Lynsey Romo

Dr. Lynsey K. Romo is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at North Carolina State University. Her research examines how people talk about uncomfortable issues, specifically pertaining to health and finances. Dr. Romo has explored what motivates people to disclose taboo topics (e.g., salary) or stigmatized traits (e.g., abstaining from alcohol, being in recovery for substance misuse) and how individuals manage uncertainty surrounding their physical, social, and economic well-being. She also uncovers how couples can effectively motivate one another to engage in healthier eating and exercise behaviors, how people can communicatively manage interpersonal challenges to losing and maintaining weight, and how collegiate student athletes can negotiate stressors and ambiguity.

Romo was named a 2019-20 NC State University Scholar in recognition of her research, teaching, and leadership and ranks among the top 1% of published communication scholars across the years 2012-2016. She was also awarded the NC State Department of Communication’s Robert M. Entman Award for Excellence in Communication Research. Romo was selected to serve as a U.S. Fulbright Scholar at Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences in Latvia in Spring 2021.

At NC State, Romo teaches undergraduate and graduate health, theory, interpersonal, and qualitative research methods courses. Prior to joining NC State, Romo taught at the university level for three years and served as the communications director of a nonprofit committed to improving health and economic conditions for low-income individuals.

Romo has published her research in such academic journals as Human Communication Research, Communication Monographs, Journal of Applied Communication Research, Health Communication, and the Journal of Health Communication. Her research has been covered by a number of media outlets, including: Time, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, Inside Higher Ed, U.S. News & World Report, New York Magazine, CBS News, The Guardian, Glamour, Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Self, Shape, WebMD, Fast Company, Psychology Today, the San Francisco Chronicle, Daily Mail, and Yahoo News.

Research Publications

• Romo, L. K., & Obiol, M. (in press). How people in recovery manage the stigma of being an alcoholic. Health Communication.*
• Thompson, C. M., Duerringer, C. M., Romo, L. K., & Makos, S. (in press). Personal responsibility, personal shame: The discourse of individualism about health and finances. Rhetoric of Health & Medicine.
• Thompson, C. M., Babu, S., Romo, L. K., Pulido, M. D., Liao, D., & Kriss, L. (in press). “I changed. I had to admit that I was wrong”: Identity gap management amidst evolving illness uncertainty. Journal of Personal and Social Relationships.
• Thompson, C. M., Romo, L. K., Pulido, M. D., Liao, D., Kriss, L., & Babu, S. (in press). Denying and accepting a family member’s illness: Uncertainty management as a process. Health Communication.
• Romo, L. K., Marr, C., & Alvarez, C. (in press). Facework and politeness theories. International Encyclopedia of Health Communication.*
• Romo, L. K., Thompson, C. M., & Ben-Israel, P. (in press). An examination of how people appraise and manage health-related financial uncertainty. Health Communication.*
• Romo, L. K., & Czajkowski, N. (2022). An examination of reddit members’ metaphorical sensemaking of prenuptial agreements. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 43, 1-14.*
• Romo, L. K., Lloyd, R., & Grimaila, Z. (2022). An examination of communicative negotiation of non-rescue dog stigma. Society & Animals, 30, 88-107.*
• Foulke, M., & Romo, L. K. (2021). An examination of how young adults manage verbal disclosure of their tattoo(s). Qualitative Research Reports in Communication, 22, 39-46.*
• Romo, L. K., & Campau, C. (2021). An examination of how college students in recovery for a substance use disorder manage uncertainty. Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, 39, 471-488.
• Romo, L. K., & Luurs, G. (2021). How college students communicatively manage uncertainty about university health services. Health Communication, 36, 1009-1117.*
• Abetz, J., & Romo, L. (2020). An examination of how southern emerging adults communicatively manage multiple goals in talking about race. Southern Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal of the South, 27, 65-82.
• Hughes, S., & Romo, L. K. (2020). An exploration of how individuals with an ostomy communicatively manage uncertainty. Health Communication, 35, 375-383.*
• Thompson, C. M., Romo, L. K., Owens, M., Ben-Israel, P., & Keita, S. (2019). Social network members’ responses to friends’ break up false alarms. Personal Relationships, 26, 406-428.*
• Perez, L., Romo, L. K., & Bell, T. (2019). Communicatively exploring uncertainty management of parents of children with type 1 diabetes. Health Communication, 34, 949-957.*
• Dailey, R. M., Romo, L. K., Myer, S., Thomas, C., Aggarwal, S., Nordby, K., Johnson, M., & Dunn, C. (2018). The buddy benefit: Increasing the effectiveness of an employee-targeted weight-loss program through confirming communication. Journal of Health Communication, 23, 272-280.
• Romo, L.K. (2018). Coming out as a nondrinker at work. Management Communication Quarterly, 32, 292-296.
• Romo, L. K. (2018). An examination of how people who have lost weight communicatively negotiate interpersonal challenges to weight management. Health Communication, 33, 469-477.
• Romo, L.K. (2018). “A review of family financial communication.” In (Ed) Laskin, A.V. Handbook of Financial Communication and Investor Relations. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
• Romo, L.K. (2017). College student-athletes’ communicative negotiation of emotional labor. Communication and Sport, 5, 492-509.
• Romo, L. K., Thompson, C. M., & Donovan, E. (2017). College drinkers’ privacy management surrounding alcohol posts on social networking sites. Communication Studies, 68, 173-189.
• