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Racial microaggressions are a significant source of stress for people of color. This study identified two support message features for disarming the effects of racial microaggressions and tested reasons for their effectiveness. In a between-groups design, Black/African Americans ( n = 387), and Asian Americans ( n = 374) evaluated a support message crafted by a friend in response to one of six racial microaggressions. Participants perceived high person-centered, racial identity-affirming, and combination support messages as more effective and collective self-esteem enhancing than low quality message versions. Person-centered emotional support and combination messages were partly related to enhanced collective self-esteem through cognitive reappraisal and reattribution, while racial identity affirmation message quality was partly related to enhanced collective self-esteem through reattribution. Conditional process analyses determined that indirect effects were not contingent on participants' race. Practical and theoretical implications of studying support messages to address racial microaggressions are discussed.

Previous cross-cultural mate preference studies have employed researcher-generated lists of traits constructed from Western samples. Yet people from different cultures may prefer traits that do not appear on the lists. Unexamined, too, is the importance of relational communication characteristics and filial piety in partner preferences. To examine similarities and differences in mate preferences, two studies were conducted with 277 college students from China and the United States. In Study I, responses from an open-ended question indicated that both groups listed honesty, physical attractiveness, ambitious and considerateness as preferred traits. Chinese students listed filial piety as one of their three most preferred traits in a partner. Study 2 explored the relative importance of students' preferred traits. As hypothesized, Chinese students valued social status and filial piety more highly than US students. Both groups preferred the relational communication traits of steadfast support and authentic ity over social status and physical attractiveness

The theory of the niche predicts that a new medium will compete with established media for consumer satisfaction, consumer time, and / or consumer advertising dollars. Competition between e-mail and telephone use was measured in this study at the level of gratifications derived by consumers. Gratifications and gratification opportunities (consumers' beliefs that a medium allows them to obtain greater opportunities for satisfaction) were derived from an analysis of open-ended questions. A second sample was interviewed by telephone and rated both mediums on gratification and gratification-opportunity scales. Forty-eight percent of respondents reported using the phone less since they adopted e-mail. Results indicate that a wider spectrum of needs is being served by the telephone, whereas e-mail provides greater gratification opportunities. The results indicate competition, but also indicate that the two mediums are not close substitutes.

Two experiments ( n = 605) utilize equivocal communication theory to understand the effects of nonstraightforward communication in organizational discourse, specifically in initial spokesperson responses to organizational crises. In a first experiment, young adults rated equivocal and nonequivocal spokesperson responses to corporate crisis situations that either contained or did not contain an avoidance-avoidance goal conflict. As predicted, equivocal messages were both viewed as appropriate messages to use and associated with two measures of corporate reputation in avoidance-avoidance situations. By contrast, nonequivocal messages were viewed as more appropriate to use and associated with corporate reputation in non—avoidance-avoidance situations. Experiment 2 essentially replicated these findings and showed that the effect of nonequivocal and equivocal messages on perceived corporate reputation is partially mediated by how well the messages are perceived to handle goal conflicts in crisis situations.

Abstract: Using theories of stigma (Goffman, 1963) and media frames (Iyengar, 1991), 292 news stories pertaining to adoption that appeared on major broadcast networks between 2001 and 2004 were analyzed. Media coverage of adoptees contained more problematic than positive depictions. Although birth parents were not always depicted, adoptive parent and adoptive family depictions were more positive than problematic. Fourteen percent of the news stories contained stigmatizing claims without refuting these claims. Stories that contained stigmatizing claims were more likely to use human interest, conflict, and morality frames. News coverage of reunions, open adoptions, and adoption recommendations is beginning to show a more forward view of adoption. Recommended programs for adoption education are included.