We have been engaged in research on the role of conversations in the development and maintenance of relationships. This research has been informed by work on self-disclosure, identity development, gender roles, and shyness. This work has engaged many Gustavus student researchers over the years and has benefited greatly from their assistance and ideas.

Poster:      27th Association for Psychological Science Annual Convention: New York, New York
Title:        Relation of gender differences in life experience conversations to depression
Authors:  Kruger, Mark; Martin, Dick; Boike, Carrie; Gette, Jordan, Ziegenhagen, Ashley

Abstract

Although girls and women show similar rates for depression before age 15, they are much more vulnerable to depression than males after that age (Nolen-Hoeksema & Girgus, 1994).  Numerous studies have found ruminative behavior and its greater use among females to be implicated as a cause for depression in females (McLaughlin & Nolen-Hoeksema, 2011;  Nolen-Hoeksema & Morrow, 1993). Rose has suggested that differences in friendship styles in school age girls, especially as it relates to the mutual discussion of personal problems may be related to the difference between the genders (Rose, 2002). Martin and Kruger (2006) found that gender differences in co-rumination extend beyond adolescence to college students in close friendships and that it is was also associated with depression in females. Work on co-rumination has focused on verifying its association with depression. The present study examines the nature of gender differences in conversational style using observations of simulated conversations about problems with friends in order to better understand the content of the conversations that occur, the intensity of the emotions expressed nonverbally and verbally, and the relationship between these conversational styles and self-reports of rumination, co-rumination, and depression.
Forty-eight undergraduate students in same-sex pairs participated in conversations on two topics: (1) that they had just learned that their parents were divorcing and (2) that they had just learned that they had been awarded an internship. Participants completed the Rose (2002) co-rumination scale, the Nolen-Hoeksema and Morrow (1991) measure of rumination, and the CESD measure of depression (Radloff, 1977).
Conversations were transcribed for verbal content and coded using  Pennebaker, Francis, and Booth (2001) Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC 2001) for number of words uttered by each participant, for the number of positive and negative emotions words, and for words related to anxiety. Facial expressions were coded for intensity and valence using Noldus FaceReader 5.0 software (den Uyl, Kuilenburg, and Lebert, 2005). 
Rumination predicted depression scores.  This effect was stronger for women than men. Corumination scores predicted private rumination for women but not men. Corumination failed to predict depression.  The difference in emotional content of conversations about positive and negative events was smaller for high coruminators.