Unwanted escalation of sexual intimacy: Male and female perceptions of connotations and relational consequences of resistance messages

In heterosexual dating situations, males sometimes attempt levels of sexual intimacy that exceed the threshold desired by the female partner. For the woman, these situations often are extremely unpleasant. Most explanations of these episodes assume that the offending male has ignored or disregarded the messages by which his partner has indicated her resistance to escalated intimacy. The present study supports an explanation whereby males do not understand certain sexual resistance messages to indicate resistance. Indeed, it appears that the resistance messages most often used by some women are the least understood by most men. This suggests that unwanted sexual escalation efforts might be minimized if men were to better understand women's resistance messages, and/or if women were to use the clearer messages. Ironically, the resistance messages that males understand best happen to be messages that often are avoided by women because of anticipated relational consequences. The study suggests, however, that males perceive these relational consequences as very unlikely outcomes of resistance messages. The study has implications for a communication‐based explanation of unwanted sexual escalation behaviors, and has pragmatic implications for reducing the frequency of these episodes via the reduction of certain male/female misunderstandings.     

Crafting the message: Controlling content on agency Web sites

While much research has focused on the new opportunities that government Web sites offer for greater citizen involvement and improved agency efficiency, less attention has been given to agency decisions about what to post on these Web sites. Here we use interviews with content managers in seven federal agencies to investigate the political and institutional influences behind decisions about Web content. We analyze the approval processes for new content and the emerging governance structures for evidence of greater centralization and political control or greater decentralization and autonomy for Web posters. In the end, it appears that institutional factors persist to influence content governance.     

A typology of disengagement strategies and an examination of the role intimacy,reactions to inequity and relational problems play in strategy selection

An inductive analysis employing cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling was conducted in Study I to develop, in conjunction with previous literature, a five‐factor typology of disengagement strategies: behavioral de‐escalation, de‐escalation, justification, positive tone and negative identity management. In Study II, perceived intimacy, anger and guilt over the allocation of resources in the relationship and three general factors of relational problems (target's behavior constrained the disengager, target had personal faults and target failed to compromise) were employed as independent variables influencing strategy selection. Intimacy, factors of problems and felt anger influenced the selection of strategies. Comparison of methods (rated usage of strategies vs. constructed strategies) uncovered discrepancies in the two methods for negative identity management and positive tone strategies. Recommendations concerning future research were noted.     

Privacy issues in relational embarrassment: Impact on relational quality and communication satisfaction

Past theorizing on causes for embarrassing situations has not taken the context of the relationship into account. This study takes exception to that oversight and examines embarrassment within the context of romantic relationships. Respondents (n = 199) were asked to identify embarrassing situations caused by romantic partners. Responses were content analyzed and three major categories were found: revealing relational secrets, inappropriate actions and awkward situations. All of these situations were considered to be breaches of relational privacy, where the partner made something public that was expected to be kept private between the couple. Respondents were also asked to assess the impact frequency of embarrassment has on feelings of relational quality and relational communication satisfaction. Gender, length of relationship, and currency of relationship were also considered. Using canonical correlations, the findings show that current relationships are longer, have less embarrassment and have higher levels of relational quality as well as satisfaction with relational communication. While past relationships are perceived to be shorter, have more embarrassment and have lower levels of relational quality as well as satisfaction with relational communication. Interpretations of these results are offered, in light of relational privacy issues.     

Predicting maintenance enactment from relational schemata,spousal behavior,and relational characteristics

Thus far, researchers have made significant strides in identifying maintenance behaviors and articulating the impact of maintenance behaviors on salient relational characteristics. This study seeks to identify those variables which best predict the enactment of particular maintenance strategies among married individuals. Data were collected from 520 married individuals. Fitzpatrick's (1988) relational schemata, perception of spouse's use of maintenance behaviors, and one's own satisfaction and commitment served as the independent variables. Stafford, Dainton, and Haas' (2000) typology of maintenance behaviors served as the dependent variables. Results indicate that the most potent predictor of an individual's enactment of a selected maintenance behavior is his or her perception of the spouse's use of that same behavior. The variance explained ranged from a low of .04 to a high of .49.     

Ingredients for great sex: Discussing sexual preferences and intimacy

Course: This activity is intended for a course on romantic relationships, communication between intimate partners, or a special topics class where partner communication about sex may be discussed.

Objective: The objective is to provide students a non-threatening environment to articulate their conceptualization of sexual pleasure, and to practice communication about sexual pleasure and preferences. Students will also examine challenges and opportunities for communication about sexual pleasure.     

Self-disclosure and relational uncertainty as mediators of family communication patterns and relational outcomes in sibling relationships

This study tested the degree to which self-disclosure and relational uncertainty sequentially mediate the associations among family communication patterns (FCP) (i.e., conversation and conformity orientations) and relational outcomes (closeness and satisfaction) in the sibling relationship. Participants included 329 emerging adults who completed online questionnaires. Three distinct indirect effects emerged for conversation orientation on both relational outcomes through self-disclosure, relational uncertainty, and disclosure to uncertainty paths, respectively. Likewise, conformity orientation produced indirect effects on both outcomes through self-disclosure and disclosure to uncertainty, as well as a direct, negative effect on sibling satisfaction. Collectively, the results support FCP theory and extend an understanding of how family communication environments enhance (or inhibit) emerging adults’ sibling relationships.     

