J. Donald Ragsdale

Individual Differences in the Use of Relational Maintenance Strategies in Marriage

This study examined individual communicator variables reasoned to predict the use of relational maintenance strategies in marriage. These variables were self-monitoring, concern for appropriateness, and Machiavellianism. The study revealed that individual communicator variables were predictive of several relational maintenance strategies, especially among husbands, specifically these were the concern for appropriateness subscales of attention to social comparison information and cross-situational variability, the self-monitoring subscale of ability to modify self-presentation, and the Machiavellianism subscale of cynicism. Cross-situational variability, attention to social comparison information, cynicism, and deceit also played significant roles in wives’ use of positivity and especially network strategies, although some relationships were contrary to expectations.

Personal, Moral, and Structural Commitment and the Repair of Marital Relationships

This study examined the construct of relational repair in marriage in the context of accommodation theory and presented an instrument designed to measure relationship repair. The instrument provided the following four factors derived from a sample of 239 married people: assurances, openness, time, and punishments. Based on the connection between accommodation behavior and commitment, the study also assessed the relationship between the repair factors and Johnson, Caughlin, and Hustons (1999) tripartite marital commitment construct. Factor analysis provided support for the tripartite construct of commitment. Regression analysis revealed significant associations between personal and structural commitment and all four relational repair factors. Moral commitment was significantly associated with all of the repair factors except punishments.

Measuring relational maintenance in marriage: Theoretical and methodological issues

This study was concerned with the stability of measures of relational maintenance behaviors in marriage and both theoretical and methodological implications of instability. Effects of differences of populations, types of relationships, methods of response elicitation, and sex on components identified through factor analysis were examined. Comparisons were also made between exploratory factor analysis and principal components analysis. A survey of previous research showed the popularity of a single model of relational maintenance in marriage (Canary & Stafford, 1992; Stafford & Canary, 1991) but a comparative dearth of confirmatory or other forms of factor analysis. Direct factor analytic comparisons of two datasets collected using identical sampling techniques and methods of response elicitation showed theoretically important variation in both factor structure and item composition. Comparisons of female and male responses within each dataset revealed similar variation. Theoretical implications are discussed, and recommendations for scale construction and use in future research are made.

Attachment Style, Marital Satisfaction, Commitment, and Communal Strength Effects on Relational Repair Message Interpretation among Remarrieds

This article examines the influence of attachment style and several relational variables on the interpretation of relational repair messages. Participants were 191 remarried individuals who completed questionnaires that measured marital satisfaction, attachment style, commitment, communal strength, and interpretations of hypothetical repair messages from their spouses with varying levels of equivocation. Interpretations were measured along the dimensions of honesty, competence, and politeness using Likert-type scales developed and successfully employed in previous research. Results of regression and MANOVA analyses found that, as predicted, each of the relational variables positively influenced repair message interpretation, and that attachment styles also influenced these interpretations. Results are discussed in terms of the need for relational repair research that makes use of broader predictive models and deals with both production and interpretation of repair messages.

Could Relational Maintenance in Marriage Really Be Like Grocery Shopping? A Reply to Stafford and Canary

Two things stand out in Stafford and Canary’s (2006) article published in this journal entitled “Equity and Interdependence As Predictors of Relational Maintenance Strategies.” One is an adherence to an incomplete account of how married partners behave with respect to one another. The second is an effort by Stafford and Canary to discredit our work. We1 have been targeted before (Canary & Zelley, 2000), so we were glad to be invited by Kory Floyd to prepare this response. However, our overriding view is that such a response should not have been necessary. It is not as if our disagreement with Stafford and Canary is new. The first articulation of it appeared over a decade ago (Ragsdale, 1996). It is also not as if we are the only parties to the disagreement in a general sense, as witnessed, for example, by the research of those who see marriage as a communal, rather than an exchange, relationship (Clark, Dubash, & Mills, 1998; Clark & Mills, 1979, 1993; Mills & Clark, 1982, 2001). Nonetheless, we think this is certainly an opportune moment to engage these issues. As our response unfolds, we start with Stafford and Canary’s work, as well as that of others, with a view toward assessing the “case” for exchange interpretations of relational maintenance in marriage. We show that much of this “case” THE JOURNAL OF FAMILY COMMUNICATION, 7(1), 47–60 Copyright

