Leah LeFebvre

Navigating romantic relationships on Facebook Extending the relationship dissolution model to social networking environments

The present study explores how people use social networking sites to adjust to breakups by studying their postdissolution behaviors. We apply Rollie and Duck’s (2006) relationship dissolution model by examining how collegiate Facebook users (N = 208) enact behaviors in breakups to extend the model to online environments during and after breakups. Furthermore, we employed a retrospective design utilizing qualitative methods to define categories of behavioral responses to a breakup on Facebook. The analysis revealed online behaviors that overlapped with the dissolution model as well as paralleled previous research into online behaviors. Results are discussed using the relationship dissolution model framework to individuals modifying online relationship statuses, “unfriending” previous partners, and limiting profile access in order to manage relationship termination.

“The Uncertainty Is What Is Driving Me Crazy”: The Tripartite Model of Uncertainty in the Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Context

Building on scholarship indicating that uncertainty is a fundamental component of the cancer experience, this study focuses on an understudied population: adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with cancer. Because AYAs’ health outcomes lag behind those of older and younger people with cancer, scholars have recommended that the subjective experiences of AYAs be better understood. Using the tripartite model of uncertainty sources as a guiding framework, we analyzed naturally occurring messages from an online discussion forum for AYA cancer survivors. The majority of messages communicating uncertainty expressed medical uncertainty regarding the complexities of understanding treatment options and sequelae. Results indicated that several overarching areas of AYA uncertainty correspond to themes reported by other cancer populations, but that some distinctive concerns arise amid the normative complexities of late adolescence and young adulthood.

Swiping me off my feet: Explicating relationship initiation on Tinder

Tinder, a mobile dating application (app), facilitates the initiation of new, potentially romantic relationships and promotes itself as a social discovery platform dominating the U.S. with 1.4 billion swipes per day. This exploratory study investigates how people engage in relationship initiation behaviors through Tinder and highlights how interpersonal relationship initiation, selection processes, and strategic pre-interaction behaviors are evolving through contemporary-mediated dating culture. Participants (N = 395) were recruited from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk to complete an online survey about their Tinder usage. The study employed descriptive statistics and thematic analysis to analyze reasons for selecting and deleting Tinder, pre-interaction processes, swiping strategies, and Tinder hookup culture. The prevalent view that Tinder is a sex, or hookup app, remains salient among users; although, many users utilize Tinder for creating other interpersonal communication connections and relationships, both romantic and platonic. Initially, Tinder users gather information to identify their preferences. Their strategies show clear implications for explicating the relationship development model and associated information pursuing strategies. Overall, this study argues that new emergent technologies are changing how interpersonal relationship initiation functions; the traditional face-to-face relationship development models and initiation conceptualizations should be modified to include the introduction of the pre-interaction processes apparent in mobile dating applications such as Tinder.

The I’s, We’s, and She/He’s of Breakups Public and Private Pronoun Usage in Relationship Dissolution Accounts

People adjusting from couplehood to singlehood often engage in account creation in order to privately make sense of their relationship life and death, as well as publicly explain the changes to their social network. This study analyzes language style differences in retrospective private and public accounts of relationship breakups. We examined language use as it relates to the creation of accounts, breakup initiator status, and relationship dissolution adjustment. We found that (a) public and private breakup accounts contain different types and percentages of first-person and third-person pronouns, (b) pronoun use differs based on the breakup initiator, and (c) use of first-person singular and plural pronouns predicts post-breakup adjustment. Findings suggest that language style differences in private and public accounts from the same person may illustrate variations in how individuals adjust to stressful experiences.

