A multiple goals perspective on topic avoidance and relationship satisfaction in the context of breast cancer

Communication Monographs

Volumn 77, Issue 2, 2010, Pages 231-256

  Donovan Kicken, Erin ^a   Caughlin, John P ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA CHAMPAIGN   (United States)

Author keywords

Cancer; Coping; Marriage; Satisfaction; Topic avoidance

Indexed keywords

EID: 77952540428     PISSN: 03637751     EISSN: 14795787     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/03637751003758219     Document Type: Article

References (91)

1. Afifi, T. D. (2003). "Feeling caught" in stepfamilies: Managing boundary turbulence through appropriate privacy coordination rules. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 20, 729-756.
2. Afifi, T. D., Caughlin, J. P., & Afifi, W. A. (2007). The dark side (and light side) of avoidance and secrets. In B. H. Spitzberg & W. R. Cupach (Eds.), The dark side of interpersonal communication (2nd ed., pp. 61-92). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
3. Aiken, L. S., & West, S. G. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
4. American Cancer Society. (2005). Breast cancer facts & figures 2005-2006. Atlanta, GA: American Cancer Society.
5. Arrington, M. I. (2005). "She's right behind me all the way": An analysis of prostate cancer narratives and changes in family relationships. Journal of Family Communication, 5, 141-162.
6. Austin, J. T., & Vancouver, J. B. (1996). Goal constructs in psychology: Structure, process, and content. Psychological Bulletin, 120, 338-375.
7. Badr, H., & Taylor, C. L. C. (2006). Social constraints and spousal communication in lung cancer. Psycho-Oncology, 15, 673-683.
8. Baider, L., & Sarell, M. (1984). Couples in crisis: Patient-spouse differences in perception of interaction patterns and the illness situation. Family Therapy, 11, 115-122.
9. Baxter, L. A., & Wilmot, W. W. (1985). Taboo topics in close relationships. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 2, 253-269.
10. Blumberg, B., Flaherty, M., & Lewis, J. (Eds.). (1980). Coping with cancer: A resource for the health professional. Bethesda, MD: National Cancer Institute.
11. Burish, T. G., Meyerowitz, B. E., Carey, M. P., & Morrow, G. R. (1987). The stressful effects of cancer in adults. In A. Baum & J. E. Singer (Eds.), Handbook of psychology and health (Vol. V, pp. 137-173). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
12. Canary, D. J., & Dainton, M. (2006). Maintaining relationships. In A. L. Vangelisti & D. Perlman (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of personal relationships (pp. 727-743). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
13. Caughlin, J. P. (2003). Family communication standards: What counts as excellent family communication and how are such standards associated with family satisfaction? Human Communication Research, 29, 5-40.
14. Caughlin, J. P., & Afifi, T. D. (2004). When is topic avoidance unsatisfying? Examining moderators of the association between avoidance and dissatisfaction. Human Communication Research, 30, 479-513.
15. Caughlin, J. P., Bute, J. J., Donovan-Kicken, E., Kosenko, K. A., Ramey, M. E., & Brashers, D. E. (2009). Message features influence reactions to HIV disclosures. Health Communication, 24, 270-283.
16. Caughlin, J. P., & Golish, T. D. (2002). An analysis of the association between topic avoidance and dissatisfaction: Comparing perceptual and interpersonal explanations. Communication Monographs, 69, 275-295.
17. Caughlin, J. P., Huston, T. L., & Houts, R. M. (2000). How does personality matter in marriage? An examination of trait anxiety, interpersonal negativity, and marital satisfaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 326-336.
18. Caughlin, J. P., & Vangelisti, A. L. (2000). An individual difference perspective of why married couples engage in the demand/withdraw pattern of conflict. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 17, 523-551.
19. Clark, R. A., & Delia, J. G. (1979). Topoi and rhetorical competence. The Quarterly Journal of Speech, 65, 187-206.
20. Cloven, D. H., & Roloff, M. E. (1993). The chilling effect of aggressive potential on the expression of complaints in intimate relationships. Communication Monographs, 60, 199-219.
21. Cloven, D. H., & Roloff, M. E. (1994). A developmental model of decisions to withhold dating irritations in romantic relationships. Personal Relationships, 1, 143-164.
