Communication Commons^™

Coalitions Matter: Citizenship, Women, And Quota Adoption In Africa, Alice Kang, Aili Mari Tripp

Department of Political Science: Faculty Publications

We provide new theory and evidence of the role of domestic women’s coalitions in the adoption of gender quotas. Previous research has shown the importance of women’s movements to policy change. We show that specific types of mobilization, often multiethnic in character, are a more precise way of describing these influences. Using a new dataset of coalitions in 50 countries in Africa (1989–2014), we first examine where coalitions are likely to emerge. Controlling for factors that correlate with their formation, we find that when domestic women’s organizations form a coalition for quotas, governments are more likely to adopt them and …

“Feeling Warmth And Close To Her”: Communication And Resilience Reflected In Turning Points In Positive Adult Stepchild–Stepparent Relationships, Dawn O. Braithwaite, Vincent R. Waldron, Jordan Allen, Bailey Oliver, Gretchen Bergquist, Katie Storck, Jaclyn S. Marsh, Nathan Swords, Carol L. Tschampl-Diesing

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

With the goal of understanding the development of positive stepchild–stepparent relationships, the researchers focused on turning points characterizing the interaction of adult stepchildren who have a positive bond with a stepparent. Engaging a relational turning points perspective, 38 stepchildren (males and females, ages 25 to 52 years old) who reported a positive stepparent relationship were interviewed, generating 269 turning points which were categorized into 15 turning point types and coded by valence. Turning points occurring most frequently were: prosocial actions, quality time, conflict/ disagreement, changes in household/family composition, and rituals. Findings are discussed, including implications for developing and enacting resilient …

“Say Something Instead Of Nothing”: Adolescents’ Perceptions Of Memorable Conversations About Sex-Related Topics With Their Parents, Amanda Holman, Jody Koenig Kellas

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

This study examined adolescents’ (n = 389) perceptions of parent– adolescent communication about sex, including what their parents say about sex, what types of conversations adolescents report as memorable, the degree to which messages are perceived as effective, and how parental messages predict adolescents’ sexual attitudes and behaviors. Six conversation types emerged: underdeveloped, safety, comprehensive talk, warning/ threat, wait, and no talk. When adolescents were asked to report how those could have been improved, five types emerged from the analysis of their responses: no change, be more specific/provide guidance, talk to me, appropriateness, and collaborate …

Community Health Worker Employer Survey: Perspectives On Chw Workforce Development In The Midwest, Virginia Chaidez, Angela L. Palmer-Wackerly, Kate Trout

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

A statewide Community Health Worker Employer Survey was administered to various clinical, community, and faith-based organizations (n = 240) across a range of rural and urban settings in the Midwest. At least 80% of participants agreed or strongly agreed that items characterized as supervisory support were present in their work environment. Thirty-six percent of respondents currently employed CHWs, over half (51%) of survey respondents reported seeing the need to hire/work with more CHWs, and 44% saw the need for CHWs increasing in the future. Regarding CHW support, a majority of respondents indicated networking opportunities (63%), paid time for networking (80%), …

The Wounded Man: Foxcatcher And The Incoherence Of White Masculine Victimhood, Casey Ryan Kelly

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

American cinema has recently favored representations of white men as victims of socioeconomic and political change. Recent scholarship on white masculinity suggests that representations of male victimhood enable white men to disavow that hegemonic white masculinity still fundamentally structures society. This essay argues that Hollywood’s wounded man similarly provides white masculinity with stable footing. I illustrate how the unintelligibility of screen masculinity evades criticism and, further, how melancholic male dramas nurture a traumatic attachment to victimhood. Examining the film Foxcatcher (2014), I show how unmasked portraits of white male victimhood function as counterparts to the hard-bodied action hero. The filmmaker’s …

Relational Uncertainty Management In Adult Children Of Divorce, Sylvia L. Mikucki-Enyart, Sarah R. Petitte, Sarah E. Wilder

