Colter D Ray
Biographic Data
| ID | 758710 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Colter D Ray |
| GIVEN NAMES | Colter D |
| FAMILY NAME | Ray |
| SIGNATURE | RAY C D |
| AFFILIATIONS | San Diego State University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0491-1517 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 22 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 31 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 22 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2017 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Modeling the Potential Effectiveness of Low Person-Centered Emotional Support
Low person-centered (LPC) emotional support messages have been associated consistently with poor outcomes for message recipients because such messages typically blame the recipient and invalidate or ignore their emotions. Using the dual-process theory of supportive communication as its basis, this study proposed a model in which the detrimental effects of LPC messages may be weakened (and the potential for positive results strengthened) by a comb…
Perceived Social Support and Depressive Symptoms in AYA Cancer Patients
Given the significantly higher prevalence of depression in women with cancer as compared to men, interventions to enhance agency are an important adjunct to methods to promote PSS in AYA women with cancer
Saying the Wrong Thing or Saying Nothing at All
This study used expectancy violations theory as a framework to test whether nonsupport (i.e. not receiving support that was expected) is worse than receiving a low person-centered emotional support message. Participants were 886 U.S. adults who were census-matched based on age, sex, and ethnicity who participated in a survey experiment. Results showed that when providing emotional support to someone who suffered an injury, nonsupport generated le…
Relational Maintenance Behaviors Mediate the Relationship Between Alzheimer’s Diagnosis Severity and Caregivers’ Benefit Finding
Caregivers often experience stress, depression, anxiety, and various physical illnesses stemming from the demands and challenges of their caregiving role. However, adaptive coping mechanisms such as benefit finding can mitigate these outcomes. The present study explored the relationship between Alzheimer's diagnostic severity and caregivers' engaging in benefit finding and, more specifically, whether prosocial relational maintenance behaviors com…
Withholding Social Support Because Those in Need Do Not Deserve It
Close relationships have norms and expectations regarding the communication of support; however, recent research has illuminated the varied reasons why would-be supporters at times choose to forgo supporting those who are facing difficulties. One such reason is the perception that the other person is undeserving of support. The researchers conducted 28 semi-structured interviews with those who withheld support because they did not believe the oth…
Interpersonal Loneliness Predicts the Frequency and Intensity of Nightmares
The evolutionary theory of loneliness (ETL) argues that human belongingness is essential to survival and failing to meet belongingness needs constitutes a threat to viability. In two separate studies (total N = 1,609), links between loneliness and nightmares were examined as a test of ETL postulates. As hypothesized, loneliness predicted nightmare frequency (both studies) and nightmare intensity (Study Two only). Although stress mediated the rela…
Loneliness coping strategies
Loneliness affects a sizable percentage of the U.S. adult population, and although interventions and therapy can address loneliness, it is not feasible for tens of millions of people experiencing loneliness to access these resources. Therefore, the aim of this study is to develop a typology of coping strategies that lonely individuals use to address loneliness and to categorize such strategies based on their perceived effectiveness or ineffective…
Preferences for social support and perceived support gaps among attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) adults
This study explores the social support desires and potential support gaps experienced by attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) adults. ADHD adults who were in a romantic relationship ( N = 286) reported the amount of support they desire and experience from their romantic partner, as well as the intensity of three ADHD symptoms: emotional dysregulation, hyperactivity, and inattention. This study suggests that for ADHD adults the experien…
Exploring the Barriers to Social Support Interactions
This study explores the reasons why young adults (ages 18–39) struggle to provide or avoid providing support to young adult cancer patients. The study also explores young adult cancer patients’ perceptions of why they have not received support from individuals who did not provide support. A total of 722 reasons were collected through online surveys and analyzed: 438 were provided by young adults who knew a young adult with cancer (N = 131), and y…
Nonsupport Experiences of Young Adult Cancer Patients
This study provides foundational data regarding instances of nonsupport (i.e. instances when support was expected from someone but not received) in the cancer context. In a sample of 205 young adult cancer patients from 22 countries, approximately three out of every five patients reported having experienced nonsupport at some point during their cancer journey. Men and women patients were approximately equally as likely to have experienced nonsupp…
Commitment, Relational Uncertainty, and the Investment Model
