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Abstract
This study extended research on verbal person-centered (VPC) support by studying VPC in conversations, examining perceptions of support providers and receivers, testing the influence of different communication channels, and evaluating longitudinal outcomes. Two hundred fifty-five dyads composed either of two men, two women, or one man and one woman interacted in a laboratory wherein channel and level of VPC were manipulated. Evaluations of support were gathered from support providers and recipients, and recipients also reported outcomes three weeks later. Perceptions of support differed between channels, such that men providing high VPC support were evaluated more positively when using CMC, and women communicating low VPC support were evaluated more negatively online. Effects of level of VPC, channel, and provider's sex on receivers' outcomes persisted three weeks later.
Notes
[1] All scale items developed for this study are available from the first author by request.
[2] Given that the participants only perceived two levels of VPC in this study, we also conducted analyses using a two-level VPC variable. These analyses uncovered additional effects that were not found when using the three-level VPC variable. In particular, we observed a significant effect for the a-priori contrast on receivers' perceptions of the appropriateness of the support they received. We also observed a two-way interaction between receivers' sex and VPC predicting receivers' perceptions of appropriateness and support quality. The analyses with the two-level VPC variable also produced a two-way interaction between VPC and communication channel predicting support receivers' improvement in their stressor. Details of these results are available from the first author upon request.
[3] See Footnotenote 2.