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

Utilizing uncertainty management theory (UMT) and a multiple goals theory of personal relationships (MGPR) the present study examined how adult children of divorce (ACOD) manage relational uncertainty following parental divorce. In-depth, semistructured interviews with 25 adult children who had experienced parental divorce when they were 18 years of age or older revealed two broad types of information acquisition strategies: deliberate (i.e., information-seeking and information-avoiding) and incidental (i.e., incidental information acquisition). Deliberate information acquisition strategies were animated by several goals, including reducing and maintaining uncertainty, avoiding feeling caught, and protection. Alongside goals, various constraints (e.g., target efficacy, coping efficacy) played a …

Discourses Of Forgiveness And Resilience In Stepchild–Stepparent Relationships, Vincent R. Waldron, Dawn O. Braithwaite, Bailey M. Oliver, Dayna N. Kloeber, Jaclyn S. Marsh

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

Challenges and conflicts experienced by stepfamilies are well documented, but researchers are increasingly focused on communication processes that facilitate resilience in these relationships. In other contexts, communicating forgiveness has been linked to relational healing after transgressions or adversity. In the current study, the researchers sought to understand how stepchildren talk about the role of forgiveness in the development of positive adult stepchild–stepparent relationships. Data were drawn from interviews with adult stepchildren who have a positive relationship with a stepparent. Following an interpretive analysis, the researchers identified five themes representing the ways forgiveness was conceptualized and enacted in these positive stepchild–stepparent …

Asset, Liability, Possibility: Metaphors Of Human Difference And The Business Case For Diversity, Jennifer J. Mease (Also Peeksmease), Brittany L. Collins

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

Purpose – This analysis draws on interviews with 19 self-identified US diversity consultants and 94 diversity statements posted on corporate websites. The findings challenge existing literature that characterizes the business case for diversity as monolithic and wholly problematic for the way it constructs understandings of human difference. The authors accomplish this using metaphor analysis to demonstrate how business case arguments incorporate three metaphorical systems for thinking and speaking about human differences – as asset, as liability and as possibility. Given this diversity of metaphors, the business case does not construct human difference in a monolithic way, but in a variety …

The Use Of Zingari/Nomadi/Rom In Italian Crime Discourse, Theresa Catalano

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

This study examines the use of the metonymies zingari/nomadi/rom [Gypsies/Nomads/Roma] in Italian media discourse, in order to critically reflect on their relation to the perception of Roma. The author analyses the frequency of these terms in general discourse and crime discourse, as well as the way they are used in context. The findings reveal that nomadi and rom are used to directly and indirectly index Roma, and have a sig­nificant impact on their ethnicization and criminalization. In addition, the episodic framing of crime events, combined with the use of these metony­mies, erases the Italian government’s responsibility for the conditions of …

What Is My Role In Changing The System? A New Model Of Responsibility For Structural Injustice, Robin Zheng

Women's and Gender Studies Program: Faculty Publications

What responsibility do individuals bear for structural injustice? Iris Marion Young has offered the most fully developed account to date, the Social Connections Model. She argues that we all bear responsibility because we each causally contribute to structural processes that produce injustice. My aim in this article is to motivate and defend an alternative account that improves on Young’s model by addressing five fundamental challenges faced by any such theory. The core idea of what I call the Role-Ideal Model is that we are each responsible for structural injustice through and in virtue of our social roles, i.e. our roles …

Resilience In American Indian And Alaska Native Public Health: An Underexplored Framework, Nicolette I. Teufel-Shone, Julie A. Tippens, Hilary C. Mccrary, John E. Ehiri, Priscilla R. Sanderson

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Objective: To conduct a systematic literature review to assess the conceptualization, application, and measurement of resilience in American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) health promotion.

Data Sources: We searched 9 literature databases to document how resilience is discussed, fostered, and evaluated in studies of AIAN health promotion in the United States.

Study Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria: The article had to (1) be in English; (2) peer reviewed, published from January 1, 1980, to July 31, 2015; (3) identify the target population as predominantly AIANs in the United States; (4) describe a nonclinical intervention or original research that identified resilience as …