22. Cohen, J., & Cohen, P. (1983). Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
23. Dakof, G. A., & Taylor, S. E. (1990). Victims' perceptions of social support: What is helpful from whom? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58, 80-89.
24. Daly, J. A., & Wiemann, J. M. (Eds.). (1994). Strategic interpersonal communication. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
25. Derlega, V. J., Metts, S., Petronio, S., & Margulis, S. T. (1993). Self-disclosure. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
26. Dillard, J. P. (1990). A goal-driven model of interpersonal influence. In J. P. Dillard (Ed.), Seeking compliance: The production of interpersonal influence messages (pp. 41-56). Scottsdale, AZ: Gorsuch Scarisbrick.
27. Dillard, J. P., Segrin, C., & Harden, J. M. (1989). Primary and secondary goals in the production of interpersonal influence messages. Communication Monographs, 56, 19-38.
28. Dindia, K., & Allen, M. (1992). Sex differences in self-disclosure: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 112, 106-124.
29. Fincham, F. D., & Bradbury, T. N. (1990). Social support in marriage: The role of social cognition. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 9, 31-42.
30. Fincham, F. D., & Bradbury, T. N. (1992). Assessing attributions in marriage: The relationship attribution measure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62, 457-468.
31. Gilbar, O. I., & Ben-Zur, H. (2002). Cancer and the family caregiver: Distress and coping. Springfield, IL: Thomas.
32. Goldsmith, D. J. (2004). Communicating social support. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
33. Goldsmith, D. J., & Fitch, K. (1997). The normative context of advice as social support. Human Communication Research, 23, 454-476.
34. Goldsmith, D. J., Miller, L. E., & Caughlin, J. P. (2007). Openness and avoidance in couples communicating about cancer. In C. S. Beck (Ed.), Communication Yearbook 31 (pp. 62-115). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
35. Golish, T. D., & Caughlin, J. P. (2002). "I'd rather not talk about it": Adolescents' and young adults' use of topic avoidance in stepfamilies. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 30, 78-106.
36. Gottman, J. M. (1979). Marital interaction: Experimental investigations. New York, NY: Academic Press.
37. Greene, K., Derlega, V. J., Yep, G. A., & Petronio, S. (2003). Privacy and disclosure of HIV in interpersonal relationships: A sourcebook for researchers and practitioners. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
38. Gudykunst, W. B., & Hall, B. J. (1994). Strategies for effective communication and adaptation in intergroup contexts. In J. A. Daly & J. M. Wiemann (Eds.), Strategic interpersonal communication (pp. 225-271). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
39. Guerrero, L. K., & Afifi, W. A. (1995). What parents don't know: Topic avoidance in parent-child relationships. In T. J. Socha & G. H. Stamp (Eds.), Parents, children, and communication: Frontiers of theory and research (pp. 219-245). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
40. Hagedoorn, M., Kuijer, R. G., Buunk, B. P., DeJong, G. M., Wobbes, T., & Sanderman, R. (2000). Marital satisfaction in patients with cancer: Does support from intimate partners benefit those who need it the most? Health Psychology, 19, 274-282.
41. Harrison, J., Maguire, P., & Pitceathly, C. (1995). Confiding in crisis: Gender differences in pattern of confiding among cancer patients. Social Science and Medicine, 41, 1255-1260.
42. Hatfield, E. (1984). The dangers of intimacy. In V. J. Derlega (Ed.), Communication, intimacy, and close relationships (pp. 207-220). Orlando, FL: Academic Press.
43. Hinton, J. (1981). Sharing or withholding awareness of dying between husband and wife. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 25, 337-343.
44. Huston, T. L., McHale, S. M., & Crouter, A. C. (1986). When the honeymoon's over: Changes in the marriage relationship over the first year. In R. Gilman & S. Duck (Eds.), The emerging field of personal relationships (pp. 109-132). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
45. Kayser, K., & Sormanti, M. (2002). A follow-up study of women with cancer: Their psychosocial wellbeing and close relationships. Social Work in Health Care, 35, 391-406.
