Conformity Orientation Research Articles

Family Communication Patterns and the Mediating Effects of Support and Resilience on Students' Concerns About College

ObjectiveTo identify first‐year undergraduate students' concerns about college and examine how family support and resilience influence the relationships between family communication patterns and adjustment to college.BackgroundNearly half of undergraduate college students in the United States do not graduate within 6 years. Low graduation rates come at high costs to students and universities. A deeper understanding of the family factors that contribute to adjustment concerns may provide retention‐focused intervention opportunities.MethodSurvey data collected from precollege students (N = 2,252) were used to test a moderated mediation model in which family communication patterns are associated with adjustment concerns through resilience and family support.ResultsConversation orientation was related to higher family support, whereas conformity was related to lower resilience and family support. Interaction results indicate that the effects of conversation orientation on some adjustment concerns depended on conformity ratings. Resilience mediated the relationship between the orientations and adjustment concerns.ConclusionConversation and conformity orientation play a role in perceptions of family support, student resilience, and an array of concerns held by students as they enter college.ImplicationsParents may play an important role in helping their child adjust to college through the family communication environments they create and reinforce from childhood and through the support they provide during the transition to college.

Emotion Labor with Parents as a Mediator of Family Communication Patterns and Young Adult Children’s Mental Well-being

ABSTRACTThis study tested the degree to which emotion labor with parents mediates the associations between family communication patterns (i.e., conversation and conformity orientations) and young adult children’s mental well-being. Participants included 223 young adult children who reported on the frequencies with which they engaged in surface acting and deep acting with their mother and father. Whereas conversation orientation inversely predicted surface acting and deep acting with both parents, conformity orientation positively predicted surface acting with mother and moderated the inverse associations between conversation orientation and surface acting with both parents. Bootstrapping analyses revealed significant indirect effects for conversation orientation on young adults’ mental well-being through surface acting with both parents. Conversely, there were indirect effects for conformity orientation on mental well-being only through surface and deep acting with mother.

Children’s Empathy and Family Income: The Mediating Role of Family Communication Pattern

The research examined whether the communication patterns in the family by conversation and conformity orientations served as mediators of the relation between children’s empathy and family income. The research was conducted to parents of children age six to eight years old as the participants (N = 233) in Jakarta, Indonesia. The parents’ completed parent’s questionnaire for children’s empathy, family income, and family communication pattern. The relation analyzed using PROCESS Hayes. The results that the family communication pattern partially mediated the children’s empathy and family income. This research result shows a couple of findings. First, the children who come from a low-income family with family conformity orientation have lower empathy. The second finding is that the children with the family who have family conversation orientation have higher empathy. This second finding works for both low and high incomes family. Besides, only conformity orientation is found to mediate the effect of family income on child’s empathy. This research finds there are connections between family environment and children’s behavior. Developing the children’s empathy going to be positive for their social-emotional outcomes in the future is paramount because the children learn to express and regulate their emotion in a positive way when they have higher empathy.

Measuring shared cultural characteristics in Malaysia: scale development and validation

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to assess statistically the shared cultural values scale that incorporates Malaysia’s multi-ethnic cultural values.Design/methodology/approachThis study involved three phase statistical testing. In the first phase, the authors evaluated the 152 items for the affiliation, community embeddedness, respecting elders, harmony, faith, brotherhood, morality, future orientation, conformity and survival cultural dimensions with a sample of 270 employees from three organizations. In the second phase, 355 employees from two organizations completed a survey test-retest reliability and a factor analysis consisting of community embeddedness, focus on respect, conformity and future orientation as a four-factors solution with 22 items. Confirmatory factor analysis based on data from 310 employees in two organizations verified that the four dimensions correlated with affective commitment.FindingsThe results suggest that shared cultural characteristics is a multidimensional construct and at the individual level makes a unique contribution in explaining employees’ affective commitment. Managers from multinational corporations operating in this emerging market will benefit from this new scale because they can use it to identify specific individual cultural characteristics within their organization and develop a strategy to target employees’ affective commitment.Originality/valueThe new shared cultural characteristics scale for Malaysia’s multi-ethnic society demonstrates adequate reliability, validity and across-organization generalizability for this specific cross-cultural communication setting.

