Contributing Factors of Adult Adoptees’ Identity Work and Self-Esteem: Family Communication Patterns and Adoption-Specific Communication

Drawing from family communication patterns (FCP) theory and the communication-based conceptual model of adoptive identity work (Colaner & Soliz, 2015), we investigated the ways that families’ adoption-focused communication and general communication environment predict identity work and self-esteem in adult adoptees (n = 143). Specifically, we tested the assumption that FCP (i.e., conversation and conformity orientation) serve as a backdrop for adoption communication openness and adoptive identity work. Structural equation modeling revealed that conversation orientation—but not conformity orientation—significantly predicted adoptive parents’ communicated openness about adoption. Adoption communication openness negatively predicted adoptees’ preoccupation with adoption. Indirect paths between conversation orientation, adoption communication openness, and adoptive identity and self-esteem illuminated the importance of the general communication environment on adoption outcomes. Implications are explored for expanding understanding of adoptive family communication and advancing FCP theory by testing its nature as a context-specific and/or global assessment of family communication.     

Who's Controlling Who? Personal Communication Devices and Work

Personal communication devices have long been part of work life. In recent decades, the range of modes available has proliferated and their use has became widespread. This article examines the ways that personal communication devices have shaped workers' experience of work. It reviews four key areas of research on this topic: the ability to work in new times and spaces; the relationship between work and personal life; the fragmentation of work; and the pace and intensity of work. The article highlights how the issue of control is critical when attempting to understand the how and why of any effects arising from workers' use of these technologies.     

Does retirement reduce familiarity with Information and Communication Technology?

Review of Economics of the Household - This paper analyses the effect of retirement on the familiarity with Information and Communication Technology (ICT) of older individuals. We argue that...     

Couples’ Sexual Communication and Dimensions of Sexual Function: A Meta-Analysis

Research and clinical data have shown that couples with sexual problems report a lack of sexual communication. However, no published meta-analyses have evaluated the relationship between sexual communication and sexual function. This meta-analysis examines the correlation between couples’ sexual communication and dimension of sexual function across 48 studies. Sexual communication was positively associated with sexual desire (r = .16), sexual arousal (r = .21), lubrication (r = .17), orgasm (r = .23), erectile function (r = .19), less pain (r = .12), and overall sexual function (r = .35). The effect sizes for sexual desire (r = .21; r = .12) and orgasm (r = .26; r = .16) were higher for women than for men. For overall sexual function, studies with married participants (r = .47) had a larger effect size than studies with participants with multiple relationship types (r = .31) or than studies with dating participants (r = .11). Effect sizes were larger for studies conducted outside of the United States (r = .39) compared to studies conducted in the United States (r = .12). We discuss the importance of addressing the relationship between sexual communication and sexual function, as well as future directions for research in this area.     

We Don’t Belong Here: Adolescents of North Korean Refugee Families and Their Suicidal Behaviors

Despite the increasing number of studies that examine the link between immigration and suicide in Korean youths, most have focused on self-harming behaviours among adolescents in multicultural families, while much less attention has been directed towards those in North Korean (NK) refugee families. This paper addresses this gap by comparing three determinants of suicidal behaviours across three groups of Korean adolescents. Data are drawn from the KYRBS, a nationally representative sample of students in middle and high schools, and the results indicate that NK youths were 87.2 per cent more likely to have suicidal ideation than their South Korean peers, that they are 3.7 times more likely to experience suicidal plans and 4.1 times more likely to attempt suicide. These results clearly suggest that immigrant youths, including NK refugees, are confronting significant difficulties with assimilation, and those disadvantages lead to a higher propensity of self-threatening behaviours.     

A Normative Approach to Parent-Young Adult Child Communication in the Context of Substance Use Disorders: Explicating Parents’ Communication Challenges and Strategies

ABSTRACT

Despite a decrease in substance use among teens, alcohol and substance use has remained high among young adults. Young adult use of illicit substances is particularly concerning. Parents can play an important role in substance use intervention and prevention, but their efforts are sometimes unsuccessful. Therefore, it is important to consider how parents respond to and communicate about their young adult children’s substance use disorder. Most research has privileged confrontation and direct communication as effective coping responses, but evidence suggests that effectiveness hinges on the meanings interactants ascribe to behavior. Through qualitative interviews, the current study develops normative theory regarding parents’ communication challenges and strategies in response to their young adult child’s substance use disorder. Parents’ challenges center on the intersection of support with their own substance use history; others’ divergent views on substance use; uncertainty in illness; relational closeness and harmony; and illness features. Results are discussed in terms of implications for helping parents respond to their young adult child’s substance use disorder.     

