309: The Positive Effects of Open Communication
- Research
- Education & Enrichment
- Family Therapy
- International
- Religion, Spirituality & Family
- Research & Theory
About the Session
Interactive Poster Sessions have a NEW LIVE INTERACTIVE approach this year to allow for more engagement between presenters and attendees. Posters listed below are included in this session. Each poster presenter will have 3 minutes to present an overview of their poster at the beginning of this session. Following all individual poster overviews, each poster presenter will move to a breakout room where attendees can have live discussions with the presenters (approximately 45 minutes). Attendees can move in and out of the breakout rooms to talk with presenters.
Posters will be available to view online beginning November 1.
Facilitatoir: Xiaoran Sun
Presider: Aryn Dotterer
Abstract(s)
309-01 EE: Humorous or Offensive? Exploring Memes and GIFs in Text Messages by Undergraduates
Summary
Visual communication (e.g. memes and GIFs) have become increasingly popular in text messages. However, little is known about attitudes toward and the role of visual communication in relationship development. Three hundred and twenty-two undergraduate students (86.6% women, 13% men) from a large southeastern university completed a 62-item online survey about attitudes toward the use of visual communication. Results revealed a high frequency of sending and receiving of text messages and visual communication with significant others among college students. Most respondents held positive views of both memes and GIFs. Gender, race, and religion were predictive of favorable attitudes. Students of color held more favorable attitude towards visual communication. Men were more likely to send sex-related memes and GIFs. Religious individuals were less likely to send or receive offensive memes and GIFs.
Objectives
- Explain various types of visual communication (e.g., Memes and Gifs) used in text messages.
- Discuss attitudes toward visual communication by undergraduates.
- Identify factors impacting the perception of visual communication
Subject Codes: communication, technology, gender
Population Codes: emerging/young adulthood, heterosexual, dating
Method and Approach Codes: quantitative methodology, relationship education, applied research
309-02 FT: Introducing a Moral Agent: A Conversation Analysis of Successful Early Therapy Sessions
Summary
Virtually all therapy approaches seek to establish some routine of rapport building, history-taking, and problem status during introductory therapy sessions. The effectiveness of these routines and their establishment of a therapeutic alliance significantly predicts trajectory variability across a wide range of emotional distress. Given the well documented statistical significance of early response in therapy, it is vital to our practice as clinicians that we understand what an introductory session might look like at the granular level of conversational exchange. This proposal examines opening remarks across three individual therapy sessions with adults for treatments that were later considered ‘successful’ by the clients. Findings include the relevance of establishing a moral dimension to therapy, working with resistance or hesitation through affiliative question practices, and establishing formulations of the person that reflect agency in the face of presenting problems.
Objectives
- Participants will analyze differences between successful and unsuccessful rhetorical tropes used in therapy conversation exchanges based on excerpts provided
- Participants will evaluate the use of moral and agentic presuppositions in questions aimed to build alliance and direct therapy based on excerpts provided
- Participants will demonstrate their own versions of questions for establishing a client’s moral history during introductory sessions
Subject Codes: communication, evidence-based practice, relationship formation
Population Codes: emotional (dis)ability, siblings, low income
Method and Approach Codes: clinical practice, therapy, case study
309-03 FT: Developing a Positive Sexual Relationship During the First Year of Marriage: A Qualitative Study of LDS Couples
Summary
This study supports previous research about the sexual experiences of newlywed couples who had remained sexually abstinent prior to marriage. This proposal represents a one-year follow up on data collected from LDS couples immediately before and after their wedding. In this wave of interviews, couples reflected on what had been most helpful to them as their sexual relationship developed over the first year of marriage. It addresses challenges experienced by couples during the first-year transition as well as factors that facilitated the development of a positive sexual relationship. The implications of this study can inform religious and secular sex educators and relationship therapists about the developmental sexual experience of religious heterosexual individuals who remain abstinent before marriage.
Objectives
- To describe how abstinent heterosexual LDS couples developed a positive sexual relationship after the wedding
- To identify strategies used by these couples to manage sexual difficulties after the commencement of their sexual relationship
- To explain the gendered processes that resulted in both partners focusing on the wife’s sexual experience.
Subject Codes: communication, interpersonal relationships, sexuality
Population Codes: Latter-Day Saints (Mormon), first married, romantic partners
Method and Approach Codes: longitudinal research, qualitative methodology, thematic analysis
309-04 IN: Self-Confident Teens, Parents in the Know: Longitudinal Bidirectional Relations Between Korean Adolescents’ Perceptions of Parental Knowledge, Adolescent Disclosure, and Self-Esteem.