Based on Rusbult’s investment model and Knobloch and Solomon’s conceptualization of relational uncertainty, this study investigated how uncertainty in romantic relationships affected satisfaction, quality of alternatives, investments, and commitment. 343 adults in romantic relationships completed measures of relational uncertainty, satisfaction, investment size, quality of alternatives, and commitment. Results indicated that relational uncertaint…
Loneliness, stigma, and the tendency for interpersonal victimhood inhibit compassion for some but not all suffering social groups
This study extends recent research on correlates of compassion for suffering social groups. Using a nationally representative sample of 627 U.S. adults, this study used cross-sectional survey data to determine if loneliness, the tendency for interpersonal victimhood, and stigmatizing attitudes held toward suffering social groups correlated with less compassion for suffering social groups. Participants were randomly assigned to respond in regard t…
What counts as an acceptable reason for not communicating emotional support
This study investigated assessments of the acceptability of and negative relational implications for the reasons given for someone not providing emotional support. A representative sample of U.S. adults ( N = 1598) participated in a survey experiment that included thinking of a person from whom they would expect such support, imagining that they did not receive support from this person, and being shown one of 16 reasons to explain the nonsupport.…
The multidimensional evaluation of enacted social support
The Multidimensional Evaluation of Enacted Social Support (MEESS) measures communicated support in terms of supportiveness, helpfulness, and sensitivity. However, a systematic review of studies using the scale showed that the scale is mostly used as a unidimensional measure of support. Additionally, the scale is prone to having high interfactor correlations, and researchers rarely perform a confirmatory factor analysis to verify the scale's facto…
Determinants of loneliness during the Covid-19 pandemic in the United States
An initial study on loneliness during the first month of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States found that those who were living alone or who were single experienced greater loneliness than those who lived with others or were in a romantic relationship. This study presents follow-up analyses using data collected from the same sample ( N = 428) at a total of five points in time throughout the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United S…
Mixed Messages
Few studies on emotional support have investigated mixed messages – instances when emotional support messages contain both positive and negative statements. Although researchers have recognized that mixed messages occur, most supportive communication research has ignored these ambivalent messages. We contend based on the negativity bias that the more negative statements that occur in an emotional support message, the less effective the message is…
Challenging sustainability in school-based intervention in Nicaragua
Purpose The current study identifies successes and limitations of sustaining Dale se Real (DsR) as a school-based educational intervention program related to drugs and violence for 7th and 8th grade students in Nicaragua, Central America. As evidence-based interventions are transported and imported across national borders, issues surrounding their adaptation and sustainability become important targets for investigation. Design/methodology/approac…
Frequency and importance of interpersonal communication about a school-based intervention with parents, peers, and teachers
Social interface model (SIM) explicates the important roles of family, peer, and school microsystems in intervention research. The present study used surveys to explore how Nicaraguan adolescents who participated in a school-based substance use and violence prevention intervention communicated about the intervention with parents, peers, and teachers. Latent class analysis was run to identify distinctive typologies of interfaces characterized by o…
The trajectory and determinants of loneliness during the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic in the United States
In March of 2020, state governments in the United States began implementing stay-at-home orders in an attempt to curtail the spread of COVID-19. As a result, most people experienced a decrease in face-to-face interactions as they limited their participation in social gatherings, travel, and in-person work. Although these orders aimed to stop the spread of COVID-19, a potential unintended consequence of these guidelines was an increase in loneline…
Heritability of affectionate communication
Using a twin study design, we explored the extent to which affectionate communication is a heritable behavioral trait. Participants (N = 928) were 464 adult twin pairs (229 monozygotic, 235 dizygotic) who provided data on their affectionate communication behaviors. Through ACE modeling, we determined that approximately 45% of the variance in trait expressed affectionate communication is heritable, whereas 21% of the variance in trait received aff…
Development of the Revised Relational Maximization Scale and explorations of how relational maximization relates to personal and relational outcomes
Cheek and Schwartz argued for conceptualizing maximization as the goal of "choosing the best" coupled with the strategy of "alternative search." Using this conceptualization, we conducted five studies (Total N = 1,617) to revise the Relational Maximization Scale. Two exploratory factor analyses (Exploratory Study and Study 1) confirmed that choosing the best and alternative search were empirically distinct. A confirmatory factor analysis (Study 2…