Arabinosyl Deacetylase Modulates the Arabinoxylan Acetylation Profile and Secondary Wall Formation.

Acetylation, a prevalent modification of cell-wall polymers, is a tightly controlled regulatory process that orchestrates plant growth and environmental adaptation. However, due to limited characterization of the enzymes involved, it is unclear how plants establish and dynamically regulate the acetylation pattern in response to growth requirements. In this study, we identified a rice (Oryza sativa) GDSL esterase that deacetylates the side chain of the major rice hemicellulose, arabinoxylan. Acetyl esterases involved in arabinoxylan modification were screened using enzymatic assays combined with mass spectrometry analysis. One candidate, DEACETYLASE ON ARABINOSYL SIDECHAIN OF XYLAN1 (DARX1), is specific for arabinosyl residues. Disruption of DARX1 via Tos17 insertion and CRISPR/Cas9 approaches resulted in the accumulation of acetates on the xylan arabinosyl side chains. Recombinant DARX1 abolished the excess acetyl groups on arabinoxylan-derived oligosaccharides of the darx1 mutants in vitro. Moreover, DARX1 is localized to the Golgi apparatus. Two-dimensional 13C-13C correlation spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy further revealed that the abnormal acetylation pattern observed in darx1 interrupts arabinoxylan conformation and cellulose microfibril orientation, resulting in compromised secondary wall patterning and reduced mechanical strength. This study provides insight into the mechanism controlling the acetylation pattern on arabinoxylan side chains and suggests a strategy to breed robust elite crops.

Desenvolvimento de habilidades motoras: evidências de validade de um novo instrumento de medida

Introdução: O desenvolvimento de habilidades motoras é um dos conteúdos mais lembrados pela literatura relacionada à pedagogia do esporte. Objetivo: Testar o modelo quadridimensional – Orientação ao Aperfeiçoamento (OA), Orientação à Conformação (OC), Orientação a Adequação ao Estágio Motos (OAEM) e Orientação a Práticas Variadas (OPV) – avaliado pela Escala sobre o Desenvolvimento de Habilidades Motoras no Contexto de Competições Esportivas (EDHMCCE-14) – através dos princípios métricos de análises fatoriais e consistência interna. Método: Foi utilizada uma amostra de 108 participantes de 20 a 61 anos, de ambos os sexos, treinadores esportivos. Resultados: Os resultados das análises fatoriais exploratória (explicando cerca de 50% da variância total do construto) e confirmatória (GFI = 0,89; AGFI = 0,83; x2/gl = 1,424; RMSEA = 0,063; PCLOSE = 0,220; CFI = 0,934) permitem concluir que o modelo testado confirmou a existência de 4 dimensões (OA, OC, OAEM, OPV). Os resultados do estudo de consistência interna obtidos pelo cálculo alpha de Cronbach (0,67 a 0,73), asseguram a relativa precisão das dimensões medidas e a confiabilidade de sua utilização aos objetivos a que se propõe. Conclusão: Novos estudos devem explorar/testar outras importantes qualidades métricas deste instrumento (validade de conteúdo e fidedignidade teste-reteste, entre outras).

How policymakers’ demands for usable knowledge shape science-policy relations in environmental policy in Poland

This article discusses how aspects related to policymakers’ demands for knowledge shape preferences for science-policy models such as Mode 1 and Mode 2. It focuses on the demands that Polish policymakers make of science and how they envision their role in the knowledge production process in the field of environmental policy. The article applies a set of criteria on how policymakers define usable knowledge to better understand preference and use in practice of different science-policy models. Results show that preferences for Mode 1 or Mode 2 are in part the result of trade-off between criteria of quality, relevance, conformity, and action orientation. While science can provide truth and usable knowledge in both Mode 1 and 2, Mode 1 is attractive when policymakers have specific political demands: they may use it to avoid responsibility for negative policy outcomes or to discredit undesirable results.

