MFA, Kent State University, 2024, College of Communication and Information / School of Visual Communication Design

Conflict resolution is evolving as an academic field of study, with many new developing theories and practices. Interpersonal conflict comes from interactions between people with real or perceived opposing goals, resources, or viewpoints. From there, people naturally react somewhere on a spectrum of the five conflict styles: competing, collaborating, compromising, accommodating, or avoiding, depending on their level of concern for their needs vs their concern for others' needs. Misunderstanding or miscommunication of these needs and concerns creates significant barriers to conflict resolution. In doing so, individuals may not understand or address the roots of their conflict. For successful conflict resolution, those involved must clearly identify and communicate their issues, reach an understanding, and collaboratively develop solutions to address the sources of that specific conflict. This process relies on communication and collaborative problem-solving. Visual communication design is a valuable resource for problem-solving, sharing information, and providing perspective. There are significant components of conflict resolution based on communication and awareness of an individual's needs and concerns. Miscommunication is a significant barrier in conflict resolution when individuals believe they understand the other without having all the information or understanding concerns and needs from the other's perspectives. Design can play a crucial role in displaying clear communication while creating a user journey to guide through the numerous layers that factor into conflict. Design can create a visual impact to influence new understanding and awareness on both conscious and unconscious levels. This is done by creating new perspectives or motivations through organization and visual messaging to best impact a desired goal. Utilizing interaction design as a tool for communication, can design resolve issues with miscommunication or misinformation as it pertains to navi (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jessica Barness (Committee Chair); Sara Koopman (Committee Member); Ken Visocky O'grady (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Multimedia Communications; Personal Relationships

Master of Arts, Case Western Reserve University, 2023, Psychology

Depression is a powerful risk factor associated with suicidality, but determining who goes on to die by suicide remains unclear. Social support has been identified as a protective factor against suicidality, however the mechanisms involved are not well understood. The current study utilizes a new instrument to measure aspects of social support to determine how they impact the likelihood of dying by suicide. Clinical, diagnostic, and social support factors were measured utilizing psychological autopsy procedures to determine association with cause of death in 100 depressed adults. Results indicated suicide decedents were more likely to be male, experience thoughts of suicide, and experience interpersonal conflict than natural deaths. Natural deaths were more likely to be socially connected than suicide decedents. Socially isolated or conflicted individuals were more likely to experience alcohol abuse and endorse feeling guilty or worthless than socially connected individuals.

Committee: James Overholser Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Arin Connell Ph.D. (Committee Member); Norah Feeny Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology

PHD, Kent State University, 2021, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Psychological Sciences

Friendships are among the most important interpersonal relationships in emerging adulthood. Indeed, high-quality friendships have been linked to increased happiness (Demir et al., 2015) and better adjustment (Barry et al., 2016). The mechanisms that might predict these high-quality friendship experiences are not yet well-established, however. Buhrmester et al. (1988) proposed five domains of interpersonal competence (conflict management; emotional support provision; initiation; self-assertion; self-disclosure); more recent literature has identified forgiveness and gratitude as possible additional interpersonal competencies that might influence close peer relationships (see Algoe, 2012; Worthington et al., 2017). The current study examines the measurement of these seven proposed interpersonal competencies and whether they are related to emerging adults' friendship quality experiences using both in-lab (global) measures and nightly report (daily) measures. Results provide preliminary evidence suggesting that measures of Buhrmester et al.'s (1988) interpersonal competency domains, and the two additional domains of forgiveness and gratitude, are reliable, valid, and are somewhat distinct. Additionally, each of the domains of interpersonal competence was found to be relevant for the quality of emerging adults' friendship experiences, though the relevance of each domain appears to vary depending on whether one is interested in predicting positive or negative friendship experiences, and whether one examines these experiences through global reports or reports of daily experiences.

