Jennifer A. Samp - Communicating Interpersonal Conflict in Close Relationships: Contexts, Challenges, and Opportunities

Communicating Interpersonal Conflict in Close Relationships

Communicating Interpersonal Conflict in Close Relationships: Contexts, Challenges, andOpportunities provides a state-of-the-art review of research on conflict in close personal relationships. This volume brings together both seasoned and new voices in communication research to address the challenges in evaluating conflict. Contributors review the current state of research on themes related to power, serial arguments, interpersonal and family dynamics, physiological processes, and mechanisms of forgiveness by presenting theoretical reviews, original unpubli-shed data-driven research, and discussions about the methodological challenges and opportunities in studying interpersonal conflict.

An essential resource for graduate students and faculty interested in interpersonal conflict in close relationships between romantic partners, families, or friends, this volume is intended for advanced coursework and individual study in communication, social psychology, and close relationship scholarship.

Jennifer A. Samp is Professor of Communication Studies at the University of Georgia, USA.

COMMUNICATING INTERPERSONAL CONFLICT IN CLOSE RELATIONSHIPS

Contexts, Challenges, and Opportunities

Edited by Jennifer A. Samp

First published 2017

by Routledge

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and by Routledge

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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2017 Taylor & Francis

The right of Jennifer A. Samp to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him/her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Names: Samp, Jennifer A., editor.

Title: Communicating interpersonal conflict in close relationships : contexts, challenges, and opportunities / edited by Jennifer A. Samp.

Description: New York, NY : Routledge, 2016.

Identifiers: LCCN 2015049236 (print) | LCCN 2016005762 (ebook) | ISBN 9781138774896 (hardback) | ISBN 9781138774902 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781315774237 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Interpersonal conflict. | Interpersonal relations. | Interpersonal communication.

Classification: LCC BF637.I48 .C626 2016 (print) | LCC BF637.I48 (ebook) | DDC 158.2--dc23

ISBN: 978-1-138-77489-6 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-138-77490-2 (pbk)

ISBN: 978-1-315-77423-7 (ebk)

Jennifer A. Samp, Ph.D., is Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Georgia. Using survey, real-time, and laboratory-based observational methods, her work illuminates how and why individuals do not always respond the same way when managing relational problems and conflicts with close friends, romantic partners and family members. She is a Fellow of the University of Georgia Owens Institute for Behavioral Research, a Faculty Affiliate of the University of Georgia Center for Risk Communication, and a Faculty Affiliate of the Emory University Center for Injury Control. Her research has been supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, UGA Research Foundation, UGA Owens Institute for Behavioral Research, and the Arthur W. Page Center.

Gordon Abra, Ph.D., is a Lecturer in Sociology and Communication at the University of California Santa Barbara. He has co-authored articles on social power, and is currently looking at the way in which power is distributed in dyads as well as the effects of power distribution across different relational domains. He teaches courses in the sociology of crime and law, social psychology, and social scientific research methods.

Tamara D. Afifi, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her research focuses on communication patterns that foster risk and resiliency in families and other interpersonal relationships, with particular emphasis on, first, information regulation (privacy, secrets, disclosures, avoidance, stress contagion); and, second, on how people communicate when they are stressed and how these communication patterns harm and/or help personal and relational health. Her research examines how environmental factors (e.g., divorce, refugee camps, natural disasters, balancing work and family, chronic illness, obesity, daily stress, the Great Recession) interact with family members communication patterns (e.g., conflict, stressful disclosures, social support, avoidance, verbal rumination, communal coping) to affect stress, adaptation, growth, and physical/mental/relational health. Professor Afifi has received numerous research awards, including the Young Scholar Award from the International Communication Association in 2006 and the Brommel Award for a distinguished career of research in family communication from the National Communication Association in 2011. She is also editor elect of Communication Monographs.

Jess K. Alberts, Ph.D., is Presidents Professor and Director of the Conflict Transformation Project for the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication at Arizona State University (Tempe). Her research interests focus on conflict in personal and professional relationships. Her current work examines marital conflict and the division of domestic labor, married couples conflict and daily interaction, workplace bullying, community mediation and work/life balance.

Lindsey Susan Aloia, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Communication at the University of Arkansas. Her research focuses on illuminating the causes and consequences of verbal aggression in interpersonal associations. Specifically, Lindsey aims to understand how qualities of interpersonal interactions and the interactants influence the use of and reactions to verbally aggressive experiences. Her work considers psychological and physiological reactions to verbal aggression, to elucidate the personal, relational, and health implications of aggressive communication.

Patricia Amason, Ph.D., is Associate Professor and Associate Chair in the Department of Communication at the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville. Her current research focuses on the role communication plays in excellent healthcare delivery. Professor Amasons research has been published in Communication Yearbook 10, Communication Studies, Journal of Applied Communication Research, Health Communication, and the Journal of Thought.

Erin D. Basinger, M.A., is a doctoral student in the Department of Communication at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She studies interpersonal and family communication, focusing specifically on how people cope with stressors alongside their family members and other relational partners.

Jennifer L. Bevan