Explaining the Impact of Attachment Style on
Evaluations of Supportive Messages: A Dual-Process Framework
Communication Research 38(2) 228–247 © The Author(s) 2011
Reprints and permission: http://www. sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0093650210362678 http://crx.sagepub.com
Graham D. Bodie1, Brant R. Burleson2,
Jennifer Gill-Rosier2, Jennifer D. McCullough3,
Amanda J. Holmstrom4, Jessica J. Rack2,
Lisa Hanasono2, and Jerilyn Mincy2
Abstract
This article reports tests of hypotheses derived from a theory of supportive message outcomes that maintains that the effects of supportive messages are moderated by factors influencing the motivation and ability to process these messages. Participants (N = 331) completed measures of attachment style, which provided individual-level assessments of processing motivation, and responded to either a mildly or moderately severe problem, which manipulated situational motivation.They subsequently evaluated the helpfulness of comforting messages that varied in person centeredness and were attributed to either an acquaintance or a close friend. Although message evaluations were strongly influenced by person centeredness, this effect, as expected, was also moderated by attachment style and problem severity. Results are discussed in terms of the dual-process theory of supportive message outcomes.