Asked, But Not Answered: A Second Reply to Stafford and Canary

This reply is merely the latest installment in a set of disagreements begun with Ragsdale’s (1996) study. That being the case, it might be helpful to reflect again on that article. It was an effort to extend Canary and Stafford’s (1992) study by exploring the usefulness of data collection using the diary log method. It also extended Canary and Stafford’s research by examining satisfaction in terms of expectations and gender. Neither the use of a diary log nor the study of these variables was intended to disparage Canary and Stafford. But something in that 1996 article clearly rankled. Perhaps it had to do with the questions raised regarding the instrument used to measure equity or the way participants were separated into equity groups. Whatever the case, it is disappointing that, after a decade has passed, there has been little progress on these or other substantive issues. It is common practice, especially in scientific research, for any study modeled closely after another to attempt to improve on the original. Incomplete and inadequate findings also require that subsequent studies adjust and augment methodologies. Such changes are not personal and should not rankle. Ragsdale’s (1996) study also presumed that the changes would encourage subsequent researchers more productively to address the explanation of relational maintenance in marriage. Sadly, Canary and Stafford’s (this issue) latest effort does nothing to advance that aim. So much do they seek to misdirect the reader about the substantive issues at hand that their response is replete with logical fallacies. A fundamental principle of debate is that there must be clash. Not to clash means to avoid meeting one’s opponents’ arguments head-on and is generally reTHE JOURNAL OF FAMILY COMMUNICATION, 7(1), 69–73 Copyright

Attachment Style and Tolerance for Ambiguity Effects on Relational Repair Message Interpretation Among Remarrieds

This study examined the role of the dispositional variables of attachment style and tolerance for ambiguity on the interpretation of relational repair messages. Respondents completed questionnaires that measured attachment style and tolerance for ambiguity and made interpretations of hypothetical repair messages from their spouses with varying levels of equivocation. The resulting interpretations were measured along the dimensions of honesty, competence, and politeness using Likert-type scales. Regression and multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVAs) demonstrated that both of the traits influenced the interpretation of repair messages, although in somewhat different ways and along different dimensions.

Managing boundary turbulence through the use of information manipulation strategies: A report on two studies

Abstract In two studies, participants responded to a scenario in which they were asked to imagine they had revealed private information shared with a close friend or a recent acquaintance to a third party, thereby violating a privacy boundary, and were then confronted by the friend or acquaintance. Also manipulated was the degree of privacy of the information involved. The combined results suggest, among other things, that clarity, whether in the form of truth-telling or falsification, was a preferred strategy in situations involving information of a more private nature and that privacy level and relationship type influenced truth-telling. The strategies of falsification and equivocation were found to be significantly related to these independent variables. Communication competence and ambiguity tolerance were also implicated in strategy selection.

A Profile of Those Likely to Reveal Friends' Confidential Secrets

Using Communication Privacy Management theory as a backdrop, this study empirically addresses the issue of whether personal traits and predispositions can predict the tendencies to either reveal or conceal secrets shared in confidence by a best friend. Participants (N = 375) indicated in response to a survey whether they had ever revealed such a secret to others. The survey also measured several trait-like variables shown to be of theoretical or empirical interest. Results, using discriminant analysis, suggested that a combination of several traits could successfully distinguish those who revealed secrets from those who did not. Significant discriminators included tendency to gossip and depth of disclosure. Implications of the study and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Attachment Style and Gender as Predictors of Relational Repair Among the Remarried Rationale for the Study

This study examined the construct of relational repair among remarried persons with an instrument developed to measure repair strategies used by the remarried. It utilized accommodation theory and its connection to commitment to form hypotheses, which predicted connections between the independent variables of attachment style and gender and the dependent variables of relational repair strategies and types of commitment. Multivariate analysis of variance found evidence for an attachment style explanation for the use of relational repair items but did not find the predicted gender connection. There was also a limited connection between attachment style and commitment but none between gender and commitment. Implications for future research involving direct comparisons between once-married and remarried persons and between persons remarried more than once were discussed.