Home > Cultural Context > Gender and Communication < Search
Gender and Communication Styles

A Different Voice of Carol Gilligan

This essay by Em Griffin summarizes Gilligan's thesis that men and women address questions of ethics differently.

ComResources Online

This page of links about gender and communication is provided by the National Communication Association.

GirlTech

This is a Website devoted to issues for girls, their parents and teachers.

International Gender and Language Association

The International Gender and Language Association promotes and supports research on language, gender, and sexuality

Women and Language

Use this resource page to find materials online for a wide range of issues related to gender and communication. Women and Language is an interdisciplinary journal that is edited by Anita Taylor of George Mason University.

Close relationships and complementary interpersonal styles among men and women. Elizabeth Yaughn and Stephen Nowicki Jr. The Journal of Social Psychology, August 1999 v139 i4 p473(6).

An important assumption in interpersonal theory is that complementary interpersonal styles characterize close relationships. InfoTrac.

Men's and women's organizational peer relationships: a comparison. Janie Harden Fritz. The Journal of Business Communication, Jan 1997 v34 n1 p27(20).

Men's and women's work relationships are compared. The study focuses on gender differences in peer relationships in terms of the number of information, collegial and special peers, as well as the functions and features of these peers. It tests the hypotheses that men's relationships with their peers are more likely to involve discussions of role, task and cultural issues, while women's peer relationships are more likely to involve discussions of identity and interpersonal issues. InfoTrac.

The Silent Friendships of Men. Roger Rosenblatt. Time, Dec 7, 1998 p244(1).

This column in Time Magazine observes how the sharing of silence is valued as a part of male friendship. InfoTrac

Using feminist research methods to understand the friendships of adolescent boys. Niobe Way. Journal of Social Issues, Winter 1997 v53 n4 p703(21).

This study examines the relational experiences of an ethnically, socioeconomically, and culturally diverse group of adolescent boys using a feminist, voice-centered approach and by exploring longitudinally the friendships of 19 urban, ethnically diverse adolescent boys from low-income families. InfoTrac.

Adolescent same-sex and opposite-sex best friend interactions. Cami K. McBride and Tiffany Field. Adolescence, Fall 1997 v32 n127 p515(8).

This study compares same-sex and opposite sex friendships with a sample of girls and boys. InfoTrac.

Communicating affection in dyadic relationships: an assessment of behavior and expectancies. Kory Floyd. Communication Quarterly, Wntr 1997 v45 n1 p68(13).

The present study examines affectionate behavior in platonic friendships and individuals' perceptions of the appropriateness and importance of affection in such friendships. It hypothesizes that when levels of relational closeness are held constant, biological sex and the sex composition of the dyad will influence actual affectionate behavior, perceived affectionate behavior, the reported appropriateness of affectionate behaviors, and the intensity of the behaviors accounted for in each effect. Substantial support for the predictions was obtained. InfoTrac.

How you speak shows where you rank. Justin Martin. Fortune, Feb 2, 1998 v137 n2 p156(1).

This essay examines how speaking ability reflects power and status, especially as it relates to gender. InfoTrac.

Powerful/powerless language use in group interactions: sex differences or similarities? Lindsey M. Grob, Renee A. Meyers and Renee Schuh. Communication Quarterly, Summer 1997 v45 n3 p282(22).

This paper examines sex differences in powerful/powerless language (interruptions, disclaimers, hedges, and tag questions) in the small group context by juxtaposing two competing theoretical frameworks. A test of five contrasting hypotheses revealed little support for the dominant "dual cultures" approach for investigating sex differences (i.e., men will use more powerful language while women will employ more powerless language). Instead results were much more supportive of a "gender similarities" approach to understanding sex differences, showing no significant differences between women and men in their use of interruptions, hedges, and tag questions. The theoretical implications of these findings are discussed for research on sex differences, powerful/powerless language use, and small group communication. InfoTrac.

"I love you, man": overt expression of affection in male-male interaction. Mark T. Morman and Kory Floyd. Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, May 1998 v38 n9-10 p871(11).

Despite the importance of affectionate communication for relational development and maintenance, individuals expressing affection incur a number of risks, including possible misinterpretation of the expressions as sexual overtures. Although empirical research supports the idea that overt affection is considered less appropriate in male-male relationships than in relationships with women, it also suggests that three variables may moderate this expectancy: relationship type, emotional intensity of the context, and privacy level of the context. InfoTrac

cultural context | self | relational development | listening & perception | messages | process of communication | relationships
Copyright, 2000-05 by Terrence A. Doyle, Ph. D.
Feedback to tdoyle@nvcc.edu