46. Kelly, A. E. (2002). The psychology of secrets. New York, NY: Plenum.
47. Lepore, S. J. (1997). The social context of coping with chronic stress. In B. Gottlieb (Ed.), Coping with chronic stress (pp. 133-160). New York, NY: Plenum.
48. Lepore, S. J., Allen, K. A. M., & Evans, G. W. (1993). Social support lowers cardiovascular reactivity to an acute stressor. Psychosomatic Medicine, 55, 518-524.
49. Lepore, S. J., & Helgeson, V. S. (1998). Social constraints, intrusive thoughts, and mental health after prostate cancer. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 17, 89-106.
50. Levinger, G. (1983). Development and change. In H. H. Kelley, E. Berscheid, A. Christensen, J. H. Harvey, T. C. Huston, G. Levinger, E. McClintock, L. A. Peplau, & D. R. Peterson (Eds.), Close relationships (pp. 315-359). New York, NY: Freeman.
51. Manne, S. L., Alfieri, T., Taylor, K. L., & Dougherty, J. (1999). Spousal negative responses to cancer patients: The role of social restriction, spouse mood, and relationship satisfaction. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 67, 352-361.
52. Manne, S. L., Dougherty, J., Veach, S., & Kless, R. (1999). Hiding worries from one's spouse: Protective buffering among cancer patients and their spouses. Cancer Research, Therapy, and Control, 8, 175-188.
53. Manne, S. L., Ostroff, J., Sherman, M., Heyman, R. E., Ross, S., & Fox, K. (2004). Couples' supportrelated communication, psychological distress, and relationship satisfaction among women with early stage breast cancer. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 72, 660-670.
54. Manning-Walsh, J. (2005). Social support as a mediator between symptom distress and quality of life in women with breast cancer. Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, and Neonatal Nursing, 34, 482-493.
55. Manusov, V., & Koenig, J. (2001). The content of attributions in couples' communication. In V. Manusov & J. H. Harvey (Eds.), Attribution, communication behavior, and close relationships (pp. 153-172). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
56. Mesters, I., van den Borne, H. G., McCormick, L., Pruyn, J., de Boer, M., & Imbos, T. (1997). Openness to discuss cancer in the nuclear family: Scale, development, and validation. Psychosomatic Medicine, 59, 269-278.
57. Metts, S. (2001). Extending attribution theory: Contributions and cautions. In V. Manusov & J. H. Harvey (Eds.), Attribution, communication behavior, and close relationships (pp. 338-350). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
58. Mols, F., Vingerhoets, A. J. J. M., Coebergh, J. W., & van de Poll-Franse, L. V. (2005). Quality of life among long-term breast cancer survivors: A systematic review. European Journal of Cancer, 41, 2613-2619.
59. Northouse, L. L., Dorris, G., & Charron-Moore, C. (1995). Factors affecting couples' adjustment to recurrent breast cancer. Social Science and Medicine, 41, 69-76.
60. O'Keefe, B. J. (1988). The logic of message design: Individual differences in reasoning about communication. Communication Monographs, 55, 80-103.
61. O'Keefe, B. J. (1990). The logic of regulative communication: Understanding the rationality of message designs. In J. P. Dillard (Ed.), Seeking compliance: The production of interpersonal influence messages (pp. 87-104). Scottsdale, AZ: Gorsuch Scarisbrick.
62. O'Mahoney, J. M., & Carroll, R. A. (1997). The impact of breast cancer and its treatment on marital functioning. Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings, 4, 397-415.
63. Persson, L., Rasmusson, M., & Hallberg, I. R. (1998). Spouses' view during their partners' illness and treatment. Cancer Nursing, 21, 97-105.
64. Petronio, S. (2002). Boundaries of privacy: Dialectics of disclosure. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
65. Pistrang, N., & Barker, C. (1992). Disclosure of concerns in breast cancer. Psycho-Oncology, 1, 183-192.
66. Pistrang, N., & Barker, C. (1995). The partner relationship in psychological response to breast cancer. Social Science and Medicine, 40, 789-797.
67. Pistrang, N., & Barker, C. (2005). How partners talk in times of stress: A process analysis approach. In T. A. Revenson, K. Kayser, & G. Bodenmann (Eds.), Couples coping with stress: Emerging perspectives on dyadic coping (pp. 97-119). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