Talking Turkey: Effects of Family Discussions About the 2016 Election over the Thanksgiving Holiday

ABSTRACTFour hundred and seventy-nine undergraduates reported on family discussions about the 2016 election that occurred over that same year’s Thanksgiving break. Family Communication Patterns Theory was used to predict the perceived outcomes of such discussion on family members. Higher conversation orientation predicted a more positive perceived effect of political talk on family closeness. Perceived similarity of political views partially moderated the relationship between conformity orientation and perceived effect of political talk on family closeness. Reported stress levels since the election were negatively predicted by the perceived (positive) effect of political talk on family closeness. Practical and theoretical implications for families and political socialization processes are discussed.

Family communication patterns of individuals with and without disabilities.

The aim of this study was to compare family communication patterns among Iranian individuals with blindness, deafness and individuals with typically developing. The statistical population consisted of all Iranian individuals with blindness, deafness and individuals with typically developing in Shiraz, Iran. The sample consisted of 116 individuals (32 individuals with blindness, 21 individuals with deafness, and 63 individuals with typically developing). The Revised Family Communication Patterns scale was used for measuring the family communication patterns. Multivariate analysis of variance test were used for data analysis. The results showed that conversation orientation in individuals with typically developing were significantly higher than individuals with blindness and deafness (P<.001). Furthermore, conversation orientation in individuals with blindness was significantly higher than individuals with deafness (P<.001). Moreover, the findings showed that the conformity orientation in individuals with blindness and deafness were significantly higher than individuals with typically developing (P<.001). It should be noted that there was no significant difference among individuals with blindness and deafness in terms of conformity orientation. The results of the study indicated that reforming of family communication patterns is essential for individuals with blindness and deafness.

Testing a mediational model of the effect of family communication patterns on student perceptions of the impact of the college transition through social communication apprehension

ABSTRACTAn undergraduate college student’s ability to transition successfully to college has been identified as one of the most pressing concerns for institutions of higher education. To understand the challenges associated with transitioning to college and suggest interventions from a communication perspective, we test a mediational model based on family communication patterns theory (FCP) and the communication apprehension perspective (CA). The model examines the influence of FCP and CA on students’ perceptions of the impact of the college transition on their lives. A survey of 2252 students about to transition to college indicated that conversation orientation was associated with lower CA. Both conversation orientation and conformity orientation were associated with more positive perceptions of the impact of the transition to college. An indirect effect was found from conversation orientation to the perceived impact through CA. Practical implications for college retention specialists and educators, families, and students including a pre-transition visualization intervention are discussed.

Family Communication Patterns and the Mediating Role of Communication Competence and Alexithymia in Relation to Nonsuicidal Self-Injury

Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) affects a growing number of youth and transitional-aged youth. Nock's (2009) comprehensive model of NSSI engagement points to a range of factors that combine to predict who is at a heightened risk for self-injury. The present study examined the impact of specific interpersonal factors, family communication patterns (i.e., conversation and conformity orientations), and communication competence on five supported measures of self-injurious behaviors. We further tested whether alexithymia, or a person's inability to identify and describe their emotions, mediated family communication patterns and communication competence in predicting NSSI behavior. Family communication patterns, specifically conversation orientation, had a positive impact on lifetime NSSI behaviors. While communication competence positively related to both lifetime and current NSSI behaviors, alexithymia mediated these relationships. Implications for treatment are provided.

Conformational and Organizational Insights into Serum Proteins during Competitive Adsorption on Self-Assembled Monolayers.

Physicochemical interactions of proteins with surfaces mediate the interactions between the implant and the biological system. Surface chemistry of the implant is crucial as it regulates the events at the interface. The objective of this study was to explore the performance of modified surfaces for such interactions relevant to various biomedical applications. Because of a wide range of surface wettability, we aimed to study protein behavior (i.e., conformational changes and their packing) during competitive protein adsorption. Three serum proteins (bovine serum albumin, BSA; fibrinogen, FB; and immunoglobulin G, IgG) were tested for their conformational changes and orientation upon adsorption on hydrophilic (COOH and amine), moderately hydrophobic (mixed and hybrid), and hydrophobic (octyl) surfaces generated via silanization. Modified surfaces were characterized using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, contact angle, and atomic force microscopy (AFM) techniques. Adsorbed masses of proteins from single and binary protein solutions on different surfaces were quantified along with their secondary structure analyses. Maximum adsorbed protein masses were found to be on negatively charged and hydrophobic (octyl) surfaces because of ionic and hydrophobic interactions between protein molecules and surfaces, respectively. Side-on and end-on orientations of adsorbed protein molecules were analyzed using theoretical and AFM analyses. We observed compact and elongated forms of BSA molecules on hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces, respectively. We further found a linear increase in the α-helix content of BSA and β-sheet contents of FB and IgG proteins with the increasing side-on (%)-oriented protein molecules on the surfaces. This indicates that side-on orientations of adsorbed FB and IgG lead to the formation of β-sheets. Sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis was employed to quantify the protein types and their ratio in competitively adsorbed proteins on different surfaces. A theoretical analysis was also used to determine the % secondary structures of competitively adsorbed proteins from BSA/FB and BSA/IgG solutions, which very well agreed with experimental results. The competitive protein adsorption from both BSA/FB and BSA/IgG solutions was found to be entropy-driven, as revealed by thermodynamic studies performed using isothermal titration calorimetry.

