Matching Items (8)
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- All Subjects: Communication
- Creators: Randall, Ashley K.
- Member of: ASU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Description
In order to adapt to a new culture and new language, children of immigrant families are faced daily with the responsibility of being the intermediaries between the family and the host culture through their language proficiency (Weisskirch & Alva, 2002). This thesis looks into the experiences of English-Spanish bilingual children as they bridge the gap between the family and the non-Spanish speaking community through their interpreting/translating skills. With an emphasis on children of Mexican-origin, the goal is to further understand and illuminate how these children manage this communication in an adult society, their feelings and thoughts about their experiences, and the child's perceptions about the influence that this experience may or may not have on their future. A sample of seventeen children agreed to participate in a semi-structured face-to-face interview to share their experiences. The data from these interviews were analyzed using a thematic analysis approach (Braun & Clarke, 2006). A priori themes of circumstantial bilingual and adaptive parentification were the initial focus of the research while being open to emerging themes. The children's accounts of their experiences indicated primarily that the Mexican-origin values of familism and respeto (respect) were a significant influence on them when they interpreted/translated for their family. With these traditional cultural values and norms as the groundwork, the sub-themes of normalcy and stress emerged as supportive elements of the circumstantial bilingual experience. Furthermore, the theme of adaptive parentification and the sub-themes of choice, expectation/responsibility to assist, and equality to parents offered further insight on how adaptive parentification can result as the roles of these children change. There was an emergent theme, identity negotiation, which increases our understanding of what the circumstantial bilingual child encounters as the attempt is made to negotiate his identity as an individual who has to mediate language between two opposing cultures. Due to the language brokering responsibility that are bestowed upon these children, it is concluded that communicative support by the parents is a necessary component of the parent-child relationship in order to nurture and develop these children as they negotiate and create their identity to become the successful leaders of tomorrow.
ContributorsCayetano, Catalina (Author) / Mean, Lindsey (Thesis advisor) / Waldron, Vincent (Committee member) / Gaffney, Cynthia (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Blended families including half siblings (brothers/sisters who share only one biological parent, most likely a product of divorce and remarriage) are becoming increasingly prevalent in Western societies. Studies have determined the negative outcomes of sharing only one biological parent on familial relationships, but less so on how half siblings may be resilient in the wake of restructuration and cultivate positive relationships overtime and into adulthood. This study applied a systems and resilience perspective to understand how blended family structure influences this unique sibling dyad. This research includes two studies. First, seventeen older half siblings who define their current sibling relationship as positive participated in a retrospective turning points interview. The second study required sixteen additional participants to keep a two-week daily diary on their communication with immediate family members, including half siblings. These two studies combined shed light on the typical communication practices between positive half siblings, including which behaviors contribute to prosocial relational sibling maintenance. Results detailed 23 prosocial relational maintenance behaviors. The maintenance behaviors positivity, joint activities, openness, and parental intervention were most significant in contributing to a positive half sibling relationship. Three novel maintenance behaviors (parental intervention, awareness of maturity, and mentoring behavior) were also identified to contribute to existing maintenance literature. Theoretical and practical implications for scholars and practitioners alike are discussed.
ContributorsOliver, Bailey M (Author) / Alberts, Jess K. (Thesis advisor) / Waldron, Vincent R. (Committee member) / Randall, Ashley K. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
Emotional support messages can benefit recipients; however, verbal and nonverbal aspects of these messages can vary in effectiveness, and the process of communicating support can be stressful to some supporters. One potential behavior that may yield more effective support messages for recipients while reducing anxiety and stress for supporters is message planning. Thus, planning theory is used to test whether planning influences message effectiveness, nonverbal delivery of messages, self-reported anxiety, and physiological stress markers. Additionally, an individual’s trait-level reticence and prior support experiences are predicted to moderate the effects of message planning. One hundred laboratory participants were assigned to either a planning condition or writing distraction task and completed a series of self-report and physiological measures before, during, and after recording an emotional support message to a friend who had hypothetically been diagnosed with a serious form of cancer. Subsequently, a sample of one hundred cancer patients viewed the laboratory participants’ videos to provide message effectiveness ratings and four trained coders provided data on nonverbal behaviors from these recorded messages. Findings showed planning leads to more effective messages; however, it also leads to supporters engaging in success bias and inflation bias. Planning also increased vocal fluency, but not other nonverbal behaviors. Likewise, planning attenuated heart rate reactivity, but not other physiological markers. In general, experience and reticence did not moderate these main effects. Theoretical, practical, clinical, pedagogical, and methodological implications are discussed.
