Interpersonal Abortion Conversations: Communication Characteristics Post-Roe.

Abortion is a politicized and stigmatized health procedure that has received considerable attention in popular discourse in the past year. The present study investigated how often people (N = 235) talk about abortion throughout their lifespan and within the past 12 months, with whom they have these conversations, and which conversations were most memorable. Key findings from the present study, framed through the Theory of Memorable Messages and the Social Ecological Model, include that most participants had at least one conversation about abortion in the past 12 months. Within the past 12 months, the most common conversation partners for abortion-related communication were friends, followed by mothers and romantic partners. Over the lifespan, but prior to the past 12 months, a majority of participants had at least one conversation about abortion. Similarly, friends were the most frequent source of abortion-related communication over the lifespan, followed by mothers and romantic partners. Many of the conversations within the past 12 months focused heavily on the overturn of Roe v. Wade or navigating a post-Roe world with a body that could become pregnant, or as someone who cared about people who could become pregnant. Prior to the past 12 months, participants characterized abortion communication as tense, religious, pro-choice, descriptive of the women who might have abortions, relating to specific abortion disclosures, or political. Within the past 12 months, memorable conversations about abortion were personal or relational, and were often prompted by discussions surrounding Roe.

"You See Me Down There More Than My Husband does!": A Qualitative Exploration of How Body Waxing Specialists Navigate Health Messages.

With the rise of beauty salons and barber shops serving as sites for health promotion, it is essential to consider other similar contexts for health dissemination, including body waxing salons. This research draws on interviews with 13 body wax specialists from the largest waxing salon chain in the US to understand how health messages are navigated between waxers and their clients. Interviews revealed that body wax specialists respond to health-related conversations in three ways: (1) offering support and building rapport, (2) communicating in ways that threaten the waxer-client relationship, and (3) staying silent. The findings of this study illuminate waxing salons as important sites for health dissemination, specifically surrounding medical care of women's reproductive health.

A Preliminary Investigation into Intersections of Sexual Communication in Bondage, Domination, Sadomasochism and Disability.

Extending prior research on the communicative intersections of bondage, domination, and sadomasochism (BDSM) and disability communities, the present article presents preliminary findings on sexual and boundary-setting communication overlaps in relational minority groups and partnerships with disabilities. Both disability and BDSM communities engage in preparatory, open, and boundary-setting sexual communication that prioritizes shifting physical, emotional, and relational needs. Highlighting reflections from partnerships navigating chronic illness, pain, and neurodivergence, our findings extend previous recommendations for boundary-setting to focus on relationships with disability, identifying intersections as including (1) reflecting upon needs and boundaries amidst shifting symptomatology, (2) (re)write sexual and intimate scripts to prioritize (dis)ability, (3) (re)negotiate relational needs and set expectations, and (4) bring awareness to the role of mental health and medication. Findings focus on implications for disability and sexual communication, the disruption of traditional sexual scripts, and therapeutic and clinical application. Limitations and future research are discussed.

More than Two but not Right Now: Interpretations and Responses to Covid-19 Measures on Reddit for Two Communities of Consensual Non-Monogamy.

Using Owen's Thematic Analysis, we reviewed the Reddit posts of participants in two online communities regarding consensual non-monogamy (CNM) during the January 2021 peak of the Covid-19 pandemic. In 5,209 comments, 465 unique users in the /polyamory and /swinging forums on the social media platform Reddit referred to the pandemic with two themes emerging as most salient. In the first theme, participants described, interpreted, and responded to the social limitations of the Covid-19 era, with particular attention to limitations on CNM identity and behavior during the pandemic. In the second theme, participants articulated concerns about individual and social health. In addition to strictly personal concerns about physical and mental health, participants described challenges to the well-being of relationships and communities and ways to manage risk and mitigate social damage. We discuss the implication of these findings in light of the unique social structure of CNM communities.

Pediatricians' Communication about Medical Uncertainty: Goal-Oriented Communication and Uncertainty Management.

