendship inventory

Recent research has yielded conflicting results with regard to the role of social activity and elderly well‐being. The current study addresses two issues related to elderly life satisfaction. First, it has been argued that previous research has focused on quantitative elements of social activity and that future efforts need to focus on qualitative attributes. To date, there has been no way to systematically assess friendship quality. In previous research a general inventory of friendship scale has been developed as a multidimensional instrument that can be used with both young and elderly samples. However, this examination suggests a unidimensional structure with face validity based on friendship dedication, reciprocity, mutual benfit, and strength. The current research also provides predictive and construct validity for a revised 12 item scale by finding that friendship relationships are related to reported levels of depression across age groups. Finally, a relationship was found between friendship stren...

Socioemotional Selectivity Theory and the Macrodynamics of Friendship: The Role of Friendship Style and Communication in Friendship across the Lifespan

This manuscript examines the relationships among friendship style and several relational variables across three different age cohorts from a socioemotional selectivity theory perspective. Participants (N = 144) from three age groups were asked to evaluate a significant friendship in terms of quality of talk, level of emotional support, and perceptions of homophily. The results indicated that individuals with discerning friendship styles had longer friendships than people with independent or acquisitive styles. In addition, older individuals were more likely to have a discerning friendship style. The data were inconsistent with any significant differences for homophily. Those with a discerning friendship style reported higher levels of emotional support than either independents or acquisitives. Acquisitives had the highest evaluations of the quality of talk followed by discerning and then independents. The results provide some support for socioemotional selectivity theory, although several limitations and directions for future research are noted.

A re‐examination of relational repair and reconciliation: Impact of socio‐communicative style on strategy selection

This study examines some of the reconciliation and repair/maintenance strategies in the relational communication literature. These strategies were compared with Bell and Dalys (1984) affinity‐seeking strategies. It was concluded that Bell and Dalys strategies could identify many of the same relational strategies with less contextual confusion. It is argued that affiliation strategies represent a true multiphasic relational communication typology that applies to the range of repair/reconciliation contexts. The study then looks at the degree to which assertiveness, and responsiveness predicts the use/non‐use of affinity seeking strategies in the context of relational repair. The study indicates that self perceived assertiveness and responsive play a role in strategy selection as well. Finally, how others are perceived in terms of assertiveness and responsiveness was found to predict the types of strategies used and not used in relational repair contexts.

A Preliminary Examination of Conversation Analytic Techniques: Rates of Inter-transcriber Reliability.

Conversation analysis has enjoyed recent acceptance in mainstream communication research. Despite successes, it remains criticized by quantitative researchers for a variety of reasons. One such reason is that, to date, conversation analysts have not felt obligated to demonstrate “inter‐transcriber” reliability for the use of transcription notation. This paper argues for determining ways to address this criticism. Toward that end, 22 participants were asked to transcribe a randomly selected segment of naturally occurring conversation. The transcripts were compared and percentages of agreement were computed for overall agreement as well as agreement regarding verbal content, pauses, overlaps, and intonation. Additionally, education level was considered as a predictor of transcription agreement. Results indicate that multiple transcribers are capable of producing similar transcripts within the acceptable tolerances of a priori coding schemes. With the exception of pauses, all transcription notations were agr...

Communication Network Activity: Network Attributes of the Young and Elderly.

This manuscript details a study aimed at preliminary exploration of the relationship between aging and changes in communication network composition and quality. Two age groups (young and elderly) were asked to recall their interpersonal communication for two days. Subjects also completed a relational assessment instrument for each person they communicated with. The results suggest that the elderly, as compared to the young, engage in greater communicative contact with their families and that the level of contact with non‐family network members is less. In addition, the elderlys level of solidarity with non‐family members is lower than that for the young. However, levels of family solidarity do not differ between these groups. Positive relationships exist between communication network contact and solidarity for both groups. However, inverse relationships were found when network composition was considered. As contact with family increased, friendship contact and solidarity declined. On the basis of these f...