This study investigates the influence of copresent smartphone use and presence on conflict interactions. Sixty-four dating couples (N = 128) completed one 10-minute in-person serial argument conversation. Dyads were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (a) smartphones absent, (b) smartphone used by one participant, or (c) smartphone present but not used. Results indicate that copresent smartphone use - but not the presence of an unused smartphone - during conflict is more dissatisfying than conflict conversations absent of smartphones overall and at one-minute measurements. Also, perceived technological interference - but not the amount of phone use - was associated with lower ratings of conversation satisfaction. These findings suggest that copresent smartphone use is more problematic than smartphone presence, and perceptions of smartphone use may explain how and why copresent smartphone use may erode conversation quality.

The association between computer-mediated communication (CMC) and well-being is a complex, consequential, and hotly debated topic that has received significant attention from pundits, researchers, and the media. Conflicting research findings and fear over negative outcomes have spurred both moral panic and further research into these associations. To create a more comprehensive picture of trends, explanations, and future directions in this domain of research, we conducted a systematic meso-level review of 366 studies across 349 articles published since 2007 that report associations between CMC and well-being. Although most of this research is not explicitly theoretical, several potential theoretical mechanisms for positive and negative effects of CMC on well-being are utilized. The heterogeneity of effects in the studies we reviewed could be explained by the discipline in which the research is conducted, the methodology used, the types of CMC and well-being examined, and the population studied. Our evaluation of this body of research highlights the importance of attending to how we conceptualize communication and well-being, the questions we ask, and the populations and contexts we study when both reading and producing research on CMC and well-being.

Abstract Conflict is a common experience in families. Although conflicts can be intense, most conflicts in families are about mundane issues such as housework, social life, schoolwork, or hygiene. Families’ negotiations over even such mundane topics, however, have important implications. Through conflicts with other family members, children typically first learn about managing difficulties with others, and the skills they learn in such conflicts are important to their social lives beyond their families. Yet poorly managed conflicts that become more intense or personal can undermine the well-being of families and family members. Family conflicts are extremely complex, and understanding them requires analysis at multiple levels, including examining the individual family members, dyads and larger groups within the family, and the sociocultural context in which families are embedded. At the individual level, family members’ conflict behaviors (e.g., exhibiting positive affect vs. negative affect), conflict skills (e.g., whether they are able to resolve problems), and cognitions (e.g., whether they make generous attributions about other family members' intent during disputes) all are important for understanding the impact of family conflicts. Examining conflict from the dyadic and polyadic levels recognizes that there are important features of conflict that are only apparent with a broader perspective. Dyadic and polyadic constructs include patterns of behavior, conflict outcomes that apply to all family members involved, and beliefs shared by family members. There are also particular types of relationships within families that have salient conflicts which have drawn considerable scholarly attention, such as parent–child or parent–adolescent conflicts, conflicts between siblings, marital conflicts, and conflicts between co-parents. In addition, families experience various transitions, and the life course of families influences conflict. Some key periods for conflict are the early years of marriage, the period of launching children and empty nest, and a family member navigating the end of life. Finally, family conflicts occur in a larger sociocultural context in which societal events and conditions affect family conflict. Such contextual factors include broad social structures (e.g., societal-level power dynamics between men and women), financial conditions, different co-cultural groups within a country, cross-cultural differences, and major events such as the COVID-19 pandemic that have direct effects on families and also elicit dramatic social responses that affect families. Despite the complexities, it is important to understand family conflict because of its implications for the health and well-being of families and family members.

In examining research pertinent to family members managing and discussing personal information about difficult subjects, the current chapter provides an overview of scholarship on topics such as self-disclosure, privacy, and topic avoidance while also suggesting ways to sharpen the analysis of these topics. The first major section of the chapter reviews prominent theories about the processes of discussing and avoiding in families. The perspectives covered include examples of dialectical theories, decision models, and multiple goals theories. The second section delineates complications not fully explained by extant literature and suggests three future directions that may deepen understanding of how, why, and to what effects family members do (and do not) discuss sensitive issues: (a) moving beyond the limits of binary conceptualizations of disclosure, (b) paying greater attention to the interdependent nature of discussions, and (c) examining interconnections of technologies and meanings when family members share information.

This study extends research examining the presence of mobile phones during interpersonal interactions into the context of serial arguments between dating couples. Fifty-eight dating couples (N = 116) had two 10-minute face-to-face serial argument conversations in a laboratory-controlled experiment when technology was either present or absent. The most salient findings were consistent with longstanding findings in the conflict literature: positive communication was associated positively with desirable outcomes (conversational satisfaction, perceived resolvability, and conversation effectiveness) whereas negative behaviors were inversely related to desirable conflict outcomes. Overall, results showed little evidence that the presence of a participant’s smartphone affected the quality of serial argument conversations, but biological sex moderated the impact of technology on conversation satisfaction and perceived conversation effectiveness, such that technology presence negatively impacted women more than men. These findings suggest that the presence of mobile phones does not fundamentally alter effective conflict engagement in general, but there are likely circumstances in which the presence of mobile phones is important.

This chapter examines how computers and smartphones are used with (or instead of) face-to-face (F2F) interactions for relationship maintenance. After explicating two different definitions of the phrase “relationship maintenance,” we summarize research on the role of particular communication technologies in relationship maintenance. We argue that much contemporary relationship maintenance in romantic relationships occurs in mixed-media relationships, which occur when the “parties conduct in whole or in part through the use of multiple media, including F2F” (Parks). The primary focus of this chapter is on the maintenance of romantic relationships, yet we also review research on other types of relationships when the processes examined seem applicable to close relationships more broadly. We conclude with several important points for future research on relational maintenance and communication technologies, including recognizing that (a) even though technologies can help people maintain their relationships, they also can create burdens and problems; (b) the way people use technologies influences the effects of those technologies in relationships; (c) there is a need for more research on the specific behaviors using technologies in romantic relationships; and (d) even with the rise of communication technologies, face-to-face maintenance behaviors remain important.