Despite the prevalence of uncertainty in medicine, many physicians experience anxiety as a result of medical uncertainty and are reluctant to discuss uncertainty with others. When pediatricians do disclose uncertainty to parents, they are managing both the parents' and their own feelings of uncertainty. The current study applies uncertainty management theory and multiple goals theory to explore pediatricians' communication about uncertainty. We collected data using in-depth semi-structured interviews with 18 pediatricians. The results suggest that pediatricians prioritize task and relational goals with parents and task and identity goals with fellow physicians. Though, their appraisal of uncertainty influences their goal-oriented communication. The results highlight the relationship between uncertainty management theory and a multiple goals framework. These frameworks provide a valuable approach for gaining a more thorough understanding of pediatrician communication in the context of uncertainty.

"Wish I Would Have Known that before I Started Using It": Contraceptive Messages and Information Seeking among Young Women.

In recent decades, women's use of contraception has evolved. Women not only utilize contraceptives to prevent pregnancy, but also to manage menstruation and other factors related to their personal agency. Despite an abundance of available contraceptive options, many women struggle to navigate and address their contraceptive needs. A hundred and thirty-four female participants responded to an open-ended questionnaire about contraceptive messages and decision making in an online survey. Using Uncertainty Management Theory as a framework, we illustrate how the women make sense of and manage uncertainty from multiple contraceptive messages. Results highlighted the absence of desired information, and identified messages that women wish they had received from healthcare providers and others. Our findings suggest that women's understanding of contraceptives' side effects is a communicative process in which anecdotal evidence is often treated as medical fact and healthcare providers are viewed as ineffective and dismissive in relaying and addressing information about contraception. In the absence of satisfying healthcare interactions, women seek information elsewhere to make their contraceptive choices.

Extending the Roots of Memorable Messages: A Comprehensive Review and Forecast of Memorable Message Literature and Theory.

Five years ago, we reviewed the state of memorable message scholarship in communication, with special attention to the utility of memorable message research in health communication. Since then, works advancing the theoretical and practical applicability of the construct have continued to emerge. In this article, we discuss the trends in published memorable message research over the last five years. Since 2017, thirty-four additional peer-reviewed articles focusing on memorable messages as a central concept have been published. Health communication as a subset of the field (as well as the journal Health Communication) see a higher concentration of these publications than other areas. In this review, we concentrate on the use of theory within recent memorable message work. Although much of the memorable message research continues to be atheoretical, more work utilizing control theory, the theory of memorable messages, and communicated narrative sense-making characterize the recent literature. Additionally, more research has emerged that highlights the theoretically driven investigations about the nature of memorable messages. We review the scholarship utilizing these and other theories and suggest avenues for future research.

"It Strengthened My Core Relationships, and Filtered Out the Rest:" Intimacy Communication During COVID-19.

Informed by scripting theories and Relational Dialectics Theory, this qualitative study used interviews, focus groups, and friendship pods conducted during the summer of 2020 in the COVID-19 pandemic to explore how 29 cisgender women and gender minorities made sense of, communicated about, and maintained their intimate relationships during COVID-19. Findings reveal a discourse of scripted intimacy reflecting normative relational patterns such as the heterosexual life script and the discourse of co-created intimacy, both of which legitimized and challenged the existing relational scripts by generating new ideas of what intimacy could look like in a relationship. Sub-themes included tensions of stability v. growth, comfort v. discomfort, and physical risk v. relational risk. Implications and avenues for future research are discussed.

Toward A Typology of Identity Gaps in "Non-Normative" Sexual Partner Communication.

The present study presents a typology of identity gaps (Hecht, 1993), or cognitive, affective, and behavioral discrepancies between and among different parts of the self, that emerge in sexual partner communication. A total of 504 individuals in relationships they identified as or others ascribed as less common or less accepted than other kinds of relationships, including LGBQ, transgender and non-binary, BDSM, polyamorous, and interracial relationships, described instances in which parts of the self were in tension amid their intimate partner communication. These identity gaps occurred in tension with personal identity, or sense of self, or communal identity as a member of particular sexual and gender minority groups. Implications and areas for future research are discussed.

Memorable Messages Parents of Children with Vascular Birthmarks Receive from Others: Implications for Stigma and Identity.