Summary
The purpose of this study was to explore longitudinal, potentially bidirectional associations between parental knowledge, adolescent disclosure, and adolescents’ self-esteem. Participants were drawn from the Korean Youth Panel Survey (KYPS), which contains two cohorts: one of 2,844 Korean early adolescents (53.6% boys; 9-13 years), and another of 2,449 middle-to-late adolescents (50% boys; 13-18 years). For each cohort, a random-intercepts cross-lagged panel model was estimated. There were some bidirectional associations between adolescent self-esteem and adolescent disclosure, and between perceived parental knowledge and adolescent disclosure in both cohorts. There were mainly unidirectional associations between perceived parental knowledge and adolescent disclosure in both cohorts. These findings support extant research emphasizing that adolescents’perceptionsare key to mapping adolescent communication and adjustment across cultures. We interpret and apply these findings within the context of age, associated developmental transitions, and Korean culture.
Objectives
- To examine longitudinally bidirectional within-person associations between Korean adolescents' disclosure and self-esteem.
- To examine longitudinally bidirectional within-person associations between Korean adolescents' disclosure and adolescents’ perceptions of parental knowledge.
- To examine longitudinally bidirectional within-person associations between Korean adolescents’ self-esteem and perceived parental knowledge.
Subject Codes: communication, parent-child relationships, well-being
Population Codes: adolescence, Asian/Pacific Islander, international (non-U.S.)
Method and Approach Codes: longitudinal modeling, secondary data analysis, structural equation modeling (SEM)
309-05 RSF: EmergingAdultsPerceptionsofMoralityBasedConversationsaboutSexwiththeirParents.Emerging Adults Perceptions of Morality Based Conversations About Sex With Their Parents.
Summary
Parents often impart their morals during parent-child sex communication, yet there are few studies analyzing emerging adults’ perspectives of parents’ morals and its contributions to parent-child sex communication. The following poster will focus on emerging adults’ perceptions of the moral implications related to conversations they had with parents growing up. As part of a mixed-methods study, of emerging adults at a university in the western United States, 425 participants (Male = 148, Female = 271, Transgender or non-binary = 6) responded to the following question as part of a larger study, “Please describe how you learned about your parents' morals regarding sex.” Using thematic analysis, we found five primary content themes: Relational Contexts and Characteristics, Silence, Safety, Religion/Spirituality, and Focus on Self. These findings provide information applicable to programs focused on parent-child communication while also acknowledging the significant role of religion and spirituality on parent-child sex communication.
Objectives
- Participants will have a better understanding of emerging adult perceptions of how parents communicate about sexuality.
- Participants will gain a better ability to understand to role of religion and spirituality in the way that parent communicate with children about sexual morals over time.
- Participants will be able to apply the information from this presentation to inform programs focused on parent-child communication.
Subject Codes: communication, sexuality, spirituality
Population Codes: emerging/young adulthood
Method and Approach Codes: qualitative methodology
309-06 RT: Communication and Relationship Quality Among Mixed-Gender and Same-Gender Couples
Summary
Many studies have shown that female same-gender couples communicate better than different-gender couples and have higher relationship quality. We hypothesized that female same-gender couples would have the highest quality communication and relationship quality, and that same-gender couples would have higher communication and relationship satisfaction than different-gender couples. We conducted an anonymous survey that targeted young adults; 233 individuals participated. We included questionnaires on sexual and everyday communication and relationship quality. Due to the small number of men and LGBQ+ participants, analyses were run with sexual identity as the variable of interest rather than comparing each group. There were no significant differences in sexual communication, everyday communication, and relationship quality between groups. There were significant positive associations between sexual and everyday communication and relationship quality. Our findings imply that young adult couples, regardless of their gender or partner’s gender, are communicating well and this is associated positively with relationship quality.
Objectives
- Discuss existing knowledge about the association between relationship quality and communication.
- Examine whether sexual orientation moderates these associations.
- Explain implications for couples and family therapists.
Subject Codes: communication, dating, relationship quality
Population Codes: all gender inclusive, emerging/young adulthood, LGB+
Method and Approach Codes: quantitative methodology, regression: linear (simple, multiple, hierarchical), research, general
309-07 RT: Testing How Listening Styles Moderate the Link Between Stress and Relationship Satisfaction in Romantic Couples
Summary
The purpose of the present study was to examine how the quality of partners’ communication moderates the relationship between stress and relationship satisfaction. There is an inverse relationship between romantic partners' stress levels and their reports of relationship satisfaction. However, little is known how specific aspects of communication may influence this. Considering that partner responsiveness is linked to relationship satisfaction in couples, it is plausible that when partners become more attuned to one another’s emotions and thoughts, for example, via sensing each other’s feelings, they feel more comfortable with other aspects of the relationship. Hierarchical multiple regression results indicate that participants’ perception of their partners’ level of sensing communication moderated the relationship between stress and relationship satisfaction holding processing and responding communication dynamics constant.
