Finds that those undergraduate students who need to improve their performance the most were least likely to seek feedback and were also lower in self-esteem and self-efficacy. (SR)

Examines whether preschool children take the gender of the addressee into account when disputing during peer exchanges. Finds that both boys and girls modified their language use in mixed-sex groups, with boys using fewer commands when more girls were present, and girls using more contradictions in mixed-sex than same-sex groups. (SR)

Describes important resources for discovering sites for communication research related to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), to help identify appropriate companies and contact them. (SR)

A survey of 140 school districts in the border states of California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas about techniques for reaching Hispanic parents elicited responses from 48 school officials. Advice includes: write letters and other material in Spanish as well as English, employ bilingual school personnel, and schedule parent-teacher meetings…

Investigates how ethnic identity is related to the issues that emerge in interethnic conversations. Examines issues related to communication satisfaction for African Americans and for European Americans and how relational closeness affects these relationships. Compares the two groups. (SR)

Examines the impact of social class on the relationship between ideologies of time and mass media use within the family system. Finds that families from different social strata have distinct beliefs about the value and use of time, beliefs that shape their media-related behaviors. (RS)

Presents a mathematical model to explain the public's issue priority by integrating media agenda-setting and social interaction. Finds that the public's issue priority was influenced by both media and social interaction. (RS)

Examines factors contributing to or interfering with the negotiation of meaning between non-English-speaking pupils and English-speaking teachers and peers. Proposes a model of interpretive processing with three hierarchically interrelated levels. Finds that, in certain situations, shared background knowledge is both necessary and sufficient for…

Demonstrates a causal relationship between television portrayals of the ideal body and the distortion of self-perceived body size in a young female audience. (SR)

Surveys existing business communication programs' stated goals, required courses, course content, and department/unit location. Proposes a curriculum for a business communication major that meets business needs, academic concerns, and accreditation requirements. (SR)

Investigates supervisory-subordinate group decision making of eight groups under three conditions: supervisor physically present; present via audio teleconferencing; present via audio/graphics teleconferencing. Finds no significant differences in decision quality, communication style, and participant satisfaction. (SR)

Finds that the two-factor solution of the Argumentativeness Scale and the Verbal Aggressiveness Scale was a reasonable overall fit to samples of both U.S. and Japanese college students; orthogonality of the two constructs (argumentativeness and verbal aggressiveness) held for both samples; and the two scales had satisfactory construct validity for…

Proposes sociological models about dominance and intergroup dynamics as feasible theoretical supplements to psychological models to explain the sources and significance of organizational-level change. Proposes substantive sharing of power with diverse or nontraditional employees hitherto marginalized in U.S. organizations as one potentially…

Suggests that the increase in older adults (as compared to young adults) of uses of ambiguous reference is not caused by age- or cohort-related differences in knowledge structures needed to determine coreference based on plausibility; availability or weighing of strategies for using anaphoric devices; or assumptions about the degree of specificity…

Compares the Group Valence Model (GVM) to several derived versions of the Valence Distribution Model (VDM), as they relate to the group problem-solving process. Suggests that, not withstanding predictive accuracy, the VDM seems generally inferior to the GVM, which consistently accounts for more of the decision-making phenomenon. Discusses…