Topic avoidance, everyday talk, and stress in romantic military and non-military couples

Communication Studies

Volumn 62, Issue 3, 2011, Pages 241-257

  Frisby, Brandi N ^a   Byrnes, Kerry ^b   Mansson, Daniel H ^b   Booth Butterfield, Melanie ^b   Birmingham, Meagan K ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY   (United States)

^b WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Everyday talk; Military; Romantic; Stress; Topic avoidance

Indexed keywords

EID: 79959218701     PISSN: 10510974     EISSN: 17451035     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/10510974.2011.553982     Document Type: Article

References (49)

1. Afifi, T. D., McManus, T., Hutchinson, S., & Baker, B. (2007). Inappropriate parental divorce disclosures, the factors that prompt them, and their impact on parents' and adolescents' well-being. Communication Monographs, 74, 78-102.
2. Afifi, W. A., & Burgoon, J. K. (1998). We never talk about that: A comparison of cross-sex friendships and dating relationships on uncertainty and topic avoidance. Personal Relationships, 5, 255-272.
3. Afifi, W. A., & Guerrero, L. K. (1998). Some things are better left unsaid: Topic avoidance in friendships. Communication Quarterly, 46, 231-249.
4. Allen, E., Rhoades, G., Stanley, S., & Markman, H. (2010). Hitting home: Relationships between recent deployment, posttraumatic stress symptoms, and marital functioning for Army couples. Journal of Family Psychology, 24, 280-288. doi: 10.1037=a0019405
5. Alvarez, L. (2009, January 18). More Americans joining military as jobs dwindle. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com
6. Baxter, L. A. (1986). Gender differences in the heterosexual relationship rules embedded in break-up accounts. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 3, 289-306. doi: 10.1177= 0265407586033003
7. Baxter, L. A. (2004). Relationships as dialogues. Personal Relationships, 11, 1-22. doi: 10.1111= j.1475-6811.2004.00068.x
8. Baxter, L. A., & Bullis, C. (1986). Turning points in developing romantic relationships. Human Communication Research, 12, 469-493. doi: 10.1111=j.1468-2958.1986.tb00088.x
9. Baxter, L. A., & Erbert, L. A. (1999). Perceptions of dialectical contradictions in turning points of development in heterosexual romantic relationships. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 16, 547-569. doi: 10.1177=0265407599165001
10. Bodenmann, G., Charvoz, L., Bradbury, T. N., Bertoni, A., Lafrate, R., Giuliani, C.,Banse, R., and Behling, J. (2007). The role of stress in divorce: A three-nation retrospective study. Journal of Social & Personal Relationships, 24, 707-728.
11. Bolton, E. E., Glenn, D. M., Orsillo, S., Roemer, L., & Litz, B. T. (2003). The relationship between self-disclosure and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder in peacekeepers deployed to Somalia. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 16, 203-210. doi: 10.1023=A:1023754820991
12. Brissette, I., & Cohen, S. (2002). The contribution of individual differences in hostility to the associations between daily conflict, affect, and sleep. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28, 1265-1274. doi: 10.1177=01461672022812011
13. Carpenter, J. C., & Freese, J. J. (1979). Three aspects of self-disclosure as they relate to quality f adjustment. Journal of Personality Assessment, 43, 78-85. doi: 10.1207=s15327752jpa4301_11
14. Carring, V. G., Weems, C. F., & Reiss, A. L. (2007). Stress predicts brain changes in children: A pilot longitudinal study youth stress, post traumatic stress disorder, and the hippocampus. Pediatrics, 119, 509-516.
15. 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, 277-279.
16. Cialdini, R. (1994). Interpersonal influence. In S. Shavitt & T. C. Brock (Eds.), Persuasion: Psychological insights and perspectives (pp. 195-217). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
17. Cialdini, R. B. (2001). Influence: Science and practice (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
18. Cohen, S., Kamarck, T., & Mermelstein, R. (1983). A global measure of perceived stress. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 24, 385-396. doi: 10.2307=2136404
19. CRS Report of Congress. (2008). United States military casualty statistics: Operation Iraqi Freedom and operation enduring freedom. Retrieved from http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RS22452.pdf
20. Dailey, R. M., & Palomares, N. A. (2004). Strategic topic avoidance: An investigation of topic avoidance frequency, strategies used, and relational correlates. Communication Monographs, 71, 471-496. doi: 10.1080=0363452042000307443
21. Doyle, M. E., & Peterson, K. A. (2005). Re-entry and reintegration: Returning home after combat. Psychiatric Quarterly, 76, 361-370.
22. Duck, S. (1994). Meaningful relationships: Talking, sense, and relating. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
23. Finkenauer, C., & Rimé, B. (1998). Keeping emotional memories secret: Health and subjective well-being when emotions are not shared. Journal of Health Psychology, 3, 45-58. doi: 10.1177=135910539800300104
24. Floyd, K. (2002). Human Affection Exchange: V. Attributes of the highly affectionate. Communication Quarterly, 50, 135-152.