ContributorsRay, Colter D (Author) / Floyd, Kory W (Thesis advisor) / Mongeau, Paul A. (Thesis advisor) / Randall, Ashley K. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
This study applies Relational Dialectic Theory to analyze the stepparent and stepchild relationship of one family. The data is documented in an autoethnography. Autoethnography is an approach to data collection in which the researcher’s own experience is the source of data, and the experience is studied to deepen understandings of social reality. This study highlights the complexity of the stepparent-stepchild relationship, the uncertainty surrounding the stepparent role, and identifies the dialectic tensions that exist within the stepparent-stepchild relationship. The dialectics identified by this study include: emotional-closeness-distance, past-present, autonomy connection, and parent-friend. The findings related to how these dialectic tensions emerge and are managed within stepparent-stepchild relationships have implications for stepparents and spouses of stepparents and for new parents and parents in traditional family structures.
ContributorsRoush, Krysti (Author) / Mean, Lindsay A (Thesis advisor) / Gaffney, Cynthia (Committee member) / Waldron, Vincent (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
Stress in romantic relationships is an all-too-common phenomenon that has detrimental effects on relationship well-being. Specifically, stress can increase partners’ negative interactions, ultimately decreasing effective communication and overall relationship functioning. Positive dyadic coping (DC) occurs when one partner assists the other in coping with stress (e.g. empathizing or helping the partner problem-solve solutions to their stress), and has been proposed as a method of buffering the deleterious effect of stress on interaction quality. One possible mechanism between the positive associations between DC and interaction quality could be how partners verbally express their support (e.g., more we-talk) during discussions about external stress. Using real-time interaction data from 40 heterosexual couples, this project examined whether observed positive and negative DC was associated with greater (or lesser) levels of perceived interaction quality. Further, language use (i.e., pronouns, emotion words, cognition words) was assessed as mediators in the associations between DC and interaction quality. Overall, results suggested that language did not mediate the effect of DC on interaction quality; however, there were several interesting links between DC, language, and interaction quality. Implications of these findings for relationship researchers and mental health clinicians working with couples are discussed.
ContributorsLau, Kin Hang (Author) / Randall, Ashley K. (Thesis advisor) / Duran, Nicholas (Committee member) / Pereira, Jennifer (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
This dissertation demarks the start of an empirical study of toxic romantic relationships. Three primary tasks were undertaken: (1) uncover characteristics of toxic romantic relationships, (2) develop a Toxic Relationship Behaviors scale, and (3) determine how toxic relationship behaviors and coping behaviors associate with breakup distress and post-traumatic growth following breakup. For aim 1, an inductive qualitative analysis examined toxic romantic relationships behaviors mentioned in Reddit and Quora threads. Data (n = 1,615) were classified under 14 themes representing toxic relationship behaviors and indicated one partner predominantly engaged in toxic relationship behaviors, characterized by power, control, and self-centeredness. For aim 2, a survey was launched to develop a Toxic Relationship Behavior scale and investigate relationships among toxic relationship behaviors, breakup distress, post-breakup coping behaviors, and post-traumatic growth. Exploratory factor analysis showed six Toxic Relationship Behavior subscales: (1) isolating, (2) displaying righteous self-centeredness, (3) walking on eggshells, (4) criticizing and conveying contempt, (5) surveilling, and (6) engaging in intermittent reinforcement. For aim 3, a quantitative study (n = 168) was conducted using the Toxic Relationship Behaviors scale to determine how toxic relationship behaviors and coping behaviors associate with breakup distress and post-traumatic growth. Results indicated emotional breakup distress was positively associated with focusing on the ex and seeking social support. Cognitive breakup distress was positively associated with surveilling and displaying righteous self-centeredness, as well as coping by focusing on the ex, seeking social support, and solitude. Personal growth positively associated with intermittent reinforcement, walking on eggshells, and righteous self-centeredness, as well as the coping strategies positive distraction and seeking social support. Thus, the combination of displaying righteous self-centeredness, walking on eggshells, and productive coping associated with the highest levels of personal growth. Walking on eggshells and seeking social support also predicted heightened appreciation of relationships and increased sensitivity toward others after the breakup. Coping through positive distractions was also positively related to increased sensitivity to others. The final chapter discusses findings across both studies and outlines directions for future research on toxic relationship behaviors.
