This study investigated the associations among relational uncertainty, communication efficacy, and the frequency and comfort of discussing religious topics in romantic relationships. Participants included 204 young adults currently involved in a romantic relationship. Preliminary analyses (i.e., bivariate correlations) revealed a positive association between time dating and the frequency with which respondents discussed religious topics, as well as a positive association between the frequency of discussing religious topics and the perception that one shares a similar religious affiliation with one's romantic partner. Primary analyses revealed a negative relationship between relational uncertainty and the frequency and comfort with which partners discuss religious beliefs. Though anxiety from uncertainty discrepancies yielded no meaningful association with the discussion of religious beliefs, communication efficacy was positively associated with comfort levels and frequency of such conversations in dating relationships. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that relational uncertainty and communication efficacy combine to predict the comfort level and frequency with which romantic partners discuss religious topics. Furthermore, a suppressor effect emerged for coping efficacy on the frequency with which respondents discussed religious topics, such that those individuals who lacked confidence in their abilities to cope with their romantic partner's religious beliefs, but perceived that their partners would be honest about their beliefs when asked, were more likely to engage in discussions about said beliefs. The results also provided some support for the effects of relational turbulence on the comfort level associated with discussing religious topics. Specifically, the associations between relational uncertainty, communication efficacy, and the comfort associated with discussing religious topics were more robust at moderate levels of intimacy rather than at low or high levels of intimacy. Collectively, the results provide evidence that relational uncertainty and communication efficacy are meaningful factors that potentially influence the frequency and comfort level associated with discussing religious topics in romantic relationships.

This study explored young adult children's perceptions of supportive and antagonistic coparental communication as a factor that mediates the impact of witnessing interparental conflict (i.e., demand-withdraw patterns and symbolic aggression) on young adult children's mental well-being. Participants included 493 young adults who completed questionnaires concerning their parents' conflict, coparental communication, and personal reports of global self-esteem, perceived stress, and mental health symptoms. Bivariate correlations largely supported the hypothesized associations between witnessing interparental conflict, perceptions of supportive and antagonistic coparental communication, and young adults' mental well-being. Given significant differences in the constructs of interest between children from first-marriage and divorced families, however, multivariate tests were conducted separately for each group and the results were interpreted in light of the differences between family types. For young adults in first-marriage families, the results revealed that coparental communication mediates the adverse effects of witnessing parents' demand-withdraw patterns and symbolic aggression on their global self-esteem and perceived stress. Less support emerged for mental health symptoms, though supportive coparental communication mediated the negative effect of witnessing fathers' aggression on young adults' mental health. For young adults in divorced families, the results provided much less evidence to suggest that coparental communication mediates the effects of witnessing interparental conflict on young adults' mental well-being. One exception did emerge for global self-esteem, as antagonistic coparental communication mediated the negative effects of witnessing demand-withdraw patterns and fathers' symbolic aggression. Among the more important implications of this study is the finding that perceptions of supportive and antagonistic coparental communication may operate as risk mechanisms in first-marriage families, heightening the negative effects of witnessing interparental conflict on young adult children's mental well-being.

About a fifth of local TV news producers in Texas at ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC stations are experiencing burnout or are at risk for burning out. Additionally, almost half of the producers surveyed scored high on exhaustion and almost two-thirds of participating producers scored high on cynicism, both burnout factors indicating potential future problems for producers. This study found producers who report feelings of burnout also reported unsatisfactory resources to effectively do their jobs, heavy workloads, and a desire to leave their jobs and/or their profession, among other factors. Women producers were found to be feeling more burned out than their male counterparts. Means of preventing burnout and coping with the experience of burnout are also addressed, including the value of the Maslach Burnout Inventory as an effective administrative tool in detecting potential problems.

Emotional contagion theory predicts the automatic and unconscious transferring of emotions from one person to another by way of mimicry and afferent feedback (Hatfield, 1992). Research has shown that communicators who are attuned to anothers emotional cues may be more likely to stimulate emotional contagion. Because mediation requires participants to identify and attend to disputants emotions, mediators may be susceptible to this phenomenon. Results of a quasi-experimental study support the hypothesis that emotional contagion affects mediators during mediation.

In 1960, John F. Kennedy became the first Irish Roman Catholic to be elected president of the United States of America, defeating Vice President Richard M. Nixon in what was up to that time the closest presidential race in American history. The debate over Kennedys religion was a major factor during the campaign, and included both anti-Kennedy/anti-Catholic statements by major religious figures and Kennedy vigorously defending his belief in the separation of church and state. This study addresses how two Irish newspapers, the Irish Independent and The Irish Times, covered the Kennedy/Nixon campaign, with particular attention being paid to coverage of both the religious debate and Kennedys cultural ties with Ireland. The implications of this qualitative analysis can contribute to the bodies of knowledge of the religious debate in the 1960 election, cultural affinity displayed by newspapers with historically different readerships and editorial stances, and the history of Irish journalism.