25. Floyd, K., & Riforgiate, S. (2008). Affectionate communication received from spouses predicts tress hormone levels in healthy adults. Communication Monographs, 75, 351-368.
26. Goff, B., Crow, J., Reisbig, A., & Hamilton, S. (2009). The impact of soldiers' deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan: Secondary traumatic stress in female partners. Journal of Couple & Relationship Therapy, 8, 291-305. doi: 10.1080=15332690903246085
27. Goldsmith, D. J., & Baxter, L. A. (1996). Constituting relationships in talk: A taxonomy of speech events in social and personal relationships. Human Communication Research, 23, 87-114. doi: 10.1111=j.1468-2958.1996.tb00388.x
28. Hawkins, A. J., Blanchard, V. L., Baldwin, S. A., & Fawcett, E. B. (2008). Does marriage and relationship education work? A meta-analytic study. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 76, 723-734. doi: 10.1037=a0012584
29. Huber, C. H. (1983). Feelings of loss in response to divorce: Assessment and intervention. Personnel and Guidance Journal, 61, 357-361.
30. Joseph, A., & Afifi, T. D. (2009, November). Military wives' stressful disclosures to their deployed husbands: The role of protective buffering. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Communication Association, Chicago, IL.
31. Kelley, D. L., & Waldron, V. R. (2005). An investigation of forgiveness: Seeking communication and relational outcomes. Communication Quarterly, 53, 339-358. doi: 10.1080=01463370500101097
32. Kim, I., Kawamura, A., Jerney-Davis, M., Kim, R., Raphael, D., & Lau, J. (2005, May). Relational maintenance during deployment: Communication between spouses. Paper presented at the International Communication Association Conference, New York, NY.
33. Knobloch, L., & Carpenter-Theune, K. (2004). Topic avoidance in developing romantic relationships. Communication Research, 31, 173-205. doi: 10.1177=0093650203261516
34. Markman, H. J., Floyd, F. J., Stanley, S. M., & Storaasli, R. D. (1988). Prevention of marital distress: A longitudinal investigation. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 56, 210-217. doi: 10.1037=0022-006X.56.2.210
35. Merolla, A. J. (2010a). Relational maintenance and non-co-presence reconsidered: Conceptualizing geographic separation in close relationships. Communication Theory, 20, 169-193.
36. Merolla, A. J. (2010b). Relational maintenance during military deployment: Perspectives of wives of deployed US soldiers. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 38, 4-26.
37. Merolla, A., & Steinberg, D. (2007, May). Relationship maintenance during military deployment: A qualitative analysis of U.S. military-affiliated romantic relationships. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, San Francisco, CA.
38. Mmari, K., Roche, K., Sudhinaraset, M., & Blum, R. (2009). When a parent goes off to war: Exploring the issues faced by adolescents and their families. Youth & Society, 40, 455-475.
39. Monson, C. M., Taft, C. T., & Fredman, S. J. (2009). Military-related PTSD and intimate relationships: From description to theory-driven research and intervention development. Clinical Psychology Review, 29, 707-714.
40. Rabb, D., Baumer, R., & Wieseler, N. (1993). Counseling army reservists and their families during Operation Desert Shield=Storm. Community Mental Health Journal, 29, 441-447. doi: 10.1007=BF00754412
41. Rawlins, W. K. (1983). Negotiating close friendship: The dialectic of conjunctive freedoms. Human Communication Research, 9, 255-266. doi: 10.1111=j.1468-2958.1983.tb00698.x
42. Renick, M. J., Blumberg, S. L., & Markman, H. J. (1992). The Prevention and Relationship Education Program (PREP): An empirically based preventative intervention program for couples. Family Relations, 41, 141-147.
43. Sahlstein, E., Maguire, K. C., & Timmerman, L. (2009). Contradictions and praxis contextualized by wartime deployment: Wives' perspectives revealed through relational dialectics. Communication Monographs, 76, 421-442. doi: 10.1080=03637750903300239
44. Schrodt, P., Soliz, J., & Braithwaite, D. O. (2008). A social relations model of everyday talk and relational satisfaction in stepfamilies. Communication Monographs, 75, 190-217. doi: 10.1080=03637750802023163
45. Schumm, W. R., Silliman, B., & Bell, B. B. (2000). Perceived premarital counseling outcomes among recently married army personnel. Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy, 26, 177-186.
46. Stanley, S. M., Allen, E. S., Markman, H. J., Saiz, C. C., Bloomstrom, G., Thomas, R., Schumm W. R. and Bailey, A. E.(2005). Dissemination and evaluation of marriage education in the army. Family Processes, 44, 187-201. doi: 10.1111=j.1545-5300.2005.00053.x
47. U.S. Department of Defense. (2004). Military phone card donation program goes public. Retrieved from http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=7291
48. Wood, S., Scarville, J., & Gravino, K. S. (1995). Waiting wives: Separation and reunion among Army wives. Armed Forces and Society, 21, 217-326. doi.org=10.1177=0095327X9502100204
49. Yalcin, B. M., & Karahan, T. F. (2007). Effects of a couple communication program on marital adjustment. Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, 20, 36-44. doi: 10.3122= jabfm.2007.01.060053