Committee: Kathryn Kerns (Advisor); Judith Gere (Committee Co-Chair); Angela Neal-Barnett (Committee Member); Nichole Egbert (Committee Member); Molly Merryman (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology

BA, Oberlin College, 2021, Religion

Finding peace in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict has been a daunting and, thus far, impossible task for the past 75 years. Many countries have attempted to negotiate and mediate peace between the two conflict groups, including the United States, Norway, and most Arab nations. With each of these failed attempts, Israelis and Palestinians sank deeper into violence and destruction, believing that retributive justice was the only solution to this conflict. This paper addresses the possibility of a different, non-violent solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict – forgiveness. Forgiveness offers Israelis and Palestinians a path to peace, co-existence, and reconciliation through personal relationships that the conflict has shaped; and allows those affected by the conflict the space to acknowledge their situation and move forward peacefully. By analyzing three personal relationships between Israelis and Palestinians, I will demonstrate that interpersonal forgiveness is the most productive solution to the conflict. I will also stress that forgiveness must be had authentically by all those touched by the conflict such that each Israeli and Palestinian has the opportunity to find peace, co-existence, and reconciliation. Further, this paper provides a means of achieving interpersonal forgiveness by embracing the conditions of forgiveness – understanding, compromise, and recognition.

Committee: Corey Ladd Barnes (Committee Member); Cynthia R. Chapman (Advisor) Subjects: Peace Studies; Regional Studies; Religion

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1983, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects: Education

Master of Arts (M.A.), University of Dayton, 2015, Psychology, Clinical

Perfectionism is a multifaceted construct that has consistently been found to be related to various forms of psychopathology as well as interpersonal problems. The current study aimed to expand our knowledge of this area by examining the relationships between perfectionism (i.e., general perfectionistic concerns, socially-prescribed perfectionism, other-oriented perfectionism, and perfectionistic self-presentation), conflict resolution behaviors, relationship quality, and depression. According to the social disconnection model, perfectionism indirectly leads to adjustment problems (e.g., depression) through interpersonal disconnectedness and conflict (Hewitt, Flett, Sherry, & Caelian, 2006). Eighty-seven undergraduate students were asked to fill out self-report questionnaires to assess these constructs. I hypothesized that negative conflict behaviors and relationship quality would mediate the relationship between maladaptive perfectionism constructs and depression. I also predicted that perfectionistic self-presentation would mediate the association between perfectionistic concerns and depression. Furthermore, I predicted that positive conflict resolution strategies would moderate the relationship between maladaptive perfectionism and depression. The results indicated that negative conflict total scores mediated the relationship between general perfectionistic concerns and depression. In addition, compliance conflict behaviors mediated the relationship between socially-prescribed perfectionism and depression. No support was found for the remaining mediation or moderation hypotheses. Implications of these findings, limitations of the current study, and directions for future research are discussed.

Committee: Catherine Lutz-Zois Ph.D. (Advisor); Lee Dixon Ph.D. (Committee Member); Erin O'Mara Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Clinical Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2015, Psychology

Conflict is an inevitable component of marital relationships. However, conflict can occur in constructive or destructive forms, each of which impacts children exposed to these conflicts in different ways. Previous research suggests that children's exposure to interparental conflict is associated with later psychological adjustment, with exposure to constructive conflict being related to healthy (or positive) functioning and exposure to destructive conflict being linked to maladaptation. Importantly, much of the prior research has explored children's adjustment in terms of externalizing and internalizing problems, neglecting other indicators of adjustment such as interpersonal/relational functioning. Grounded in interpersonal theory, the present study examines how exposure to parents' constructive or destructive conflicts relates to individuals' interpersonal/relational adjustment. Structural equation modeling was used to explore the relationships among exposure to constructive and destructive interparental conflict, emotional insecurity, and interpersonal functioning. It was found that exposure to constructive interparental conflict predicted reduced emotional insecurity, while exposure to destructive interparental conflict predicted greater emotional insecurity. Exposure to both constructive and destructive interparental conflict directly predicted fewer interpersonal problems related to hostile dominance, as well as greater capacities for empathic connection. Exposure to constructive and destructive interparental conflict did not directly predict interpersonal problems related to friendly submission, or the adaptive outcome of relationship security. Emotional insecurity fully mediated the relationships between constructive and destructive interparental conflict and relationship security. Also, emotional insecurity partially mediated the relationships among constructive and destructive interparental conflict and interpersonal problems due to hostile domi (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Margaret Wright Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Elizabeth Kiel-Luebbe Ph.D. (Committee Member); Aaron Luebbe Ph.D. (Committee Member); Robert Burke Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Clinical Psychology

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD), Wright State University, 2012, School of Professional Psychology

Literature on group dynamics has typically focused on six content areas; (1) cohesion and group identification, (2) attributions and perceptions in group, (3) leadership and performance in groups, (4) power and relationships among group members, (5) knowledge and cognitive process in groups, (6) group psychotherapy (Kivlighan and Miles, 2007). While this literature base has built sophisticated theories, these theories tend to be disconnected and lack applicability to clinical practice. This dissertation will integrate interpersonal and group-as-a-whole theories in order to predict the probable dynamic interactions that theoretically occur as individuals move through conflict within group psychotherapy. Recommended interventions are included to increase the clinical utility of the model.

