Investigates the use and perceived effectiveness of strategies for coping with scary films, coping style, and two dimensions of empathy. Confirms evidence that "blunting" is characterized by distraction or reinterpretation of scary events, whereas "monitoring" is characterized by attention to threat cues. Interprets gender differences in coping as…

Indicates that couple type was significantly related to communication about marital conflict, but that there were neither any clear overall sex differences in communication nor sex differences within couple types. Also indicates that conflict styles are so strongly reciprocal that mutual influence within conversations tends to remove individual…

Data gathered from 208 nonadministrative supervisors and managers at a Midwestern university demonstrated that femininity is closely related to the consideration dimension of leadership style and that masculinity is related to the initiating structure dimension. (PD)

Examines the influence of nonverbal cues and attorney gender on juror impression formation. Concludes that (1) attorney gender may not influence the impression formation process in the courtroom; and (2) delivery styles produce expectations for the appropriateness of disfluencies in speech. (MM)

Student question-asking is essential to the learning process, and yet little is known about this communicative phenomenon. More important, the research that is available suggests that students ask far fewer questions than might be expected by educators. An exploratory study examined 15 college communication classrooms and determined that: (1)…

Attempts to explain perceptual incongruence in coorientation of communication rules by examining the influence of sex composition in superior-subordinate relationships on rules coorientation and communication satisfaction. Indicates that, in mixed-sex dyads, higher levels of communication rules coorientation do not translate into higher levels of…

Examines communicative responses to the highly argumentative person. Finds that the adversary's use of verbal aggression provokes male subjects to be more verbally aggressive, but stimulates female subjects to be more argumentative. (RAE)

Noting inadequacies in previous conceptualizations of gender, a study analyzed students' descriptions of persons they identify as masculine or feminine and of situations in which these persons and the students themselves seem more or less feminine or masculine. Subjects, 83 male and 100 female undergraduate students in communication or psychology…

This paper offers a preliminary examination of literature reviewing sex and gender differences in the five prototypic emotions of fear, anger, sadness, joy, and love. The paper notes that within the literature on sex and gender differences, the terms "sex" and "gender" are often erroneously referred to interchangeably…

Defining communication reticence as anxiousness due to a lack of basic communication skills, a study was conducted to determine (1) whether significant differences exist in the distribution of sex roles between reticent and nonreticent populations, (2) whether reticents and nonreticents differ in masculinity and femininity, and (3) which qualities…

Reports a study of the correlation of linguistic variation with the variables of gender and context specificity in Brazilian Portuguese. The study focused on differences found in the expression of a particular directive by adult middle-class male and female speakers of the Carioca dialect of Rio de Janeiro. (SED)

Results suggest that women tended to find excuses (denial of responsibility) helpful in reducing embarrassment while men tended to find justifications (acceptance of responsibility) more helpful. Discusses the findings in terms of sex roles. (PD)

Examines "girl talk" (a typically female speech event involving long and detailed personal discussions about people, norms, and beliefs). Demonstrates that girl-talk interaction constitutes a temporary community within which norms are cooperatively defined through a painstaking process of negotiation and consensus. (RS)

Argues that the vice presidency is a traditional female role and that nominees must undergo a sublimation process during their candidacy. Analyzes an apparent aberration in public talk about vice presidential candidates and notes the similarity in rhetorical "rules" impacting the candidacy of both Geraldine Ferraro and Dan Quayle. (KEH)

Studies the behaviors of women and men represented in interpersonal arguments in prime-time television dramas. Finds a weak link between actual argument behaviors and those on television, thereby socializing viewers in a manner inconsistent with reality. Suggests that television arguments are guided more by the needs of the medium that a need to…