Dr. Marcus C. Shepard explains the family life cycle and the four core family communication patterns—consensual, pluralistic, protective, and laissez-faire—focusing on conversation and conformity orientations and how they shape family dynamics.

The episode ends with three practical tips for better family communication: reorienting relationships with restart conversations, managing words-thoughts-emotions, and setting boundaries, especially useful during holidays and removing oneself from the familial dynamic.

Dr. Marcus C. Shepard discusses a Wired article (https://www.wired.com/story/ai-relationships-are-on-the-rise-a-divorce-boom-could-be-next/) on the rise of AI relationships and their growing impact on marriages, including legal disputes and financial secrecy tied to chatbot companions.

He applies interpersonal communication concepts (investment, emotional closeness, trust, support) and Duck’s stages of relational breakdown, and closes with practical advice for managing tense family dynamics over Thanksgiving.

This episode summarizes a Swedish longitudinal sibling-comparison study (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10680-024-09722-6) showing that cohabiting people have mortality risks between single and married individuals, with differences growing with age.

Dr. Marcus C. Shepard discusses health benefits of partnership, implications for aging and COVID-19, and ideas for future research on cohabitation and community health.

Dr. Marcus C. Shepard reviews a new multi-country study reported by the Institute for Family Studies showing that couples who met in person report higher relationship satisfaction and stronger experiences of intimacy, passion, and commitment than couples who met online (https://ifstudies.org/blog/couples-around-the-world-who-met-in-real-life-are-happier-than-those-who-met-online).

The episode discusses possible reasons—such as shared contexts, transparency, and selection criteria—offers practical advice for using dating apps (including setting non-negotiables and timelines), and explores limitations of the research.

The episode closes with an Ask Dr. Shepard segment advising a student on how to repair a strained relationship with a professor: request a meeting during office hours, document the conversation by email, and keep a respectful paper trail if problems continue.

Dr. Marcus C. Shepard explains how verbal communication creates meaning—covering symbols, arbitrariness, abstraction, ambiguity, brute vs. institutional facts, and how language evaluates and organizes experience.

He outlines communication rules (regulative and constitutive), punctuation, totalizing, loaded language, and offers practical guidelines: use person-centered language, specify levels of abstraction, qualify generalizations, and own your feelings with I-statements.

In Ask Dr. Shepard, he advises a listener who feels excluded to have one-on-one conversations using I-language to clarify feelings and consider hosting or re-engaging to repair friendships.

In this episode Dr. Marcus C. Shepard explores nonverbal communication—what it includes, how it interacts with words, and types like kinesics, haptics, proxemics, paralanguage, and environmental cues—plus practical guidelines for monitoring and interpreting nonverbals to avoid miscommunication.

The episode closes with an Ask Dr. Shepard segment about ghosting, offering a respectful “pre-ghosting” message template and advice on how to respond (or not) when communication fades in dating.

Dr. Marcus C. Shepard examines the Institute for Family Studies article "The Sex Recession," (https://ifstudies.org/blog/the-sex-recession-the-share-of-americans-having-regular-sex-keeps-dropping) explaining how the share of Americans having regular sex has fallen from 55% in 1990 to 37% in 2024. The decline is linked to fewer partnered adults, reduced face-to-face time, and shifting socialization driven by smartphones and digital media.

The episode explores causes like decreased in-person interaction, rising anxiety and depression among younger generations, and the role of the pandemic. Dr. Shepard emphasizes the importance of interpersonal communication skills and the social contexts that foster relationships.

Dr. Shepard closes with "Ask Dr. Shepard" where he offers practical tips for students looking to build social confidence and make new friends as the semester begins.

Host Dr. Marcus C. Shepard breaks down what emotions are and how framing rules, feeling rules, surface acting, deep acting, emotional intelligence, and emotional competence shape the way we feel and express ourselves. He offers practical guidelines for owning feelings, using specific language, and creating a supportive climate for emotional conversations.

The episode closes with an Ask Dr. Shepard segment on dating fatigue, offering concrete online-dating rules and strategies—like setting response limits, having a sell-by date for app conversations, and prioritizing assertive communication—to avoid feeling jaded and communicate more authentically.