TY - JOUR
T1 - The evolution of supportive conversations
T2 - Tracking within-discussion changes in support seeking and provision messages
AU - Rains, Stephen A.
AU - Ashtaputre, Anjali
AU - Nemcova, Katerina
AU - Lutovsky, Bethany R.
AU - Tsetsi, Eric
AU - Pavlich, Corey A.
AU - Akers, Chelsie
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors thank the Editor, Dr. Paul Schrodt, and the three anonymous reviewers for their helpful feedback on this project.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 National Communication Association.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Despite widespread agreement about the benefits of social support, much remains to be learned about the dynamic nature of supportive communication. We examined the evolution of supportive conversations by investigating changes within support seeking and provision behaviors over the course of a discussion. Across two existing datasets, the results showed that support seekers’ use of approach behaviors, avoidance behaviors, and exonerating justifications varied systematically during conversations. The prevalence of moderate and low person-centered feedback from support providers also varied across the four quartiles of supportive conversations and in conjunction with support seekers’ change in emotional distress. The results collectively offered evidence that supportive conversations are generally organized in a sequence of four phases.
AB - Despite widespread agreement about the benefits of social support, much remains to be learned about the dynamic nature of supportive communication. We examined the evolution of supportive conversations by investigating changes within support seeking and provision behaviors over the course of a discussion. Across two existing datasets, the results showed that support seekers’ use of approach behaviors, avoidance behaviors, and exonerating justifications varied systematically during conversations. The prevalence of moderate and low person-centered feedback from support providers also varied across the four quartiles of supportive conversations and in conjunction with support seekers’ change in emotional distress. The results collectively offered evidence that supportive conversations are generally organized in a sequence of four phases.
KW - Social support
KW - support seeking
KW - supportive communication
KW - verbal person centeredness
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85117307076&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1080/03637751.2021.1889009
DO - 10.1080/03637751.2021.1889009
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85117307076
VL - 88
SP - 483
EP - 505
JO - Communication Monographs
JF - Communication Monographs
SN - 0363-7751
IS - 4
ER -