68. Raush, H. L., Barry, W. A., Hertel, R. K., & Swain, M. A. (1974). Communication, conflict, and marriage. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
69. Rees, C. E., & Bath, P. A. (2000). Exploring the information flow: Partners of women with breast cancer, patients, and healthcare professionals. Oncology Nursing Forum, 27, 1267-1275.
70. Roloff, M. E., & Ifert, D. E. (2000). Conflict management through avoidance: Withholding complaints, suppressing arguments, and declaring topics taboo. In S. Petronio (Ed.), Balancing the secrets of private disclosures (pp. 151-163). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
71. Rosenfeld, L. B. (1979). Self-disclosure avoidance: Why I am afraid to tell you who I am. Communication Monographs, 46, 63-74.
72. Salander, P., & Spetz, A. (2002). How do patients and spouses deal with the serious facts of malignant glioma? Palliative Medicine, 16, 305-313.
73. Schag, C., & Heinrich, R. (1988). Cancer rehabilitation and evaluation system manual. Santa Monica, CA: CARES Consultants.
74. Sillars, A. L. (1998). (Mis)understanding. In B. H. Spitzberg & W. R. Cupach (Eds.), The dark side of relationships (pp. 73-102). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
75. Silver, R. L., & Wortman, C. B. (1980). Coping with undesirable events. In J. Garber & M. E. P. Seligman (Eds.), Human helplessness: Theory and applications. New York, NY: Academic Press.
76. Solomon, D. H. (2001). Affect, attribution, and communication: Uniting interaction episodes and global relationship judgments. In V. Manusov & J. H. Harvey (Eds.), Attribution, communication behavior, and close relationships (pp. 79-90). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
77. Spagnola, S., Zabora, J., BrintzenhofeSzoc, K., Hooker, C., Cohen, G., & Baker, F. (2003). The satisfaction with life domains scale for breast cancer (SLDS-BC). The Breast Journal, 9, 463-471.
78. Tesser, A., & Rosen, S. (1977). Why subjects say they would or would not communicate affectively toned messages. Psychological Reports, 40, 231-240.
79. Tracy, K. (Ed.). (1991). Understanding face-to-face interaction: Issues linking goals and discourse. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
80. Turner, J., Kelly, B., Swanson, C., Allison, R., & Wetzig, N. (2005). Psychosocial impact of newly diagnosed advanced breast cancer. Psycho-Oncology, 14, 396-407.
81. Turner-Cobb, J. M., Sephton, S. E., Koopman, C., Blake-Mortimer, J., & Spiegel, D. (2000). Social support and salivary cortisol in women with metastatic breast cancer. Psychosomatic Medicine, 62, 337-345.
82. Vangelisti, A. L. (2001). Making sense of hurtful interactions in close relationships: When hurt feelings create distance. In V. Manusov & J. H. Harvey (Eds.), Attribution, communication behavior, and close relationships (pp. 38-58). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
83. Wagner, C. D., Bigatti, S. M., & Storniolo, A. M. (2006). Quality of life of husbands of women with breast cancer. Psycho-Oncology, 15, 109-120.
84. Walsh, S. R., Manuel, J. C., & Avis, N. E. (2005). The impact of breast cancer on younger women's relationships with their partner and children. Families, Systems, & Health, 23, 80-93.
85. Wilson, S. R. (2002). Seeking and resisting compliance: Why people say what they do when trying to influence others. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
86. Wilson, S. R., Greene, J. O., & Dillard, J. P. (2000). Introduction to the special issue on message production: Progress, challenges, and prospects. Communication Theory, 10, 135-138.
87. Wood, J. D., & Tombrink, J. (1983). Impact of cancer on sexuality and self-image: A group program for patients and partners. Social Work in Health Care, 8(4), 45-54.
88. Zahlis, E. H., & Shands, M. E. (1993). The impact of breast cancer on the partner 18 months after diagnosis. Seminars in Oncology Nursing, 9, 83-87.
89. Zakowski, S. G., Harris, C., Krueger, N., Laubmeier, K. K., Garrett, S., Flanigan, R., et al. (2003). Social barriers to emotional expression and their relations to distress in male and female cancer patients. British Journal of Health Psychology, 8, 271-286.
90. Zhang, A. Y., & Siminoff, L. A. (2003a). The role of family in treatment decision making by patients with cancer. Oncology Nursing Forum, 30, 1022-1028.
91. Zhang, A. Y., & Siminoff, L. A. (2003b). Silence and cancer: Why do families and patients fail to communicate? Health Communication, 15, 415-429