Thesis (M.S.W.)--University of Hong Kong, 1982.

Women who have experienced depression are vulnerable to future depressive episodes as well as emotional, cognitive, and interpersonal difficulties. Several theoretical models have explored the link between maladaptive anger expression and women's depression (Jack, 1991; Davanloo, 1980; Cox, Bruckner, & Stabb, 2003), but the existing research examining this relationship has primarily relied on self-report methods. A growing area of research has begun assessing women's communication styles in the context of interactions with their romantic partners. This field of observational research has studied communication patterns in couples with marital conflict, but no studies have yet examined anger expression in women with a history of depression. Therefore, the present study examined anger expression in 26 formerly-depressed (FD) and 30 never-depressed (ND) women and their partners. Couples were a part of a larger community study investigating cognitive and interpersonal factors in depression. Participants completed the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID; Spitzer et al., 1988) on the telephone to screen for eligibility and determine FD/ND group status. Women and their partners completed self-report measures of depressive symptoms, emotional expression, relationship conflict, and relationship intimacy. Couples also completed an observational interaction task to assess patterns of communication. An observational coding system was developed in collaboration with Deborah Jacobvitz, Ph.D. at the University of Texas at Austin to assess couples' direct anger expression, hostility, and emotional attunement. The results indicated that contrary to predictions, women expressed more direct anger but similar levels of hostility compared to their male partners. Second, findings supported the prediction that self-reported emotional expression would be associated with relationship intimacy and inversely related to relationship conflict. However, the observational patterns of direct anger, hostility, and emotional attunement were not associated with the relationship outcomes. Results also indicated that FD and ND women did not differ in their patterns of direct anger and hostility expression during the observational interaction task. Exploratory analyses found that individuals' behaviors exhibited during the interaction task were consistent with self-reported ratings of these behaviors. Finally, exploratory analyses also indicated that individuals' patterns of behavior such as hostility impacted their partners' perceptions of the quality of their relationships. / text

Research in second language acquisition has typically focused on classroom and laboratory settings. This study explores second language use in a non-classroom setting. It is based on research from divergent fields including theories of social interaction from sociology, theories of practice from anthropology, and nonlinear dynamics from the physical sciences. This study is a qualitative study, which employs both ethnographic and discourse analytic methods. The study examines native and non-native English speaker interactions on a MUD, a text-based online game. Data was collected for one year. The data for analysis consist primarily of logs of online interactions. The major conclusion of this study was that individuals acquire language appropriate to a particular environment by interacting with others in that environment. As individuals come to an environment and strive towards particular non-linguistic goals, they necessarily interact with others in the environment. As they do, they create shared ways of interacting. Through interaction, they refine the ways in which they speak. By employing multiple perspectives to guide the analysis, new insights into second language use and interaction can be obtained. This broadens our understanding of second language use in non-classroom settings. Implications for pedagogy in foreign language education are discussed.

The predominant use of mobile media such as SMS and MIM across various sectors in Ghana is incontrovertibly influencing and reshaping interpersonal communications. This paper looked at the use of the Esoko SMS and WhatsApp MIM platforms and how the use of these two dominant platforms are enhancing and reshaping digital communication in the rural and urban Ghana respectively, as barriers of socioeconomic factors limits the use of sophisticated technologies in the rural setting. This is done by employing Madianou and Miller's notion of polymedia” to draw on the moral, social and the emotional use of mobile media in enacting interpersonal relationships and communications whilst keeping in focus the recursive repercussions.

Several prominent rhetoric and composition scholars have called for researchers to forefront the activity of an interaction (see Shipka, 2005; Yancey, 2009; Spinuzzi, 2011). This focus is particularly needed in the study of online writing instruction; with its emphasis on the unit of analysis being the action itself, activity theory proves useful to analyze the human-computer and human-human interaction that occurs in the online environment. Drawing from Haas’ (1996) assertion that technology is a site to examine “the relationship between culture and cognition,” this dissertation presents findings from an ethnographic case study that investigates CMS tool use in an online FYC writing course. Using activity theory as a theoretical and methodological frame, findings show how students made CMS tool-use decisions based not only in function, but also on culturally shared beliefs held about interaction in the online instructional environment itself. Using both qualitative and quantitative data, this dissertation discusses two findings: students overwhelmingly use instructor direction when making navigation decisions and when complying with implicit rules. From the findings, this dissertation analyzes how the perceived assumptions that students and instructors in the online writing course make about the intended and unintended motivations of tool use reflect their actual practices. The dissonance that exists within the spaces created between intention and outcome are highlighted by this methodological and theoretical frame. Additionally, analyzing online writing course tool use can have larger programmatic applications in that by understanding what happens in an online writing course and what motivates its users, instructors can better deliver a course and administrators can better assess both a course/instructor and a course management system. / Access to thesis permanently restricted to Ball State community only. / Department of English

In this thesis I explore the relationship between the mobile phone and its user and argue that this relationship is crucial in merging the contexts of public and private, the physical and virtual, imagined and real, past and present, author and audience. I view this relationship as crucial to understanding the shift in the role of the audience from passive receivers of content to active producers ('Mobile Produsers'). Further, I argue that the diverse contexts of mobile content production and the definition of the content itself have become the central means by which mobile phone practices are emerging. I draw on anthropology, social science and media studies in order to explore the impact of mobile contexts, content, and use on identity. I propose that this approach allows for a new understanding of mobile practices as a form of spectacle, especially what I refer to as the spectacle of the self. Produsership theory informs an understanding of mobile practices, content production and performance, and the Bahktinian concept of carnival becomes a useful term in analysing the mobile as both performance and spectacle. Through an analysis of mobile content within cinematic culture, social interaction, and mixed media environments I consider the ways in which the mobile functions not only as a tool for positioning the individual, but also as performing an integral part in a multi-user process of mobile content production. In this sense, mobile content can be understood as a map, and the mobile as a compass used by the produser to navigate the mobile?s diverse contexts. Furthermore, I demonstrate that mobile content is collectively constructed while being individually absorbed. It is reflective of both the context and its user and open to constant questioning and interpretation, which is then shared with others. Finally, this thesis explores the notion of being t/here as mode of participating with the mobile in time and space, where one's identity is distributed across virtual and physical spaces, simultaneously locating the user as both here and there (t/here).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (D. Min.)--New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, 2006. / Includes abstract and vita. Includes final project proposal. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 96-100, 51-52).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1999. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 215-228). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1999. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 215-228). Also available on the Internet.