This study analyzes the relationship between emotional intelligence, self-esteem and interpersonal communication satisfaction. Emotional intelligence was conceptualized into two major competences: personal competence and social competence. Self-esteem was conceptualized as the dimension between the actual and the ideal self. Interpersonal communication satisfaction is the pleasurable sensation someone feels after a satisfying interpersonal communication experience. The study explored if there is a positive relationship between emotional intelligence and interpersonal communication satisfaction. The second purpose of the study was to investigate if there is a positive relationship between self-esteem and interpersonal communication satisfaction. Students were recruited from four colleges in northern California and were asked to complete a four-section questionnaire. The Self-Esteem Scale, the Interpersonal Communication Satisfaction Scale, and the Emotional Intelligence Scale were used in the study. These three scales have been used in past studies and show good reliability. To analyze the data a correlation analysis was conducted. The results of the study showed that there is a positive correlation between emotional intelligence, self-esteem and interpersonal communication satisfaction. There was also a positive correlation between emotional intelligence and self-esteem. These findings suggest that a person's interpersonal communication experience will be more satisfying if the person has high emotional intelligence and high self-esteem.

The aim of this dissertation is to examine the effects of narrative conversational storytelling on affective empathy and relational bonding. This correlational-comparative quantitative research study intends to correlate variations of structured storytelling activity scenarios with affective empathy and self-reports of relational bonding. The overall proposed approach to determine this correlation or disassociation is to conduct pre- and post- intervention empathy testing as well as a relational bonding scale survey. The intervention was a series of narrative conversational storytelling activities that ranged from face-to-face structured exchange, written and read structured exchange, and no structured exchange. This study consisted of 12 adult participants, ranging in age, gender, and cultural background. These participants were divided evenly between scenarios, each scenario consisting of four participants. Study result data was analyzed to reveal that those who participated in the structured storytelling activity, face-to-face, scored the greatest average increase in affective empathy and had the most growth in perceived relational bonding with their intervention partners. These findings imply that a structured storytelling activity with an active perspective-taking component, in person, may be used as a tool for the improvement of affective empathy and relational bonding.

<p> While much scholarly attention has been given to the benefits of expressing gratitude, a paucity of research exists in the competent communication of gratitude. The current dissertation employs three studies to ascertain qualities of gratitude communication that are favored in message recipients, establish criteria for competent gratitude communication, and identify the extent to which features of gratitude messages corresponds to the competency criteria. The first study investigated various aspects of gratitude communication that message recipients characterized as ideal, such as verbal, nonverbal, and contextual factors. Building upon these findings, Study 2 developed and validated two scales: one measuring benefactor perceptions of the extent to which gratitude messages convey meaningful impact, thoughtfulness, and sincerity (the gratitude assessment scale, or GAS); and another measuring the presence of salient features of explicitness, elaboration, and affirmation in gratitude messages (the gratitude message features, or GMF, scale). Finally, participants in Study 3 were randomly exposed to a hypothetical gratitude message that contained one of the three features, all three features, or none of the features and responded to the GAS to evaluate their perceptions of the message. Findings established the skills-competence link, in which explicitness, elaboration, and affirmation all predict benefactor perceptions of the message’s meaningful impact, thoughtfulness, and sincerity. The findings of the dissertation reveal four significant contributions to gratitude communication research: (1) the identification of salient message features and benefactor evaluations of the message that reflect competent gratitude communication, (2) the development of statistically sound instrumentation pertaining to gratitude communication competence, (3) the establishment of the skills-competence link, which associates the features of a gratitude message to message perceptions that are essential to gratitude communication, and (4) the beginnings of a model of the process of gratitude communication.  </p>

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Romantic relationship research has yet to identify the relationship between conflict, an interpersonal variable, and equity, an intrapersonal variable. The current study represents the first attempt to understand these variables’ contribution, separately and interactionally, on individual partner’s feelings of relationship satisfaction. A total of 106 undergraduate and graduate participants completed questionnaires gauging their frequency of conflict and perceptions of equity across each of five relational domains: Love, Status/Power, Money, Services, and Sex, in addition to reporting general levels of relationship satisfaction. Data were interpreted in three separate relationships: conflict and satisfaction, equity and satisfaction, and the interaction of conflict and equity (conflict x equity) and satisfaction. Results indicate a significant negative relationship between conflict and satisfaction. Secondly, perceptions of inequity relate to low levels of satisfaction in the Love and Status/Power domains. Finally, the combination of conflict and inequity demonstrate significant differences in satisfaction scores in the Status/Power domain only.

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