Communication and the Study of Personal Well-Being

A brief perusal of the past 50 years of communication research reveals a myriad of contributions to science and society. In this article, I would like to briefly examine achievements in the study of communication and personal well-being and illustrate the remarkable potential of work in this area to make major contributions to the field and to society as a whole. The study of personal wellbeing encompasses physical health, mental health, social adjustment, relationship satisfaction and career success to name but a few variables. All of these could be conceptualized as markers of quality of life. Throughout the world, communication scholars study how human beings exchange messages and the effects of those messages at different levels of social specificity. For example, many mass communication scholars consider messages that are consumed by large numbers of people and the effects of those messages on whole societies or large echelons of a society. Organizational communication scholars often study interactions, policies and behavior of people in organized social settings that are smaller than whole societies, but much larger than dyadic relationships. In contrast, interpersonal communication scholars such as myself most commonly research interactions and exchanges that occur in smaller social settings such as two-person relationships or families. In recent history, scholars in diverse areas of communication have made notable contributions to the understanding of human well-being. For example, mass media scholars have demonstrated the deleterious links between depictions of violence on television and in film and their propensity to stimulate similar behavior among those who view such depictions (e.g. Anderson et al., 2003). Development communication scholars have sought to advance the cause of universal human rights through campaigns and programs delivered through multiple channels of communication (e.g. White, 2004). Those interested in social influence through the media have shown how televised public service announcements can contribute to the promotion of health behaviors and avoidance of risky behaviors (e.g. Fishbein et al., 2002). In the area of organizational communication, research on the relationship between work and family stress (e.g. GAZETTE: THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR COMMUNICATION STUDIES