The Experience and Expression of Uncertainty in Close Relationships

Jennifer A. Theiss is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at Rutgers University, New Jersey. Her research has contributed to the development of relational turbulence theory, which focuses on conditions during transitions in close relationships that give rise to cognitive, emotional, and communicative turmoil. She is a Rutgers University Chancellor's Scholar and her scholarship has received several awards, including the Early Career Award from the Interpersonal Communication Division of the National Communication Association, the Distinguished Article Award from the International Association for Relationship Research, and the John Garrison Award for Interpersonal Communication Research in Applied Contexts.

Part I. Conceptual and Theoretical Foundations of Uncertainty in Close Relationships: 1. Defining uncertainty as a relational construct; 2. Theoretical perspectives on uncertainty; Part II. Antecedents and Consequences of Uncertainty in Close Relationships: 3. Conditions ripe for uncertainty; 4. The effects of uncertainty in close relationships; Part III. Communicating and Coping Under Conditions of Uncertainty in Close Relationships: 5. Uncertainty and communication in close relationships; 6. Coping with uncertainty in close relationships; Part IV. Refining the Conceptualization and Operationalization of Uncertainty in Close Relationships: 7. Measuring relational uncertainty in empirical research; 8. Exploring new orientations toward uncertainty in close relationships.