Douglas L. Kelley

Maintaining and Restoring Privacy through Communication in Different Types of Relationships

This investigation analysed the kinds of communicative acts that are considered privacy-invading, which communication strategies are used to restore privacy when it has been violated and how relationship type affects communication of privacy. A preliminary self-report survey and a pilot study employing open-ended interviews (n=43) led to the development of a questionnaire in which respondents (n=444) rated 39 possible actions on invasiveness and rated the likelihood of using 40 different tactics to restore privacy. Types of privacy violations formed five dimensions: (1) psychological and informational violations, (2) non-verbal interactional violations, (3) verbal interactional violations, (4) physical violations and (5) impersonal violations. Strategies used to restore privacy included: (1) interaction control, (2) dyadic intimacy, (3) negative arousal, (4) distancing, (5) blocking and (6) confrontation. Significant differences emerged across doctor-patient, employeremployee, teacher-student, parent-child, spouse-spouse and siblingsibling relationships.

An Investigation of Forgiveness-seeking Communication and Relational Outcomes

Therapists and theologians claim that the process of forgiveness is essential to the restoration of damaged relationships, but this possibility has received limited empirical attention. Furthermore, the role of an offenders communicative behavior in the forgiveness process remains understudied. This project first analyzed an inductively derived list of communication behaviors to develop a taxonomy of forgiveness-seeking approaches used by 186 romantic partners. These were interpreted with reference to face-management, uncertainty reduction, and rule-negotiation approaches to relationship recovery. Associations between the types of forgiveness-seeking communication and several different measures of post-transgression relationship change were examined. Results indicated that relationships recovered significantly when offending partners used behaviors labeled as explicit acknowledgment, nonverbal assurance, and compensation. Significant communicative effects remained after the effects of transgression severity were controlled. Results are interpreted as partially supportive of the assumption that forgiveness-seeking communication facilitates recovery from relational damage.

The communication of forgiveness

This investigation examined the interpersonal dynamics of forgiveness processes, by analyzing personal narratives recounting forgiveness situations. The interpersonal forgiveness process is described as consisting of relationship type, forgiver and offender motivations, forgiver and offender strategies, and relational consequences. Findings indicate that the process of forgiveness plays an important role in determining progress in interpersonal relationships. In addition, the forgiveness process was found to vary by relationship type. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Forgiving communication as a response to relational transgressions

Researchers and therapists have argued that forgiveness is essential to the process of relationship reconciliation. This project describes five types of forgiving communication reported by 187 adult members of romantic relationships. We labeled these forms of forgiving communication conditional, minimizing, discussion, nonverbal display, and explicit. As expected, forgivers recalled using more conditional and less minimizing types of communication when relational transgressions were severe. In addition, variations in reported forgiving communication were associated with relational outcomes. Partners who reported using conditional forms of communication also indicated that they experienced relationship deterioration after the forgiveness episode. In contrast, reported explicit and nonverbal forgiveness strategies were positively associated with relationship strengthening. The results are interpreted as further evidence that the role of communication behavior should be expanded in conceptual models of forgiveness and relationship reconciliation.

The nature and prevention of harm in technology-mediated self-help settings: three exemplars

SUMMARY This paper argues that in addition to the substantial benefits they provide for members, on-line support groups create the potential for harm. Qualitative discourse analysis methods are used to examine messages exchanged in three distinct groups comprised of sexual abuse survivors, persons with disabilities, and parents. Examples of on-line practices with the potential to be harmful to individuals, dyadic relationships, and the larger group are identified. Several protective practices used by these groups that appear uniquely adapted for on-line support environments are also documented. Tentative guidelines are suggested for human services professionals interested in developing on-line support groups or referring clients to existing groups. The paper concludes with a discussion of the need for more research and a caution about the ethical responsibilities of researchers and practitioners who venture into this rapidly developing context of human service work.

Gender Differences in Social Adaptation to a Retirement Community: Longitudinal Changes and the Role of Mediated Communication

Many American elders migrate to age-restricted planned communities in the Sun Belt. Women and men may react differently to these migrations. For women in particular, the use of mediated communication may preserve supportive relationships with distant persons. Men may be advantaged by relocation to planned communities with highly structured social environments. Results are reported from a 4-year longitudinal study of 255 migrants. During the study period, men reported gains in persons providing emotional support, practical assistance, advice, and help with illness. Women reported losses or no change. Consistent with previous work on long-distance relationships, women reported more e-mail contact with their children. For both sexes, the use of e-mail was positively correlated with perceived social support after 4 years of residency. For women, contact with distant friends was particularly associated with levels of emotional support. The role of mediated communication in compensating for negative relocation effects is discussed.

Losing and building supportive relationships in later life: A four-year study of migrants to a planned retirement community

Abstract Many American elders retire to age-restricted planned retirement communities in the Sun Belt, often choosing to live at great distance from supportive family and friends. The social costs and opportunities associated with these migrations are of interest to researchers as well as prospective retirees. This longitudinal study examined changes in supportive relationships reported by 255 residents of an age-restricted planned retirement community located in the Southwest. Residents reported on their sources of social support prior to relocation and after approximately four years of residence. Those who had relocated from distant (out-of-state) communities were contrasted with those who moved from the local metropolitan area. After four years, long distance migrants reported a social support deficit compared to what they had experienced in their previous communities. In contrast, local movers reported a significant increase in supportive relationships over the four-year period. These results held for a global (average) measure of support and more specific indices of emotional support and assistance with an ill spouse. However, long distance migrants appeared to be making more new friends within the confines of the community. The data suggest that, for some older persons, relocation to a local planned community might be more advantageous than a long distance move. Implications for environmental theories of aging and communication are discussed.

Forgiveness: Communicative Implications for Social Relationships

In the last decade, psychologists, philosophers, and, most recently, communication scholars generated a significant body of research focusing on responses to relational injury. Forgiveness is one such response that has profound possibilities for affecting relationships of couples, groups, families, organizations, and nations. The following essay overviews the extant literature on forgiveness, from historical understandings to more recent social science-based and philosophical conceptualizations. We specifically emphasize the role of communication in the forgiveness process and offer a communication-based definition of forgiveness. The essay concludes by developing a necessary research agenda focusing on the communication implications of studying forgiveness.

Privacy in marital relationships

The current study examines privacy within the marital context. Spouses (N=83) completed self‐report measures assessing their perceptions of privacy intrusive behaviors, behaviors they would select to restore privacy, and marital satisfaction. Overall, persons expect privacy violations from their spouses, although psychological and informational violations appear less appropriate. Less satisfied couples show a greater need to restore privacy after a privacy violation takes place. Implications for strategy selection are discussed.

Doing Meaningful Research: From No Duh to Aha! (A Personal Record)

When I received the invitation to overview my research in the lead article for this particular volume of the Journal of Family Communication, I was somewhat concerned by the specific reference to me as a “senior scholar.” I just turned 50 years old and there is an AARP card and application sitting on my kitchen table. Senior scholar? Perhaps. During my 20 years, or so, studying communication I have conducted some meaningful research and, also, have written some pieces that I would characterize as primarily common sense. This essay chronicles my experience, my thinking, and my research as I have endeavored to explore communication within interpersonal and, specifically, family contexts in a manner that I believe is meaningful and valuable to the scientific community, as well as to the public at large. I am a teacher at heart. And, as such, I am a researcher. I do not know how to be interested in teaching without also being interested in discovery. The distinction between me and some of my colleagues, who might consider themselves primarily researchers, was made clear in graduate school. I distinctly remember a discussion with my peers after one of my classes where they told me, “You do such a good job of taking complex issues and making them accessible