Parents of children with visible illnesses and physical differences, such as vascular birthmarks (VBs), often fear that their child will be stigmatized by others. Despite their use of various strategies to minimize this stigma, parents still frequently receive comments and questions from others about their child's condition. In the current study, we explore the source, content, and valence of these messages using a memorable messages framework. We also examine how parents react to messages from others and why those messages are considered memorable. To collect data, we administered a cross-sectional online survey through the website and social media pages of a national support group for parents of children with vascular birthmarks. A total of 70 parents completed the survey and, altogether, recalled 92 memorable messages. Our analyses revealed that the significance of the memorable messages coalesced around identity. Specifically, the messages described carried implications for a) participants in terms of their identities as parents, and b) participants' children in terms of their identities as stigmatized individuals. When messages were directed at parents, parents appraised them negatively or positively to the extent that they made parents feel judged or validated as parents of children with VBs. When messages were directed at children, parents appraised them negatively or positively to the extent that they labeled children and their VB as abnormal, unattractive, and undesirable, or accepted and complimented children as unique, special, and beautiful. The current research extends previous research exploring the role of memorable messages in negotiating identity.

"I Thought I Was Dying:" (Un)Supportive Communication Surrounding Early Menstruation Experiences.

Menstruation is a salient, and sometimes scary, communication topic for young women. The present study reports on the early communication experiences about menstruation from 165 women using open-ended survey data. Through the framework of supportive communication, findings reveal that a discrepancy occurs between the health and practical information and needs to which young people who menstruate desire access, and their social and emotional needs. The present study indicates an inadequacy of both aspects of menstruation communication from important others in childhood and adolescence. Themes of boundary management, impersonal, silence, and accidents also characterize early communication experiences about menstruation. Our participants identified a desire for conversations that normalize menstruation as typical and acceptable, validate period pain and prescribe management tactics, and describe the existence of feminine hygiene products other than pads and tampons. Limitations and directions for future research are discussed.

"It's Better to Be Depressed Skinny than Happy Fat:" College Women's Memorable Body Messages and Their Impact on Body Image, Self-Esteem, and Rape Myth Acceptance.

This study investigated the content of memorable body messages that college women recall receiving in their childhood, and the relationship of those messages to state body image satisfaction, self-esteem, rape myth acceptance, and likelihood to report rape or sexual assault. Memorable messages were mostly about body size, body type, body parts, haptic messages, body positivity, and development. Mothers were the most frequent source of memorable body messages during childhood. Although there was no difference in any of the dependent variables based on the content of the message, there was a relationship between perceived message valence with body image, self-esteem, and rape myth acceptance. Messages that participants interpreted as more positive and beneficial were associated with higher body image satisfaction, higher self-esteem, and increased rape myth acceptance.

Deeply Rooted in Memories: Toward a Comprehensive Overview of 30 Years of Memorable Message Literature.

Knapp, Stohl, and Reardon's (1981) seminal work reported that some messages may be "remembered for a long time and have a profound influence on a person's life" (p. 27). While the foundational concepts of this framework have offered a meaningful contribution to memorable messages research, this article seeks to unpack the past three decades of the literature specific to the field of communication. The authors will highlight the trajectory and changes while considering its present use, episodes, and situations that transpire in individual lived experiences. Like Braithwaite, Schrodt, and Carr (2015), we note that memorable messages, though widely utilized, are largely descriptive and atheoretical or "undertheorized" (p. 15). To that end, and given its decades of successful use in health communication, organizational socialization, and education, we consider the value of a Theory of Memorable Messages (ToMM) that can support new directions for communication scholarship and serve as a catalyst for understanding dynamic relational interactions and exchanges in human communication.

"Where Is the Love?" Expanding and Theorizing With LGBTQ Memorable Messages of Sex and Sexuality.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) women exist as a population with an increased complexity in the relationship between themselves and their sexuality. For the LGBTQ community, sexual behaviors are often silenced or erased. This exploratory qualitative research examines 186 memorable messages that emerged from 91 LGBTQ women and gender minorities who participated in a national study. Each participant was asked to share memorable messages they received about sex, sexuality, and sexual health. Consistent with past research, "advice" was a common memorable messages form; however, negative attributes and media-derived messages emerged. The results contribute to understanding the messages that LGTBQ individuals confront on topics of sex and sexuality.