This project seeks to understand the construction of a personal narrative concerning a primary parental figure using the process of collaborative autoethnography. In order to properly encapsulate the author’s lived experience, primary influential factors were considered imperative in allowing for a fuller representation. Thus, the author’s story joins those of her siblings to highlight the paradoxical process inherent in unearthing one’s singular perception. This project primarily aims to explore the complexity of autoethnography while simultaneously interrogating the cultural discourse surrounding motherhood and academic writing. By having a close and personal understanding of the subject matter as well as the research participants, the author was provided a unique glimpse into the ways family stories are both co-constructed and individually recounted

This research examines the effects of maternal incarceration in the United States with a specific focus on the short- and long-term risks to which children are exposed when they live with their mothers pre-incarceration. It synthesizes the pre-existing body of research concerning the effects of maternal incarceration and places it in dialogue with the author’s unfolding personal narrative—a story of resilience. Employing an autoethnographic approach and analyses of the letters her mother wrote to her while in a state penitentiary, the author examines her own life relative to the relational communication patterns between her and her mother before, during, and after her mother’s incarceration.

Based on past findings in the area of order effects in persuasion, the purpose of this paper was to examine the effects of the receiver characteristics of sex, self-esteem, and dogmatism, message relevance, and order of presentation upon attitude change and recall. The study analyzed category differences and multivariate relationships. Interesting results were attained. Males high in esteem and dogmatism were not as easily persuaded as females high in esteem and dogmatiam. Females high in esteem responded with a significant primacy effect, while females low in esteem responded with a significant recency effect. Subjects low in dogmatism recalled more than subjects high in dogmatism. Subjects in the irrelevant message condition recalled more and were persuaded to a greater degree than subjects in the relevant condition. Recall scores did not correlate highly with attitude change scores. Finally, the stepwise multiple regression equation revealed a small amount of variation explained by the five predictor variables. Based on application of theoretical assumptions and models designed to predict primacy and recency to the results achieved, the need for future research to follow the variables approach to the issue became apparent.

This study examined the relationship of world view to selected communication, demographic, and social variables. Using a newly developed scale for world view, the researcher tested one hundred forty-nine high school and college level subjects to determine significant interactions between world view and communication apprehension, use of mass media, trust, life satisfaction, social participation, age, grade level, sex, income, and race. Data analyses included factor analyses, analyses of variance, and correlation and regression analyses. Results of the simple correlation indicated that the age-grade combination was the strongest single factor followed by income, religious participation, television watching, sex, newspaper reading, radio listening, and communication apprehension. Generally, the ANOVA showed that the college level student had a higher world view than the high school student; that with one exception males had a higher world view than females; that low religious participation almost consistently accompanied a higher world view than high religious participation, that low television watching accompanied high world view; that low income males showed higher world view than high income males, while income failed to show any affect on females; and that communication apprehension interacted with world view in conjunction with religious participation and sex in a complicated pattern. No significant interaction was detected with world view and race, world view and trust, or world view and life satisfaction.

The relationship of attitude change, eye contact time, and interview length to selection interview outcome was investigated by directly observing fifty-four selection interviews. Statistical analysis of the data revealed that although attitude change was the only independent variable significantly related to interview outcome, all three independent variables interacted in such a manner that applicant acceptance or rejection was correctly predicted 83 percent of the time. Attitude change was concluded to be the product of interview content. Furthermore, the predictive power of variable interaction was interpreted as meaning that given attitude change, eye contact time, and interview length, applicant acceptance or rejection may be predicted a significant portion of the time.

This study examines the relationship between patients' perception of physicians' nonverbal immediacy and patients' satisfaction with their physicians. Using a newly designed scale tor measuring nonverbal immediacy and patients' satisfaction with their physicians, the researcher tested one hundred and eighty-nine patients of six southern, male, caucasian doctors to determine if a significant correlation exists between composite scores. These doctors practice in Southern Kentucky, specializing as internists, general practitioners, and family practitioners. Both scales use a composite measure based on the summation of all twelve questions within the scale. Data analysis included reliability coefficients, factor analysis, multiple regression analysis, Pearson correlations, distributions of composite scores, responses to individual questions, Eta analysis, and analysis of variance.