Failing ‘Abyan’, ‘Golestan’ and ‘the Estonian Mother’: Refugee Women,Reproductive Coercion and the Australian State

Abstract

In September and October 2015, the story of detained Somali refugee ‘Abyan’ unfolded in the Australian media. A victim of rape on Nauru and seeking an abortion that could not be obtained on the island nation, Abyan was escorted to Sydney where she was to attend an abortion clinic. She was ultimately returned to Nauru without having had an abortion. This paper situates Abyan’s story alongside other stories from Nauru and in a longer history of reproductive coercion in Australian Immigration Department accommodation since the Second World War.     

Women’s Sexual Communication with Their Peers and Its Association with Sexual Wellbeing

Abstract

Communication about sex is an important variable in sexual well-being, but sex remains a taboo topic, particularly for women. This study explores women’s peer sexual communication, and its association with their sexual well-being. A survey (N?=?617) showed that women tend to solicit expressive, rather than instrumental, sexual communication from other women. Regression analyses revealed that peer sexual communication is associated with higher sexual self-efficacy, and sexual self-esteem, but also higher risky sexual norms perceptions. Peer sexual communication appears to be a potential vehicle for disseminating sexual information, as long as women have accurate and empowering information to start with.     

Does Couples' Communication Predict Marital Satisfaction,or Does Marital Satisfaction Predict Communication?

The quality of communication between spouses is widely assumed to affect their subsequent judgments of relationship satisfaction, yet this assumption is rarely tested against the alternative prediction that communication is merely a consequence of spouses' prior levels of satisfaction. To evaluate these perspectives, newlywed couples' positivity, negativity, and effectiveness were observed four times at 9‐month intervals, and these behaviors were examined in relation to corresponding self‐reports of relationship satisfaction. Cross‐sectionally, relatively satisfied couples engaged in more positive, less negative, and more effective communication. Longitudinally, reliable communication‐to‐satisfaction and satisfaction‐to‐communication associations were identified, yet neither pathway was particularly robust. These findings raise important doubts about theories and interventions that prioritize couple communication skills as the key predictor of relationship satisfaction, while raising new questions about other factors that might predict communication and satisfaction and that strengthen or moderate their association.     

Philosophy of Communication and Umberto Eco’s Infinity of Lists: The Interplay of the Poetic and Pragmatic

This article conceptualizes the importance of Umberto Eco’s understanding of lists for philosophy of communication. Philosophy of communication is understood as the necessary and insightful interplay of the poetic and pragmatic through which meaning emerges. In The Infinity of Lists, Eco offers an essay-length interpretation of lists presented alongside a collection of art and literature that represent his theoretical work in action. Eco articulates lists as a means for cultural order and form in the attempt to convey what is otherwise beyond articulation. Although philosophers of communication have recognized the importance of Eco’s philosophical and semiotic project for human communication, his work on lists has received little attention within and outside of the field of communication. This article assumes that lists are significant to Eco’s project and to philosophy of communication, situated in the interplay of the poetic and the pragmatic.     

Folk Festival Fosters Communication Through Art

CHINA'S Third International Folk Art Festival recently convened in Beijing, Dalian, Shenzhen and Huizhou, where folk artists from 15 countries performed at the opening ceremony. An art festival of this kind is held every two years. The first and the second international folk art festivals were convened in 1990 and in 1992 respectively, sponsored by the Confederation Society of China's Literature and Art. Compared with the former two art festivals, the dance     

Lost in translation? Communication challenges in minority families’ and healthcare workers’ interactions

A fundamental principal in the Norwegian welfare system is to provide equal access to healthcare services for all residents, regardless of their ethnicity, language, knowledge, function, or belief. However, many service recipients experience a gap between these ideals and everyday realities. In this article I investigate how this gap affects minority families of disabled children who do not master the majority language and healthcare workers. The data I use in my investigation draw on a qualitative study of minority families of disabled children and healthcare workers. The findings that emerge out of these data are categorized into: linguistic difficulties, expectations and assumptions, and culture-bound services. I use these findings to illuminate how language difficulties and stereotypical assumptions within the Norwegian healthcare system make it difficult for minority families to access healthcare services, and how healthcare services lack an effective way to meet minority families’ needs.     