ContributorsGraham, Callie (Author) / Guerrero, Laura K. (Thesis advisor) / Alberts, Jess (Committee member) / Randall, Ashley K. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
Emerging adulthood represents a liminal space between adolescence and adulthood. Attachment with a romantic partner is commonly developed during this time; however, the nature of the dating relationship often remains ambiguous and/or undefined. Dating provides emerging adults the opportunity to develop their romantic competence and navigate these particular attachment relationships. Conflict, and how it is managed, is a critical variable during this time and differentiates between couples who progress in their relationship from those who terminate. What is more, partners may become stuck in destructive cycles, or patterns, of conflict (i.e., demand-withdrawal). Using the theoretical frameworks of attachment theory and emotionally focused couples therapy, this study’s goal it to examine the impact of a brief writing-intervention on relational quality, secure attachment behaviors (i.e., accessibility, responsiveness, and engagement) and attachment dimensions (i.e., anxiety, avoidance). Sixty-seven participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions for a two-wave study: (1) a treatment condition that was provided an educational presentation regarding couples’ negative cycles of interaction and attachment needs, followed by a guided writing task; (2) a comparison condition that only received the educational presentation; and (3) a control condition that received neither the educational presentation nor the writing task. Hypotheses proposed that participants in the treatment condition would experience increased relational quality, secure attachment behaviors (for both themselves and their partner), and greater secure attachment (i.e., decreased anxiety and avoidance) across time compared to the comparison and control conditions. Data did not support the hypotheses. These findings offer important implications for the development of future brief couples’ interventions and aim to generate future research.
ContributorsTruscelli, Nikki Irene (Author) / Mongeau, Paul (Thesis advisor) / Guerrero, Laura K. (Committee member) / Randall, Ashley K. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
Description
Individuals in a romantic relationship may avoid discussing certain topics with their partner, often to avoid relational and emotional risk. This strategy is known as topic avoidance and may be an important factor for individuals in turbulent romantic relationship to consider due to the importance of communicating with a partner. The associations between characteristics such as openness, relationship satisfaction, and perceived partner unresponsiveness, and topic avoidance have not been directly studied within dogmatism literature. However, dogmatism, defined as a person’s relative openness (or closedness) to new information, may be an important construct associated with topic avoidance that strengthens the associations between perceived partner unresponsiveness, and topic avoidance, and weakens the association between openness, relationship satisfaction, and topic avoidance. Using data from 334 individuals in romantic relationships, results revealed that perceived partner unresponsiveness was positively associated with State of the Relationship, relationship satisfaction was positively associated with Conflict-Inducing and Negative Life Experiences, such that as scores on relationship satisfaction and perceived partner unresponsiveness increased, topic avoidance scores also increased. Openness was not associated with Topic Avoidance. Additionally, as predicted, dogmatism moderated the association between relationship satisfaction and State of the Relationship Topic Avoidance, the associations between perceived partner unresponsiveness and State of the Relationship Topic Avoidance and Negative Life Experiences Topic Avoidance. This research has important implications for clinicians working with individuals who present with relational concerns
and exhibit dogmatic behavior. Limitations and future directions are discussed.
and exhibit dogmatic behavior. Limitations and future directions are discussed.
ContributorsMikel, Lindsay (Author) / Randall, Ashley K. (Thesis advisor) / Bludworth, James (Committee member) / Guerrero, Laura (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019