Family Communication Patterns Moderate the Relationship Between Psychological Reactance and Willingness to Talk About Organ Donation

Abstract

Considerable research has investigated how psychological reactance affects individuals' responses to health promotion messages, but little is known about how family processes might moderate the reactance process. In this study, 301 participants were exposed to a persuasive message about organ donation. The moderating role of family communication patterns in the reactance process was tested using hierarchical regression. We found that family conversation orientation had a direct effect on willingness to talk with family members about being an organ donor and that family conformity orientation and family conversation orientation each interacted with reactance to predict willingness to communicate with family about donation. Theoretically, these results extend psychological reactance theory by considering how interpersonal factors affect the reactance process. Practically, the findings suggest that for optimal impact, family processes should be considered in the design of messages promoting organ donation.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The authors thank John Caughlin for his helpful feedback on earlier drafts of this article.