Committee: Martyn Whittingham PhD (Committee Chair); Eve Wolf PhD (Committee Member); Jessica Moss PsyD (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2001, Arts and Sciences : Psychology

Conflict within young adult friendships has been underrepresented in the literature to date. This experiment examined the effects of gender, situational roles (change seeker vs. status quo maintainer), the focus of an individual's thoughts immediately prior to engaging in a conflict (participants were instructed to either think about the other person, think about themselves, or received no instructions), and negative affect on the use of five different conflict resolution strategies. 114 same-sex college student dyads participated in a role-play of a realistic conflict between close friends. The role-play interaction was videotaped, and each individual's communication was coded into competitive, collaborative, cooperative, accommodating, or avoidant strategies. Due to skewed and truncated distributions of the dependent variables, negative binomial regression was used to analyze the data. The resulting regression equation had a likelihood ratio chi-square (35) of 1216.97, p < .001, and a pseudo R 2 of .176. The analyses showed competition, followed by collaboration, cooperation, accommodation, and avoidance, to be the most likely response regardless of other variables. Women were more likely to compete than men. Individuals who were in the role of change seeker were more likely to both compete and avoid than individuals who were in the role of status quo maintainer. Conversely, individuals in the status quo maintenance role were more likely to collaborate, cooperate, and accommodate than the change seekers. Thoughts prior to the conflict had minimal effects on conflict resolution strategies. Finally, increased negative affect led to significantly more competition and less collaboration.

Committee: David Lundgren (Advisor) Subjects:

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2005, Arts and Sciences : Psychology

This study explored the similarity between two types of adolescent peer aggression, discrimination and bullying. Family conflict and family violence were hypothesized to underlie both types of aggressive behavior with both a direct effect and an indirect effect, mediated by selected personality variables. Social desirability, social dominance, interpersonal dominance, empathy, depression, global self-worth, and self-esteem based upon self-awareness of behavior were hypothesized as mediators. Two types of discrimination, toward African Americans and the obese; and two types of bullying, general and bullying in which here is a power difference between perpetrator and victim were outcome variables. Data were collected from preadolescent and adolescent children enrolled in urban, suburban, and rural parochial schools. R2 values from a LISREL path analysis ranged rom .175 to .447; path diagrams for discrimination and bullying were similar to one another supporting the hypothesis that the two are closely related forms of aggression in adolescents. Family violence was directly and strongly related to the four outcome variables. Family conflict was not directly related to outcome variables, but was consistently linked to them through the mediation of some personality variables, including social desirability, social dominance, empathy, global self-worth and behavior self-esteem. Study results indicated that exposure to family violence increases the risk of subsequent peer-aggressive behaviors while the effects of family conflict are perhaps more insidious as they are developmentally incorporated into personality. Results from the two bulling scales indicate that an explicit power difference between perpetrator and victim is different than general bullying behavior.

Committee: Daniel Langmeyer (Advisor) Subjects:

Master of Applied Communication Theory and Methodology, Cleveland State University, 2012, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences

The separation and re-unification of the mother and child requires the attention of scholars. Re-establishing a relationship with his or her mother alleviates the threat of the consequences that a child experiences when his or her mother is incarcerated. Fifty three incarcerated mothers were interviewed on their communication with their children while separated. A content analysis was used to gain insight on the types of conflict, conflict strategies, conflict styles, and cause of conflict. Using an interpersonal skill deficiency model this study found that there was a difference between conflicts described as ending negatively and conflicts described as ending positively. During conflicts that ended negatively, incarcerated mothers used less strategies and conflict styles indicating a lack of constructive skills during times of frustration and anger. Relationships were also found between incarcerated mothers' attitudes toward parenting and verbal aggressive messages, parenting style and incarcerated mothers' attitudes toward parenting, and verbal aggressive messages and incarcerated mothers' socio-communicative style. By giving incarcerated mothers competent and constructive skills to deal with conflict management, especially the conflict topic of incarceration, the mother-child relationship may be strengthened.

Committee: Jill Rudd PhD (Committee Chair); Kimberly Neuendorf PhD (Committee Member); George Ray PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Criminology; Gender Studies