Multimodal Integration of Dynamic Audio–Visual Cues in the Communication of Agreement and Disagreement

Recent research has stressed the importance of using multimodal and dynamic features to investigate the role of nonverbal behavior in social perception. This paper examines the influence of low-level visual and auditory cues on the communication of agreement, disagreement, and the ability to convince others. In addition, we investigate whether the judgment of these attitudes depends on ratings of socio-emotional dimensions such as dominance, arousal, and valence. The material we used consisted of audio–video excerpts that represent statements of agreement and disagreement, as well as neutral utterances taken from political discussions. Each excerpt was rated on a number of dimensions: agreement, disagreement, dominance, valence, arousal, and convincing power in three rating conditions: audio-only, video-only, and audio–video. We extracted low-level dynamic visual features using optical flow. Auditory features consisted of pitch measurements, vocal intensity, and articulation rate. Results show that judges were able to distinguish statements of disagreement from agreement and neutral utterances on the basis of nonverbal cues alone, in particular, when both auditory and visual information were present. Visual features were more influential when presented along with auditory features. Perceivers mainly used changes in pitch and the maximum speed of vertical movements to infer agreement and disagreement, and targets appeared more convincing when they showed consistent and rapid movements on the vertical plane. The effect of nonverbal features on ratings of agreement and disagreement was completely mediated by ratings of dominance, valence, and arousal, indicating that the impact of low-level audio–visual features on the perception of agreement and disagreement depends on the perception of fundamental socio-emotional dimensions.     

A Brief Introduction about Culture and Communication——based on Fred E.Jandt's theory

This article mainly focus on the exploration of definition of culture and communication. The two ways of study certain culture, namly, emic and etic are also under discussion here.     

A Review of: “Information and Communication Technologies for Active Ageing: Opportunities and Challenges for the European Union”

This article discusses conceptual, methodological, and ethical challenges of using e-mail to study families and offers strategies to address them. Specifically, the unique nature of issues related to sampling and data collection are addressed. Suggested adjustments and strategies include the use of insiders' consultation, securing opportunities for all family members to voice their views, creating paths for expressing content typically conveyed nonverbally, letting respondents control the pace and shape of the dialogue, creating a virtual shared reality and informing participants about measures to protect their privacy. Directions for future research are offered.     

Integration or transformation? Looking in the future of Information and Communication Technology in education in Vietnam

Over the last two decades, crucial factors for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in education have improved significantly in Vietnam. Nevertheless, it is clear that, as in other countries, no educational revolution is taking place. We argue that there is a need for a broad dialogue on the future of ICT in education in Vietnam as discussion of ideas about future possibilities can be instrumental in rationalizing and generating educational change. We explore how a group of key players representing the public and private sector as well as development partners in the field look at the future of ICT in education in the country. Following the Delphi method, these key players assessed in different survey rounds the current situation of ICT in education, identified a series of targets and were asked to assess these targets in respect of their importance. The key players reached a consensus that the purpose of technology integration is to achieve learning goals and enhance learning. However, there is more controversy on targets that could potentially transform education practice in Vietnam. We discuss the value of the Delphi technique and argue for increased participation of all involved stakeholders in policy development on ICT in education.     

Networks,Communication and the Irish Protestant Diaspora in Northern England,c.1860–1914

This study seeks to explore transnational communication among migrants of the Irish diaspora through an examination of the Orange Order's networks. It draws upon rare local and district records and press accounts to explain the migratory links and social worlds of Orange emigrants from Ulster. The substance of the study echoes the findings of Canadian historians who have much richer records than exist in the public domain in Britain. It demonstrates how Orangemen in Ireland came to recognise the diasporic dimension of their movement, and how members used the Order to negotiate some of the pathways of migration that were an important feature of their lives, and in the lives of the working class more generally. The essay generally seeks to demonstrate that the Orange Order acted as a network of friendship, camaraderie and support for emigrants and immigrants in the British World in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.