The purpose of the first phase of the study was to determine whether Blacks perceive feelings of racial prejudice in Whites primarily from verbal or nonverbal communication cues, and to determine which specific nonverbal cues cause Blacks to perceive feelings of racial prejudice. Interesting results were obtained. Blacks do rely very heavily on nonverbal cues in determining racial prejudice. Black males appear to be more sensitive in perceiving feelings of racial discrimination than their female counterparts. Specific prejudicial White nonverbal behavior cues were identified, with proxemics and haptics appearing to be key indicators of White prejudice, as perceived by Blacks. The second phase of this paper sought to determine if Blacks' perceptions of racial prejudice in a white speaker differ from Blacks' perceptions of credibility in a white speaker. It further sought to determine if Blacks actually perceive racial prejudice in a white speaker the way they say they perceive racial prejudice in Whites in general. Again, interesting results were obtained. Manipulation of prejudicial conditions caused significant differences in Blacks' perceptions of a white speaker. When subjected to multiple factor analyses of variance, the data suggested that Blacks' perceptions of credibility in a White closely coincide with their perceptions of racial prejudice. Additionally, Blacks appeared to perceive racial prejudice in a white speaker much the way they say they perceive racial prejudice in Whites in general--nonverbally.

Exploring online support groups has gained more and more popularity in the last decade. Investigating the type of support messages users send each other has broadened the already extensive social support framework built in the last forty years. Mothers utilize online support for various topics, and a very common topic is breastfeeding. The perception of breastfeeding has changed throughout history with shifting beliefs and societal norms coupled with solid facts about its importance in the sustaining of infants. Online breastfeeding support has been previously explored through the categorization of types of support and themes within the interactions. This study extended this by investigating deeper into the advice solicitation patterns and directness of advice patterns. Results indicated that informational support most commonly was responded to support seekers. Support seekers utilized the requesting an opinion or information solicitation type most often when posting to the discussion board. Mothers most commonly offered storytelling as responses to posts and embedded advice within the stories.

Institutions of higher education in the United States have long been attractors for international students from all over the world. The number of international students had been constantly growing until the past couple of years. This is a concerning issue because international students play several important roles in higher education institutions. International students bring different points of view that enhance other students’ learning and institutions gain financial benefits from the presence of international students. Thus, it is important to understand how to improve the experience of international students. For the present study I used a phenomenological approach to explore the experiences of international students and their spouses. Participants in this study included 16.5 dyads from 12 different countries. The sample included both graduate international students and their spouses for various reasons. When studying acculturation, studies have traditionally focused on undergraduate students. The needs and experiences of undergraduate students are different from graduate students because they are usually in a different stage of life. It is also true that graduate students often relocate with their dependents, unlike undergraduate students, and therefore they have different challenges and responsibilities. It is important to include spouses because they are often an invisible population. Dependents have critical limitations such as the prohibition to work or study. This study was conducted through the lens of biographical disruption and participants’ accounts were analyzed to better understand the added communication work that they must manage. The findings showed that there was a relationship between acculturation categories and the amount and type of acculturation work. Finally, the study shows how international students and their dependents reconstruct their biographies by molding their identities. This study should be used to create new policies and services for international students and their dependents.

Mental illness is a pervasive health epidemic in the United States and worldwide, and available data suggest that mentally ill adults are statistically more likely to be parents than non-parents. The prevalence and continued growth of parental mental illness means that millions of children in the United States have a parent with some form of mental health issues. This dissertation contributes to and extends existing literature on children of mentally ill parents by exploring 15 adult children’s subjective perspectives on how they navigate the tension-wrought experience of having a mentally ill parent, and how this has implications for the management of their identity, relational, and instrumental goals. Examined through the lens of relational dialectics theory (Baxter & Montgomery, 1996) and a multiple goals perspective, analysis revealed that adult children of mentally ill parents confront conflicting, contradictory forces in making sense of their parent’s illness and the role that it plays in their lives. Specifically, adult children reported feeling a strong sense of interdependence with their parent and a desire to have a closer relationship with them, but simultaneously expressed a strong need and desire for disconnection and maintenance of a life separate from their parent’s challenges. Additionally, adult children noted conflicting goals with regard to privacy management about their parent’s illness, acknowledging that an underlying, but pervasive societal stigma surrounding mental health keeps them from freely disclosing to others about their parent’s illness, but indicating that a certain strategic degree of openness was required in order to meet certain instrumental and relational goals. Finally, participants revealed many fears and anxieties that they had about the future as a result of the unstable nature of their parent’s mental illness, while at the same time expressing a sense of acceptance and stability with the predictably unpredictable nature of their lives. After presenting an analysis of the data, the implications of the findings for children of mentally ill parents are explored, including, but not limited to, how the results of this exploratory study could be integrated into therapeutic and support interventions for families of those struggling with mental health issues. Finally, the limitations of the study are addressed.