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As adolescents transition to adulthood, they must navigate rapid changes in their brains and bodies, as well as new dynamics within their families. By applying and extending confirmation theory, this paper demonstrates how parental confirmation within a conversation about a teen's self-disappointment is related to teens' emotion regulation. Results from a study of 94 parent-adolescent dyads revealed the types of everyday events that elicit self-disappointment for teens. In conversations about these events, parental acceptance was positively associated with their affective improvement, conversation positivity, and perceived understanding, whereas parental challenge was positively associated with teens' reappraisal of the disappointing event. Both theoretical and practical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this article is to clarify the conditions under which intensity of hurt influences how much people distance themselves from hurtful friends or dating partners. This article draws on appraisal theories of emotion, which explain both the causes and consequences of emotions, to derive predictions about the role of variables relevant to hurtful episodes. The authors replicate previous research designs for the study of hurtful messages to test the hypotheses and research questions. Results reveal significant main effects for intensity of hurt, perceived intentionality, relational quality, and frequency of hurt on relational distancing. Additionally, perceived intentionality and frequency of hurt moderated the association between intensity of hurt and relational distancing, contingent on the respondent's sex and the type of relationship. The discussion highlights the utility of appraisal theories of emotion as a framework for the study of hurtful experiences. Keywords: hurtful messages: hurt: emotion; appraisal theory

Telling stories allows individuals to make sense of, and cope with, everyday life. Yet, not all tales are equally tellable. This study explores experiences of parents who possess an untellable tale of parenthood with the goal of further understanding how these narratives are utilized for coping. The grand theme of Intrapersonal Communication Strategies emerged with two sub-themes: Internal Narrative Reflection, and Internal Narrative Reframing. Interpersonal Communication Strategies emerged with four sub-themes: Tell the Untellable, Tell a Therapist, Write the Untellable, and Tell an Alternative Tale. We explicate these (sub)themes and explain how the findings further scholarship about generative and redemptive narratives, and tellability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the existence and outcomes of support gaps between perceptions of desired and received support surrounding conversations about coping with a relational transgression. Support gaps were measured immediately surrounding an interaction between 50 transgressed individuals and a third-party personal network member. Participants generally desired more support than they received across all types of support considered in this study. Findings show surpluses in esteem support were associated with less anger and dejection stemming from the transgression, whereas surpluses in emotional support corresponded with less motivation to avoid the transgressor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the supportive communication people receive from others during stressful times can be helpful, it can also result in negative outcomes. One explanation for these different effects might be how closely the support people receive matches their desires. This study extends optimal matching theory and examines how the discrepancy between the support people want and what they receive (called support gaps) corresponds with hurt feelings, perceived negative relational consequences, and esteem improvement. People can either receive less support than the desire (i.e., be under-benefited) or receive more support than they desire (i.e., be over-benefited), and these different types of support gaps produce distinct patterns of results. Specifically, action-facilitating support, which includes informational and tangible support, and nurturant support, which includes emotional, esteem, and network support, were studied. Results showed that being over-benefited in informational support and being under-benefited in emotional and esteem support is hurtful, and hurt corresponded with negative relational consequences and reduced esteem improvement. Implications for research on support gaps and hurt feelings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A major stressor faced by many people in their lifetime is a cancer diagnosis; however, cancer patients often report instances of people they know who never communicated emotional support regarding their diagnosis. The present study explored reasons potential supporters gave for not providing emotional support to others they knew who had recently been diagnosed with cancer. Sixteen reasons emerged and were categorized across four higher-order categories: Reasons related to the source, the recipient, the relationship, and the context. People providing source- and recipient-based reasons had higher relational closeness scores, and closeness was also related to greater expectation for providing support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Framed in the uncertainty literature, the present study explores the uncertainty issues and management practices of adult children who are in the estrangement process with their parents. Results from 52 narrative interviews reveal six types of uncertainty and six management processes. Taken together, results suggest that the estrangement process is marked by chronic uncertainty that can serve multiple functions. Theoretical implications and practical applications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Guided by communication privacy management theory and appraisal theories of emotion this study examined how emotions (hurt, anger, and fear) and communicative responses (approach and withdrawal strategies) to boundary turbulence correspond with relational outcomes. A community sample of individuals (N = 273) reported on instances when another person mishandled their private information. Results showed that hurt, anger, fear, distancing, and a combination of anger and distributive responses all corresponded with relational damage, whereas integrative responses and anger were associated with relational improvement. Taken together, our study provides evidence that boundary turbulence does not have to be a negative experience and can actually result in improved relational functioning. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study examines relational messages as predictors of hurt, using both self-report indicators of hurt and biological markers of stress reactivity to a hurtful interaction. Hypotheses predict that perceptions of involvement, composure, and receptivity increase feelings of hurt, whereas perceptions of similarity, affiliation, and informality decrease hurt. Participants (N = 91) engage in two 5-minute conversations with a romantic partner about core traits and values. The partner is coached to be disconfirming and hurtful during the second conversation about the participant's core traits or values. Following the interaction, participants report their level of hurt and their perceptions of the conversation and give saliva samples to measure cortisol. The hypotheses are partially supported, such that perceptions of affiliation and informality are negatively associated with hurt feelings. Furthermore, self-reported hurt feelings are positively associated with increases in salivary cortisol. Affiliation and receptivity also have direct effects on the stability of cortisol change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]