Thanks, but no thanks
Social support is a vital component of well-being and a principal benefit of having close, positive personal relationships. When offers of social support are perceived as unwanted or burdensome by recipients, however, they can carry implicit threats to the recipients' positive and negative face needs. Moreover, declining such offers requires recipients to manage probable face threats to providers. The present study explored offers of undesired so…
Thanks, but no thanks
Social support is a vital component of well-being and a principal benefit of having close, positive personal relationships. When offers of social support are perceived as unwanted or burdensome by recipients, however, they can carry implicit threats to the recipients' positive and negative face needs. Moreover, declining such offers requires recipients to manage probable face threats to providers. The present study explored offers of undesired so…
The trajectory and determinants of loneliness during the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic in the United States
In March of 2020, state governments in the United States began implementing stay-at-home orders in an attempt to curtail the spread of COVID-19. As a result, most people experienced a decrease in face-to-face interactions as they limited their participation in social gatherings, travel, and in-person work. Although these orders aimed to stop the spread of COVID-19, a potential unintended consequence of these guidelines was an increase in loneline…
Determinants of loneliness during the Covid-19 pandemic in the United States
An initial study on loneliness during the first month of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States found that those who were living alone or who were single experienced greater loneliness than those who lived with others or were in a romantic relationship. This study presents follow-up analyses using data collected from the same sample ( N = 428) at a total of five points in time throughout the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United S…
Loneliness, stigma, and the tendency for interpersonal victimhood inhibit compassion for some but not all suffering social groups
This study extends recent research on correlates of compassion for suffering social groups. Using a nationally representative sample of 627 U.S. adults, this study used cross-sectional survey data to determine if loneliness, the tendency for interpersonal victimhood, and stigmatizing attitudes held toward suffering social groups correlated with less compassion for suffering social groups. Participants were randomly assigned to respond in regard t…
Development of the Revised Relational Maximization Scale and explorations of how relational maximization relates to personal and relational outcomes
Cheek and Schwartz argued for conceptualizing maximization as the goal of "choosing the best" coupled with the strategy of "alternative search." Using this conceptualization, we conducted five studies (Total N = 1,617) to revise the Relational Maximization Scale. Two exploratory factor analyses (Exploratory Study and Study 1) confirmed that choosing the best and alternative search were empirically distinct. A confirmatory factor analysis (Study 2…
Loneliness coping strategies
Loneliness affects a sizable percentage of the U.S. adult population, and although interventions and therapy can address loneliness, it is not feasible for tens of millions of people experiencing loneliness to access these resources. Therefore, the aim of this study is to develop a typology of coping strategies that lonely individuals use to address loneliness and to categorize such strategies based on their perceived effectiveness or ineffective…
Preferences for social support and perceived support gaps among attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) adults
This study explores the social support desires and potential support gaps experienced by attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) adults. ADHD adults who were in a romantic relationship ( N = 286) reported the amount of support they desire and experience from their romantic partner, as well as the intensity of three ADHD symptoms: emotional dysregulation, hyperactivity, and inattention. This study suggests that for ADHD adults the experien…
The multidimensional evaluation of enacted social support
The Multidimensional Evaluation of Enacted Social Support (MEESS) measures communicated support in terms of supportiveness, helpfulness, and sensitivity. However, a systematic review of studies using the scale showed that the scale is mostly used as a unidimensional measure of support. Additionally, the scale is prone to having high interfactor correlations, and researchers rarely perform a confirmatory factor analysis to verify the scale's facto…
Heritability of affectionate communication
Using a twin study design, we explored the extent to which affectionate communication is a heritable behavioral trait. Participants (N = 928) were 464 adult twin pairs (229 monozygotic, 235 dizygotic) who provided data on their affectionate communication behaviors. Through ACE modeling, we determined that approximately 45% of the variance in trait expressed affectionate communication is heritable, whereas 21% of the variance in trait received aff…
Thanks, but no thanks
Social support is a vital component of well-being and a principal benefit of having close, positive personal relationships. When offers of social support are perceived as unwanted or burdensome by recipients, however, they can carry implicit threats to the recipients' positive and negative face needs. Moreover, declining such offers requires recipients to manage probable face threats to providers. The present study explored offers of undesired so…