Family Communication Patterns as Predictors of Organizational Dissent: A Replication Study

This study replicated a previous research project addressing connections between family-of-origin communication and organizational dissent expression. We predicted that family communication patterns (FCPs), specifically conversation and conformity orientations, would predict upward, lateral, and displaced dissent. As in the original study, significant findings emerged for upward dissent and conformity orientation. This replication study indicated family type as an inconsistent predictor of expressed dissent. Contrary to the original study, we found no evidence to support a connection between pluralistic family types and upward dissent. Finally, as an extension of the original study we analyzed effects of FCPs on displaced dissent, finding an inverse association with conversation orientation. Implications for future research are discussed.

Intergroup Socialization: The Influence of Parents’ Family Communication Patterns on Adult Children’s Racial Prejudice and Tolerance

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of family communication environments on children’s intergroup socialization. Adult children (n = 200) reported on their parents’ conformity and conversation orientations and their own racial attitudes and intergroup orientations. Results evidenced ingroup bias, social dominance, and identification with parent as mediators of the positive relationship between conformity orientation and racial prejudice and the negative relationship between conformity orientation and racial tolerance. Results also revealed that children from consensual and protective families harbor the most racial prejudice and least racial tolerance. Future directions related to intergroup contact interventions, racially diverse families, and qualitative assessments of parent–child interactions are discussed.

Expanding the conceptual and empirical boundaries of family communication patterns: The development and validation of an Expanded Conformity Orientation Scale

ABSTRACTFamily communication patterns theory (FCPT) explores how family members communicate to create a shared social reality via conversation and conformity orientations. Recently, scholars have noted that the current conceptualization and operationalization of conformity orientation is unnecessarily narrow in scope by representing conformity as controlling and repressive, rather than as cultivating homogenous attitudes, beliefs, and values among family members. To address these concerns, we tested the factor structure of the most common measure in FCPT research, the Revised Family Communication Patterns scale (Study One). Based on theoretical and methodological concerns that emerged from Study One, we then created and validated a new scale in Study Two – the Expanded Conformity Orientation Scale (ECOS). Findings from Study Two demonstrated concurrent and discriminant validity. Implications for the use of the ECOS in future studies are discussed.

Associations Between Parents’ and Young Adults’ Face-to-Face and Technologically Mediated Communication Competence: The Role of Family Communication Patterns

This study examined associations between parents’ and young adults’ communication competence in the contexts of face-to-face (FtF) and technologically mediated communication (TMC). We investigated the role of family communication patterns in parental socialization of communication competence. In our investigation, we focused on two distinct aspects of communication competence: effectiveness and appropriateness. Analyzing self-report data of 104 parent-child dyads, we found that parents’ self-reported FtF communication appropriateness was directly associated with children’s self-reported FtF and TMC appropriateness. Children’s reports of conversation orientation were positively associated with their self-reported FtF and TMC effectiveness. Additionally, parents’ reports of conformity orientation were positively linked to children’s self-reported FtF communication appropriateness. These findings suggest that parental influences may manifest through different mechanisms for children’s communication effectiveness and appropriateness. Further, parents and family communication play important roles in children’s development of communication competence not only in FtF interactions, but also in TMC interactions.