Conflict management satisfaction and relational and sexual satisfaction

This study examines predictors of relational, and sexual, satisfaction. Specifically, it is hypothesized that the discrepancy between real and ideal conflict management style is antecedent to relational satisfaction, which is a direct antecedent of sexual satisfaction. It is suggested that communicating in the manner that one sees as ideal is important in predicting relational satisfaction. Surveys including measures for conflict management style, relational satisfaction, and sexual satisfaction were administered to 290 participants. These data were consistent with the proposed model.     

The role of relational interdependence,relationship thinking,and relational communication in three stages of romantic relationships

Relational interdependence, relationship thinking, and relational communication are theorized to distinguish among the stages of dating relationships. This study analyzes their comparative ability to distinguish dating relationship stages and suggests some of their related‐ness. Results indicate that relational interdependence (indexed in the perception of relationship alternatives, satisfaction, investment, and commitment) distinguishes among each stage of the dating relationships. Relationship thinking (measured in positive affect thinking and partner thinking) and relational communication (measured in trust and composure) also distinguish among relational stages, but differences in relational interdependence appear to predate and predicate the positive development of relationship thinking and relational communication.     

Perceived Instructor Credibility and Teaching Philosophy

The purpose of this study was to examine whether perceived instructor credibility (i.e., competence, character, caring) differs based on instructor teaching philosophy. Participants were 244 students who read a short vignette describing an instructor with either a transmissive or a progressive teaching philosophy and completed the Measure of Source Credibility in reference to the vignette. Results indicate instructors with a transmissive teaching philosophy or a progressive teaching philosophy did not differ in their perceived competence, but instructors with a progressive teaching philosophy were rated higher in both perceived character and caring than instructors with a transmissive teaching philosophy. Future research should examine whether student philosophies toward education impact perceived instructor credibility.     

Anxiety,construct differentiation,and message production

Neuliep and Hazleton have reported a significant negative relationship between a general measure of trait anxiety and interpersonal construct differentiation. The study reported in this paper failed to find a significant relationship between a more specific measure of interpersonal trait anxiety and interpersonal construct differentiation, and also found no significant relationships between state anxiety and construct differentiation, or either interpersonal trait or state anxiety and the production of messages considered more or less competent by constructivist conceptions in an anxiety‐producing interpersonal context. The study did find a significant positive relationship between interpersonal construct differentiation and the production of such messages. These results are discussed with particular emphasis on the lack of conceptual relation between notions of anxiety and construct differentiation.     

Measuring routine and strategic relational maintenance: Scale revision,sex versus gender roles,and the prediction of relational characteristics

In the present study, we incorporate both routine and strategic maintenance behaviors in an expanded maintenance scale. In addition, we seek to determine whether sex or gender role is a stronger predictor of maintenance behaviors, and to ascertain the extent to which maintenance predicts the relational characteristics of satisfaction, commitment, liking, and control mutuality. Data were collected from 520 married individuals. Through factor analysis, 7 maintenance items reflecting both routine and strategic enactment were identified: advice, assurances, conflict management, openness, positivity, sharing tasks, and social networks. Multiple regressions revealed that the gender role construct of femininity was the primary predictor of all 7 of these behaviors. Biological sex was a weak predictor of 2 maintenance behaviors, and was not present in the other 5 regression equations. Finally, in accordance with previous research, the use of assurances was a consistent and strong predictor of relational characteristics.     

Routine and strategic maintenance efforts: behavioral patterns,variations associated with relational length,and the prediction of relational characteristics

The goal of the present study was to examine the patterns of relationships between routine and strategic maintenance enactment. Data were collected from 189 individuals in a romantic relationship. Results indicated that positivity and sharing tasks were more often performed routinely than strategically. Second, moderate to strong, positive correlations were found among the strategic use of maintenance behaviors, and also moderate to strong, positive correlations among the routine use of maintenance behaviors. However, virtually no relationships emerged between the routine and strategic use of maintenance. Next, both strategic and routine maintenance efforts were important in predicting satisfaction and commitment, but routine maintenance was slightly more important in predicting both satisfaction and commitment. Finally, three significant, positive correlations were found between the length of the relationship and routine maintenance performance (network, conflict management, and sharing tasks), and one significant, negative correlation was found between the length of the relationship and the strategic use of openness.     

A relational database for bibliometric analysis

In this article a relational database schema for a bibliometric database is developed. After the introduction explaining the motivation to use relational databases in bibliometrics, an overview of the related literature is given. A review of typical bibliometric questions serves as an informal requirement analysis. The database schema is developed as an entity-relationship diagram using the structural information typically found in scientific articles. Several SQL queries for the tasks presented in the requirement analysis show the usefulness of the developed database schema.     

The relationship of gender and topic intimacy to decisions to seek advice from parents

This study explored the impact that respondent gender, parent gender, and perceptions about a topic's intimacy had upon 311 undergraduate students’ likelihood of seeking advice from their parents. Overall, respondents felt they were more likely to seek advice about low‐ than high‐intimacy topics. Both sons and daughters reported a higher likelihood of seeking maternal than paternal advice. However, respondents did indicate a willingness to seek paternal advice in certain conditions. Sons were more likely than daughters to seek advice from fathers about high‐ intimacy topics; daughters were more likely than sons to seek advice from fathers about topics low in intimacy. Possible explanations for and implications of these findings are discussed.