Heritability of affectionate communication
Using a twin study design, we explored the extent to which affectionate communication is a heritable behavioral trait. Participants (N = 928) were 464 adult twin pairs (229 monozygotic, 235 dizygotic) who provided data on their affectionate communication behaviors. Through ACE modeling, we determined that approximately 45% of the variance in trait expressed affectionate communication is heritable, whereas 21% of the variance in trait received aff…
Development of the Revised Relational Maximization Scale and explorations of how relational maximization relates to personal and relational outcomes
Cheek and Schwartz argued for conceptualizing maximization as the goal of "choosing the best" coupled with the strategy of "alternative search." Using this conceptualization, we conducted five studies (Total N = 1,617) to revise the Relational Maximization Scale. Two exploratory factor analyses (Exploratory Study and Study 1) confirmed that choosing the best and alternative search were empirically distinct. A confirmatory factor analysis (Study 2…
Mixed Messages
Few studies on emotional support have investigated mixed messages – instances when emotional support messages contain both positive and negative statements. Although researchers have recognized that mixed messages occur, most supportive communication research has ignored these ambivalent messages. We contend based on the negativity bias that the more negative statements that occur in an emotional support message, the less effective the message is…
Challenging sustainability in school-based intervention in Nicaragua
Purpose The current study identifies successes and limitations of sustaining Dale se Real (DsR) as a school-based educational intervention program related to drugs and violence for 7th and 8th grade students in Nicaragua, Central America. As evidence-based interventions are transported and imported across national borders, issues surrounding their adaptation and sustainability become important targets for investigation. Design/methodology/approac…
Frequency and importance of interpersonal communication about a school-based intervention with parents, peers, and teachers
Social interface model (SIM) explicates the important roles of family, peer, and school microsystems in intervention research. The present study used surveys to explore how Nicaraguan adolescents who participated in a school-based substance use and violence prevention intervention communicated about the intervention with parents, peers, and teachers. Latent class analysis was run to identify distinctive typologies of interfaces characterized by o…
The trajectory and determinants of loneliness during the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic in the United States
In March of 2020, state governments in the United States began implementing stay-at-home orders in an attempt to curtail the spread of COVID-19. As a result, most people experienced a decrease in face-to-face interactions as they limited their participation in social gatherings, travel, and in-person work. Although these orders aimed to stop the spread of COVID-19, a potential unintended consequence of these guidelines was an increase in loneline…
Determinants of loneliness during the Covid-19 pandemic in the United States
An initial study on loneliness during the first month of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States found that those who were living alone or who were single experienced greater loneliness than those who lived with others or were in a romantic relationship. This study presents follow-up analyses using data collected from the same sample ( N = 428) at a total of five points in time throughout the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United S…
What counts as an acceptable reason for not communicating emotional support
This study investigated assessments of the acceptability of and negative relational implications for the reasons given for someone not providing emotional support. A representative sample of U.S. adults ( N = 1598) participated in a survey experiment that included thinking of a person from whom they would expect such support, imagining that they did not receive support from this person, and being shown one of 16 reasons to explain the nonsupport.…
The multidimensional evaluation of enacted social support
The Multidimensional Evaluation of Enacted Social Support (MEESS) measures communicated support in terms of supportiveness, helpfulness, and sensitivity. However, a systematic review of studies using the scale showed that the scale is mostly used as a unidimensional measure of support. Additionally, the scale is prone to having high interfactor correlations, and researchers rarely perform a confirmatory factor analysis to verify the scale's facto…
Exploring the Barriers to Social Support Interactions
This study explores the reasons why young adults (ages 18–39) struggle to provide or avoid providing support to young adult cancer patients. The study also explores young adult cancer patients’ perceptions of why they have not received support from individuals who did not provide support. A total of 722 reasons were collected through online surveys and analyzed: 438 were provided by young adults who knew a young adult with cancer (N = 131), and y…
Nonsupport Experiences of Young Adult Cancer Patients