Objectives
- To measure how stress is linked to romantic relationship satisfaction.
- To measure how active and empathetic listening styles are linked to relationship satisfaction.
- To measure how various levels of active and empathetic listening styles moderate links between reports of stress and relationship satisfaction.
Subject Codes: communication, relationship quality, interpersonal relationships
Population Codes: couples/coupled, Family Scientists,
Method and Approach Codes: quantitative methodology, regression: linear (simple, multiple, hierarchical), systems
309-08 FT: Please Do Not Check Your Phone, Stay With Me: Phubbing Makes Us Less Satisfied
Summary
In this study, we examined the role of perceived partner phubbing as mediator linking the communication disturbance and relationship satisfaction by controlling gender, type of the relationship (dating vs. married), and phone obsession. We collected data from 291 participants (77.3% women, 22.7% men; 46% dating, 54% married) via an online survey including Phubbing Scale, Partner Phubbing Scale, Relationship Assessment Scale, and Demographic Information Form. We analyzed the mediation model through PROCESS Model 4. The results indicated that the relationship between communication disturbance and relationship satisfaction was mediated by the perceived partner phubbing [β= -.07,SE= .03, CI (-.12, -.02)]. The findings are promising for partners having trouble with lower relationship satisfaction due to their or partners’ extensive use of smartphones as the counselor can help clients gain awareness of the disturbing influence of phubbing on communication through couple counseling.
Objectives
- To evaluate the role of communication disturbance on relationship satisfaction.
- To evaluate the mediator role of Partner Phubbing in understanding the relationship between communication disturbance and relationship satisfaction.
- To demonstrate how the communication disturbance and partner phubbing during the face-to-face communication with a partner would have a negative influence on perceived relationship satisfaction among romantic partners.
Subject Codes: technology, communication, relationships
Population Codes: middle adulthood, older adults, international (non-U.S.)
Method and Approach Codes: mediation/indirect effects models
309-09 RT: It’s How You Talk About It: Linguistic Correlates of Family Dynamics From Young Adults’ Interviews
Summary
This study used Natural Language Toolkit to conduct automated text analysis on interview data collected from 20 college students (age18-22; 13 female; 10 students of color; 5 students living on campus) on their texting-based communication with families. We obtained linguistic characteristics including positive, negative, and neutral sentiment as well as I- and we-talk, and tested these characteristics as correlates of student-reported family relationship closeness and texting frequency. Results revealed positive sentiment as a negative correlate, and neutral sentiment as a positive correlate, of relationship closeness. In addition, I-talk was negatively correlated with relationship closeness, and we-talk was positively correlated with texting frequency. Together these findings suggest that how interviewees talked about their family dynamics, that is, their linguistic characteristics, could potentially manifest their perceived family functioning. Practical implications include a direction towards automated text analysis of interviews and therapy sessions for facilitating the identification and understanding of family functioning patterns.
Objectives
- To demonstrate the feasibility and utility of automated text analysis for interview data
- To test the correlations between linguistic characteristics of interviewees’ speech and their family relationship quality
- To inform future directions on using natural language processing in research and practice for identifying and understanding family functioning patterns
Subject Codes: technology, family relations, communication
Population Codes: emerging/young adulthood, undergraduate students, diverse but not representative
Method and Approach Codes: mixed-methodology, content analysis
309-10 RT Adolescents’ Experience of Bias, Disclosure of Bias, and Well-Being
This study examined the associations between adolescents’ perceptions of bias in multiple settings (from teachers at school, from peers at school, and online) and adolescent well-being (depressive symptoms, positive youth development), and tested whether bias disclosure moderated these associations. Survey data from 395 parent-adolescent dyads (1/3 White, 1/3 Black, 1/3 Hispanic/Latinx) were analyzed using MANOVA and multiple regression. Race/ethnicity was the reason most Black (76%) and Latinx (51%) adolescents attributed their experiences of bias. The majority of White adolescents (70%) did not attribute bias to a stigmatized identity. Across all settings, adolescents were most likely to talk with their mothers about the experience, F(4, 391) = 14.08, p < .001. Results showed that bias from peers and online was associated with greater depressive symptoms, though disclosure did not buffer these associations. There was some evidence that disclosure buffered the negative association between bias and positive identity and values.
Objectives
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To analyze adolescents' experience of bias on well-being outcomes.
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To analyze the extent to which adolescents disclose different types of bias and who they are more likely to disclose these experiences to (parents vs. siblings vs. peers).
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To analyze the potential benefits of bias disclosure and evaluate whether disclosure buffers against the negative effects of bias.
Subject Codes: discrimination, communication, relationships
Population Codes: adolescence, diverse but not representative, U.S.
Method and Approach Codes: quantitative methodology, resilience, risk and resilience framework; minority stress theory