Communication Research

Among married couples, the effect of the controllability of stressful events was tested as a predictor of the type of social support communications provided and preferred. Sixty married individuals disclosed stressful events to their spouse. Controllability of the stress was rated by observers. The Social Support Behavior Code was used to assess the frequency with which each of five types of social support was provided by the spouse. Action-promoting support (information) was provided most frequently when the stressed person had high control over the event. Of the five types of support communications assessed, only information was evaluated differently in high- and low-controllable situations. Both controllability by the support recipient and controllability by his or her spouse were relevant to support evaluations. Results provide limited support for the optimal matching model proposed by Cutrona and Russell (Cutrona, 1990; Cutrona & Russell, 1990).

This article reports two studies of the process by which supportive messages in nonintimate relationships yield positive outcomes. The first experiment compares the efficacy of instrumental and emotional support in reducing distress and improving performance on a cognitive task. The second experiment examines the perceived effectiveness of instrumental and emotional support messages. The results suggest that instrumental support provided by an experimenter improves performance and is evaluated positively.

The experiment described in this article examined how interacting with a friend as opposed to a stranger in anticipation of a stressful event (giving an extemporaneous speech) affects coping. Results indicated that subjects perceived more social support after interacting with a friend than with a stranger. They were less depressed and were judged to be more confident during the extemporaneous speech after interacting with an opposite-sex friend than with an opposite-sex stranger. Specific verbal and nonverbal behaviors contributed to successful coping. Subjects reported less fear if they talked about their feelings about public speaking during the social interaction, and they were more confident while speaking if they engaged in problem-solving talk. Problem-solving, other-related, and unrelated talk predicted perceived social support. Of the nonverbal behaviors measured, eye contact was the best predictor of coping and perceived social support.

The project described in this article examined several qualitative features of the friendship circles of lonely college students. It was expected that because communication is the cornerstone of young adult friendship, individuals whose social companions lacked important communicative attributes would experience poor peer relationships and, therefore, greater loneliness than individuals whose social companions possessed relevant communicative attributes. The liked peers of 208 participants (102 male, 106 female) were identified. Aggregate measures of social acceptance, loneliness, communication attitudes, communication values, and communication skills were obtained from liked peers, as were indices reflecting the extent to which individual participants were accepted by peers and felt lonely. Results indicated that some communicative attributes of the friendship circle predicted participants' levels of social acceptance and loneliness. A few significant gender differences in these relationships were also observed.

This study examined person-centered comforting communication among members of hospice interdisciplinary teams. Five teams were studied in one hospice organization. The results indicate that hospice team members employ sophisticated comforting strategies in responding to another team member who appears emotionally distressed. Training in hospice was negatively associated with person-centered comforting message strategies. Results from the analysis of survey items indicate that satisfaction with perceived comforting communication from other team members was positively related to satisfaction with the team's communication and evaluation of the team's success in accomplishing its tasks.

Supportive interactions often pose conflicting goals: Speakers want to give or receive support, simultaneously conveying and receiving acceptance and preserving the autonomy of both parties. Previous research on the presence or absence of supportive communication has overlooked how support is conveyed and how some message characteristics accomplish multiple goals. By highlighting these multiple goals, politeness theory integrates previous research on dilemmas of supportive communication and characteristics of helpful and unhelpful messages. Face work is a critical part of a theoretical framework for identifying and explaining characteristics of effective supportive communication. The heuristic value of this framework is demonstrated in a series of research questions.