Deception is a common strategy for securing a first date with someone from an online dating site. But does the possibility of a second date still exist if deception was used to get the first one? To address this question, we investigated the effects of online dating deception on people's subsequent offline interactions. Online daters (N = 94) were surveyed before and after their first date with a prospective partner. Their emails through the online dating site were also analyzed for linguistic markers of deception. Juxtaposing the self-report and observational email data revealed a positive association between participants' deception and negative emotion words. Further results indicated that participants' perceptions of their partner's deception-but not their own-negatively predicted first date success.

Type 2 diabetes has deleterious physiological, psychological, and relational effects both on people living with diabetes (PLWD) and on their family members. We employed the communal coping model to investigate whether coping alongside family members was advantageous. Specifically, PLWD (n = 213) and family members of PLWD (n = 208) completed an online survey assessing their coping responses and a variety of diabetes‐related outcomes (i.e., depressive symptoms, relationship satisfaction, and self‐care). Generally, results indicated that more communal coping was beneficial. However, a second goal of this study was to examine discrepancies between levels of actual communal coping and desired communal coping, and the findings from these analyses add nuance to the generally held belief that more communal coping is always better.

Despite a decrease in substance use among teens, alcohol and substance use has remained high among young adults. Young adult use of illicit substances is particularly concerning. Parents can play an important role in substance use intervention and prevention, but their efforts are sometimes unsuccessful. Therefore, it is important to consider how parents respond to and communicate about their young adult children’s substance use disorder. Most research has privileged confrontation and direct communication as effective coping responses, but evidence suggests that effectiveness hinges on the meanings interactants ascribe to behavior. Through qualitative interviews, the current study develops normative theory regarding parents’ communication challenges and strategies in response to their young adult child’s substance use disorder. Parents’ challenges center on the intersection of support with their own substance use history; others’ divergent views on substance use; uncertainty in illness; relational closeness and harmony; and illness features. Results are discussed in terms of implications for helping parents respond to their young adult child’s substance use disorder.

Effective communication is one of the most fundamental aspects of successful patient care, and it frequently depends on the nurses’ ability to empathize with patients while finding effective ways to translate medical science into personally relevant health information. Skilled nurses are expected to understand the patient’s experiences and feelings and be able to communicate this understanding to the patient, but language strategies used to achieve the goal of empathic communication can vary. In this article, we employed the model of message design logics to evaluate what strategies nursing students ( N = 343) used to express empathy during a simulated health history training. The results of this study advance our understanding of what constitutes a high-quality response to the disclosure of personal health history facts. In addition to providing a general framework for understanding empathic responses during health history assessment, the message design logic perspective highlights the differences in linguistic choices in simulated patient–provider conversations.

This study uses a longitudinal design to investigate the effects of online dating sites on first date success. Participants were surveyed before their first date with someone from an online dating site (N = 186) and again after meeting their partner in person (N = 94). As part of the survey, they also supplied the e-mails they had sent to their partner through the dating site so their actual communication could be examined. Findings indicated that first date success was predictable from features of participants' online impressions and relational dynamics. The results are discussed in terms of their theoretical and methodological contributions to the literature on relationship development, as well as their practical implications for online dating sites and users.

HIV creates substantial uncertainty for people infected with the virus, which subsequently affects a host of psychosocial outcomes critical to successful management of the disease. This study assessed the efficacy and durability of a theoretically driven, one-on-one peer support intervention designed to facilitate uncertainty management and enhance psychosocial functioning for patients newly diagnosed with HIV. Using a pretest-posttest control group design, 98 participants received information and training in specific communication strategies (e.g., disclosing to friends and family, eliciting social support, talking to health care providers, using the Internet to gather information, and building social networks through AIDS service organizations). Participants in the experimental group attended six 1-hour sessions, whereas control participants received standard of care for 12 months (after which they received the intervention). Over time, participants in the intervention fared significantly better regarding (a) illness uncertainty, (b) depression, and (c) satisfaction with social support than did those in the control group. Given the utility and cost-effectiveness of this intervention and the uncertainty of a multitude of medical diagnoses and disease experiences, further work is indicated to determine how this program could be expanded to other illnesses and to address related factors, such as treatment adherence and clinical outcomes.

Furthering our understanding of how communication can improve end-of-life decision making requires a shift in focus from whether people talk to how people talk about end-of-life health decisions. This study used communication accommodation theory to examine the extent to which communication nonaccommodation distinguished more from less successful end-of-life conversations among family members. We analyzed elicited conversations about end-of-life health decisions from 121 older parent/adult child dyads using outside ratings of communication over- and underaccommodation and self-reported conversational outcomes. Results of multilevel linear modeling revealed that outside ratings of underaccommodation predicted self-reported and partner-reported uncertainty, and ratings of overaccommodation predicted self-reported decision-making efficacy and change in concordance accuracy. We discuss the methodological, theoretical, and practical implications of these findings.

AbstractMeasurement is a core activity and challenge in all social sciences, and the complex nature of interpersonal communication makes this fundamental activity particularly challenging. This entry provides a discussion of basic concepts in measurement and an introduction to the myriad considerations to be made in measuring constructs in interpersonal communication. It includes a review of the advantages and disadvantages of the most common techniques for measuring interpersonal communication, including observational assessments, self‐reports, diaries and logs, and physiological assessments. In addition to the perennial challenges of measurement in interpersonal communication scholarship, this entry notes some of the promises and difficulties implicit in the rise of new communication technologies in interpersonal interaction.