Molecular mechanism of melting of a helical polymer crystal: Role of conformational order, packing and mobility of polymers

The molecular mechanism of melting of a superheated helical polymer crystal has been investigated using isothermal-isobaric molecular dynamics simulation that allows anisotropic deformation of the crystal lattice. A detailed microscopic analysis of the onset and progression of melting and accompanying changes in the polymer conformational order, translational, and orientation order of the solid along the melting pathway is presented. Upon gradual heating from room temperature to beyond the melting point at ambient pressure, the crystal exhibits signatures of premelting well below the solid-to-liquid melting transition at the melting point. The melting transition is manifested by abrupt changes in the crystal volume, lattice energy, polymer conformation, and dynamical properties. In the premelting stage, the crystal lattice structure and backbone orientation of the polymer chains are retained but with the onset of weakening of long-range helical order and interchain packing of polymers perpendicular to the fibre axis of the crystal. The premelting also marks the onset of conformational defects and anisotropic solid-state diffusion of polymers along the fibre axis. The present study underscores the importance of the interplay between intermolecular packing, interactions, and conformational dynamics at the atomic level in determining the macroscopic melting behavior of polymer crystals.

The interaction of trace heavy metal with lipid monolayer in the sea surface microlayer

Lipid molecules and trace heavy metals are enriched in sea surface microlayer and can be transferred into the sea spray aerosol. To better understand their impact on marine aerosol generation and evolution, we investigated the interaction of trace heavy metals including Fe3+, Pb2+, Zn2+, Cu2+, Ni2+, Cr3+, Cd2+, and Co2+, with dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) monolayers at the air-water interface. Phase behavior of the DPPC monolayer on heavy metal solutions was probed with surface pressure–area (π–A) isotherms. The conformation order and orientation of DPPC alkyl chains were characterized by infrared reflection–absorption spectroscopy (IRRAS). The π–A isotherms show that Zn2+ and Fe3+ strongly interact with DPPC molecules, and induce condensation of the monolayers in a concentration-dependent manner. IRRAS spectra show that the formation of cation-DPPC complex gives rise to conformational changes and immobilization of the headgroups. The current results suggest that the enrichment of Zn2+ in sea spray aerosols is due to strong binding to the DPPC film. The interaction of Fe3+ with DPPC monolayers can significantly influence their surface organizations through the formation of lipid-coated particles. These results suggest that the sea surface microlayer is capable of accumulating much higher amounts of these metals than the subsurface water. The organic and metal pollutants may transfer into the atmosphere by this interaction.

Ras and the Plasma Membrane: A Complicated Relationship.

The primary site of Ras signal transduction is the plasma membrane (PM). On the PM, the ubiquitously expressed Ras isoforms, H-, N-, and K-Ras, spatially segregate to nonoverlapping nanometer-sized domains, called nanoclusters, with further lateral segregation into nonoverlapping guanosine triphosphate (GTP)-bound and guanosine diphosphate (GDP)-bound nanoclusters. Effector binding and activation is restricted to GTP nanoclusters, rendering the underlying assembly mechanism essential to Ras signaling. Ras nanoclusters have distinct lipid compositions as a result of lipid-sorting specificity encoded in each Ras carboxy-terminal membrane anchor. The role of the G-domain in regulating anchor-membrane interactions is becoming clearer. Ras G-domains undergo significant conformational orientation changes on guanine nucleotide switch, leading to differential direct contacts between the G-domain and reorganization of the membrane anchor. Ras G-domains also contain weak dimer interfaces, resulting in homodimerization, which is an obligate step of nanoclustering. Modulating the formation of Ras dimers, the lipid composition of the PM or lateral dynamics of key PM phospholipids represent novel mechanisms whereby the extent of Ras nanoclustering can be regulated to tune the gain in Ras signaling circuits.

Family Secrets: The Roles of Family Communication Patterns and Conflict Styles between Parents and Young Adult Children

This study seeks to add to previous research regarding family secrets by exploring intrafamily and individual family secrets from a family communication pattern and parent–young adult child conflict style perspective. Results showed conversation orientation, conformity orientation, or conflict styles did not predict disclosure separately. However, the use of a collaborating conflict style did indirectly mediate the relationship between conversation orientation and disclosure, but only for those individuals whose families have a low level of conformity orientation.