This study provides foundational data regarding instances of nonsupport (i.e. instances when support was expected from someone but not received) in the cancer context. In a sample of 205 young adult cancer patients from 22 countries, approximately three out of every five patients reported having experienced nonsupport at some point during their cancer journey. Men and women patients were approximately equally as likely to have experienced nonsupp…
Commitment, Relational Uncertainty, and the Investment Model
Based on Rusbult’s investment model and Knobloch and Solomon’s conceptualization of relational uncertainty, this study investigated how uncertainty in romantic relationships affected satisfaction, quality of alternatives, investments, and commitment. 343 adults in romantic relationships completed measures of relational uncertainty, satisfaction, investment size, quality of alternatives, and commitment. Results indicated that relational uncertaint…
Loneliness, stigma, and the tendency for interpersonal victimhood inhibit compassion for some but not all suffering social groups
This study extends recent research on correlates of compassion for suffering social groups. Using a nationally representative sample of 627 U.S. adults, this study used cross-sectional survey data to determine if loneliness, the tendency for interpersonal victimhood, and stigmatizing attitudes held toward suffering social groups correlated with less compassion for suffering social groups. Participants were randomly assigned to respond in regard t…
Saying the Wrong Thing or Saying Nothing at All
This study used expectancy violations theory as a framework to test whether nonsupport (i.e. not receiving support that was expected) is worse than receiving a low person-centered emotional support message. Participants were 886 U.S. adults who were census-matched based on age, sex, and ethnicity who participated in a survey experiment. Results showed that when providing emotional support to someone who suffered an injury, nonsupport generated le…
Relational Maintenance Behaviors Mediate the Relationship Between Alzheimer’s Diagnosis Severity and Caregivers’ Benefit Finding
Caregivers often experience stress, depression, anxiety, and various physical illnesses stemming from the demands and challenges of their caregiving role. However, adaptive coping mechanisms such as benefit finding can mitigate these outcomes. The present study explored the relationship between Alzheimer's diagnostic severity and caregivers' engaging in benefit finding and, more specifically, whether prosocial relational maintenance behaviors com…
Withholding Social Support Because Those in Need Do Not Deserve It
Close relationships have norms and expectations regarding the communication of support; however, recent research has illuminated the varied reasons why would-be supporters at times choose to forgo supporting those who are facing difficulties. One such reason is the perception that the other person is undeserving of support. The researchers conducted 28 semi-structured interviews with those who withheld support because they did not believe the oth…
Interpersonal Loneliness Predicts the Frequency and Intensity of Nightmares
The evolutionary theory of loneliness (ETL) argues that human belongingness is essential to survival and failing to meet belongingness needs constitutes a threat to viability. In two separate studies (total N = 1,609), links between loneliness and nightmares were examined as a test of ETL postulates. As hypothesized, loneliness predicted nightmare frequency (both studies) and nightmare intensity (Study Two only). Although stress mediated the rela…
Loneliness coping strategies
Loneliness affects a sizable percentage of the U.S. adult population, and although interventions and therapy can address loneliness, it is not feasible for tens of millions of people experiencing loneliness to access these resources. Therefore, the aim of this study is to develop a typology of coping strategies that lonely individuals use to address loneliness and to categorize such strategies based on their perceived effectiveness or ineffective…
Preferences for social support and perceived support gaps among attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) adults
This study explores the social support desires and potential support gaps experienced by attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) adults. ADHD adults who were in a romantic relationship ( N = 286) reported the amount of support they desire and experience from their romantic partner, as well as the intensity of three ADHD symptoms: emotional dysregulation, hyperactivity, and inattention. This study suggests that for ADHD adults the experien…
Modeling the Potential Effectiveness of Low Person-Centered Emotional Support
Low person-centered (LPC) emotional support messages have been associated consistently with poor outcomes for message recipients because such messages typically blame the recipient and invalidate or ignore their emotions. Using the dual-process theory of supportive communication as its basis, this study proposed a model in which the detrimental effects of LPC messages may be weakened (and the potential for positive results strengthened) by a comb…
Perceived Social Support and Depressive Symptoms in AYA Cancer Patients
Given the significantly higher prevalence of depression in women with cancer as compared to men, interventions to enhance agency are an important adjunct to methods to promote PSS in AYA women with cancer
Psychology (21 works) · Social Psychology (17 works) · Attachment and Relationship Dynamics (9 works) · Developmental psychology (9 works) · Social Psychology (8 works) · Medicine (7 works) · Computer Science (6 works) · Loneliness (6 works) · Social support (6 works) · Sociology (6 works)