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While depression communication in romantic relationships has been heavily studied in psychologicalbased research, there is a lack of research grounded in communication theory. By using Relational Dialectics Theory (RDT) as a framework, communicative tensions were explored within relationships where one partner suffered from depression. Through eleven semi-structured interviews with both depressed and non-depressed individuals in a relationship, two major dialectical tensions emerged. Findings suggested that couples with a depressed partner faced unique and challenging tensions including involvement/distance and openness/closedness. Implications, limitations, and future research directions are addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CASE DESCRIPTION The primary subject matter of this case concerns how organizational culture and climate impact new leaders in an organization, particularly in an educational institution. Secondary issues examined include [...]

This study applies a three component model of communication competence (motivation, knowledge, and skill) within an organizational context and analyzes the relationship between job performance, position level, and communication competence. […]

This study examined the relationships between family communication patterns surrounding conformity and helicopter parenting. One hundred eighty-two young adults completed questionnaires measuring their family's warm and cold conformity communication patterns and degree of helicopter parenting. Multiple regression analysis revealed that cold conformity and warm conformity explained a significant amount of variance in helicopter parenting. Implications and directions for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This case study analyzed Twitter posts from the #JusticeForBradsWife campaign against the Cracker Barrel (CB) restaurant chain. Participants in the counterinstitutional movement employed diverse message strategies of humor and resistance in using social media as a site for discourse. Thematic analysis of the most influential users revealed humor strategies including: connecting to popular culture, political comic relief and using hyperbole. Participants' resistance strategies included: making calls for action, critiquing CB products and business partners, attacking CB patrons, critiquing CB's social media management, and offers of support from outside organizations. These strategies reflected collective trolling, where trolling behaviors created a hidden and public hybrid form of collective resistance from nontraditional stakeholders who had contradictory goals. Implications and directions for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) achieve desired outcomes by fostering organizational identification. However, little research has explored how identification with the cause or the recipients of support relates to identification with the NPO. This study developed the Identification with Social Causes Scale as a mechanism for distinguishing organizational identification from identification with a social group or cause. Data were collected using two groups: the homeless (n = 318) and HIV positive (n = 314) individuals. Exploratory factor analysis and multigroup confirmatory factor analysis yielded a 9-item scale measuring two dimensions: attachment and consubstantiality. Initial construct validity of the scale was established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores graduate assistant dissent expression and identifies the triggers and influences on decisions to approach or avoid dissent. Qualitative analysis of 18 master's-level graduate assistant interviews revealed issues of autonomy, ideas for change, and university procedures as dissent triggers. Graduate assistants made decisions to approach or avoid dissent based on personal characteristics, supervisor relationships, and department openness to communication. Finally, graduate assistants' role identifications as student or employee framed their dissent expressions. Findings, implications, and future directions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to identify the targets, strategies, and topics of deception employed in the workplace among part-time service workers. Design/methodology/approach - A taxonomy of deception strategies is used to content analyze 259 narrative accounts of part-time student employees over two work shifts using Cohen's kappa to measure interrater reliability. Chi-square analysis is used to determine significant differences between deception strategies and deception targets. Findings - Employees overwhelmingly concealed information and lied primarily to supervisors and customers. Employees deceived in order to cover or protect emotions, evade work, cover mistakes or policy violations, and mislead customers in order to increase sales, commission, or gratuities. Research limitations/implications - Determining the most salient strategies employed becomes clearer if the deception account describes or reveals the employee's motivation to deceive. Future research should consider motivation of the deceiver and might compare the deception strategies of part-time and full-time employees of varying levels of skill, organizational commitment, and role conflict. Practical implications - This study provides rich examples of the ethically compromising situations in which young workers find themselves, discusses the impact of workplace structures on deception and the importance of socializing young workers on honest organizational practices. Originality/value - As young workers enter the workforce they are confronted with opportunities to deceive and they do so for a wide variety of reasons. Little work has been done within the organizational context investigating the most common deception strategies employed or the contextual factors influencing the use of deception among full-time employees much less young, part-time employees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study replicated a previous research project addressing connections between family-of-origin communication and organizational dissent expression. We predicted that family communication patterns (FCPs), specifically conversation and conformity orientations, would predict upward, lateral, and displaced dissent. As in the original study, significant findings emerged for upward dissent and conformity orientation. This replication study indicated family type as an inconsistent predictor of expressed dissent. Contrary to the original study, we found no evidence to support a connection between pluralistic family types and upward dissent. Finally, as an extension of the original study we analyzed effects of FCPs on displaced dissent, finding an inverse association with conversation orientation. Implications for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the need to understand and identify effective data-driven strategies for the communication challenges faced by schools associated with school shootings has become paramount. The current study reports findings from 10 face-to-face interviews conducted with school crisis team members at the P–12 level who experienced school shooting events. The findings, which extend discourse of renewal theory, identify six primary communication-related challenges that districts face postcrisis and offer effective strategies for overcoming these challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including a study of fruit and vegetable consumption among African Americans, teachers' use of social media with students, and the integration of service learning in a group communication course.

In recent years, the need to study the communication challenges schools face during crises has become essential. The current study included semi-structured interviews with 56 crisis team members from 21 P–12 districts. Participants identified the social media challenges and strategies districts employ during crisis events. Implications for scholars and P–12 administrators are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]