This study delves into Americas fastest growing sport, NASCAR and looks beyond the entity itself to one of its most illustrious facilities, Texas Motor Speedway. The speedway relies heavily on its sponsorships to help subsidize the cost of hosting a NASCAR race weekend which is considered to be the equivalent of hosting a NFL Super Bowl. In order to attract the thousands of ticket buyers to each event, Texas Motor Speedway relies on advertising to promote the events and its sponsors. Each event reflects the exclusive sponsor of the NASCAR event and thus is utilized in print advertising. This research explores the ramifications of incorporating multiple sponsors into one print advertisement and evaluates the impact on recall and recognition of the ads message, congruence/incongruence of the sponsors and Texas Motor Speedway as well as whether this leads to a behavioral intent to purchase tickets.

The Federal Communication Commissions (FCC) interpretation of the Childrens Television Act (CTA) allows for commercialized program content to air as long as a paid advertisement does not run within the content of the program. It is the implications of advertising within a childs program, however, that is a topic of discussion in this thesis. Childrens programs often contain implicit merchandising that is embedded within its content. The interpretation versus the intent of the CTA as it relates to program-length commercials and implicit merchandising is reviewed. In addition, discussion of monetary, social, legal and ethical implications of program-length commercials and implicit merchandising in both traditional commercial broadcast and the new media environment is presented. The results of a previous content analysis test conducted on a current childrens television program are communicated, providing an initial glimpse of the amount of implicit merchandising within its content. Those results along with the issues discussed in this paper provide a foundation for future studies in this area.

The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to examine the interaction effect of nonverbal immediacy and expected instructional technology use on students perceptions of learner empowerment and student involvement, and (2) to test learner empowerment as a potential mediator of perceived instructional technology use and nonverbal immediacy on student involvement. Participants included 264 college students who were randomly assigned to one of eight scenarios depicting first-day class sessions manipulating expected technology use across four levels (none, minimal, moderate, and complete use) and instructor nonverbal immediacy across two levels (high vs. low). Contrary to what was hypothesized, the results failed to replicate the interaction effects of expected technology use and nonverbal immediacy cues found in previous research. Instead, the results revealed only significant main effects for nonverbal immediacy cues on students perceptions of learner empowerment and student involvement. The results of an analysis of covariance, however, revealed that learner empowerment fully mediates the association between an instructors nonverbal immediacy cues and student involvement. A significant two-way interaction effect of perceived technology use and nonverbal immediacy on student involvement after controlling for the effect of learner empowerment also emerged, revealing a pattern of moderated mediation. Collectively, the results extend instructional communication theory by identifying learner empowerment as a key construct that facilitates the association between teacher nonverbal immediacy and student involvement in the course.

This study examined individual differences in emotional thresholds for ongoing, repetitive conflicts known as serial arguments. Specifically, this study proposed that individuals' motivation for, and likelihood of, continuing a serial argument varies as a function of their personalities (i.e., emotional intelligence and tolerance for disagreement) and contextual elements unique to each serial argument (i.e., perceived resolvability of the argument), ultimately influencing relational satisfaction and closeness. Participants included 476 young adults who reported on ongoing serial arguments in either family or romantic relationships. After describing features of the serial argument (i.e., duration, initiator, and perceived resolvability), participants completed measures of emotional intelligence, tolerance for disagreement, relational satisfaction, and closeness. Preliminary analyses revealed significant differences in argumentative features based on relationship type (family vs. romantic), duration, and typical initiator (self vs. partner), and thus, hypotheses were tested separately for each relationship type while controlling for these differences. In family relationships, hierarchical regression analyses suggest that individuals who believe their argument will be resolved and those who are more tolerant of disagreement in general are more motivated to sustain their serial argument. Additionally, emotional intelligence and perceived resolvability were unique predictors of relational satisfaction in both romantic and family relationships. Intriguingly, closeness in romantic relationships was associated with both situational factors (i.e., perceived resolvability, initiator, and likelihood of continuing the argument) and individual factors (i.e., emotional intelligence). Collectively, these results extend previous research by identifying factors that contribute meaningful variance to previously understudied aspects of serial arguments.

The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to extend our understanding of nonverbal immediacy by examining how two student traits, emotional intelligence and emotional contagion, moderate the positive association between instructors' nonverbal immediacy cues and students' affective learning and (2) to further explain why nonverbal immediacy cues enhance, and at times, differentially impact student affect. Participants included 305 college students who completed measures assessing their instructor's immediacy cues, their affect for the course and their instructor, and two self-reports which measured their emotional intelligence and contagion. Collectively, the results extend instructional communication theory by identifying emotional intelligence and emotional contagion as two key constructs that may transfer over well from psychology to instructional communication. While hierarchical regression analyses showed no significant interaction effects for emotional intelligence or contagion, the results suggest that emotional intelligence was a significant predictor of affect for instructor after controlling for instructor nonverbal immediacy cues. If these results suggest that students have different thresholds for affect, researchers could conclude that students with high levels of emotional intelligence may be more likely to experience affect for instructor than students with low levels of emotional intelligence, regardless of how immediate their instructors are. Further examination of the role of other student characteristics as potential moderators of the association between instructors' nonverbal immediacy cues and students' affective learning may begin to shed more light on our understanding of why nonverbal immediacy cues enhance student affect.