Relational Uncertainty and Communication in On-Again/Off-Again Romantic Relationships: Assessing Changes and Patterns Across Recalled Turning Points

The current investigation explored the association between relational uncertainty and communication quality in on-again/off-again (on-off) relationships using partners’ recalled turning points. We assessed how changes between, and patterns across, turning points were associated with communication quality. On-off partners reported on up to 10 turning points in their relationship. Changes in uncertainty between turning points were negatively associated with changes in communication. Regarding patterns, fluctuation in uncertainty across the turning points was associated with more current openness. In addition, the association between uncertainty fluctuation and current intimacy depended on the proportion of turning points that were breakups.

Social Networking Site Behaviors Across the Relational Lifespan: Measurement and Association With Relationship Escalation and De-escalation:

This study examines (1) the factor structure of social networking site relational behaviors (SNSRB), (2) the association between the behaviors and relational quality and breakup adjustment, and (3) whether behaviors vary as a function of relational status. Participants’ responses (N = 363) indicated that the majority of variance in SNSRB was accounted for by 10 factors—surveillance, managing impressions through photographs, regulating usage, maintaining shared networks/contacts, oversharing, communicating directly via private messages, posting about offline activity, relationship broadcasting, status management, and privacy. Additionally, each factor was associated with the participants’ romantic relationships such as quality of current relationships, adjustment to dissolved relationships, or relational status. This study extends understanding of how technology reflects the way people interact throughout the romantic relationship lifespan.

Emerging adult confidants’ judgments of parental openness: disclosure quality and post-disclosure relational closeness

ABSTRACT Research on openness and disclosure has prioritized the perspectives of disclosers and largely omitted the experiences of confidants. In particular, we contend that it is important to learn more about how emerging adult (EA) confidants perceive parental disclosure episodes and how parental openness manifests in ways that lead to increased intimacy. In Study One, participants’ open-ended descriptions of parental disclosures were thematically analyzed to reveal three dimensions of parental openness: access to information, candor, and relating as peers. These dimensions were developed into quantitative scales and employed to test a conceptual model of post-disclosure outcomes in Study Two. When EA confidants perceived that parents gave them more access to information and treated them more as peers, they reported higher ratings of disclosure quality and, in turn, greater relational closeness following the disclosure.

Adaptations to Traditional Familial Roles: Examining the Challenges of Grandmothers’ Counterlife Transitions

ABSTRACT Grandmothers-raising-grandchildren narratives challenge normative familial preconceptions. Utilizing the life-course theory to examine the turbulence and time-disordered role orientations, this study showcases the familial development punctuated by transitions and highlights the transformations experienced in grandparent relationships. This qualitative phenomenological study investigates six grandmothers’ experiences about their unforeseen life circumstances and their renegotiation of normal age-appropriate transitions that cause them to reconstruct their life plans. Five themes (obligation, desperation, intervention, salvation, and normalization) emerged from their experiences that underscore the transformative generational structures and explore adaptive life-course trajectories.

The communication center at U.S. colleges and universities: a descriptive overview II

ABSTRACT This study gathered data about communication centers and built on past investigations of how centers function across the United States. Communication center directors or individuals who oversee centers at two- and four-year institutions of higher education (N = 47) were surveyed. Participants responded to questions about center structure and configuration, logistics and operation, directorship, staff and training, and services. The findings highlight current and changing trends of centers. Overall, this study offers a summative discussion of how centers should be re-envisioned to provide broader impacts for institutions of higher education.

The Effects of Self-Awareness and Self-Reflective Writing on Online Task Performance

This study examined self-awareness and self-reflective writing effects on performance in an online task environment. Participants (N = 98) were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: self-awareness (private vs. public) and self-reflection (reflection vs. no-reflection). They were instructed to complete two successive online survival tasks that required analytical thinking and problem-solving skills. Findings demonstrated that participants in the private self-awareness condition performed better after writing a self-reflection than the no self-reflection condition. However, participants in the public self-awareness condition performed worse in the second task upon completion of their self-reflection compared with those that did not write a self-reflection. Additionally, a post-hoc linguistic analysis of the self-reflections illustrated that high-performers discussed their task completion using more cognitively complex language compared to low-performers.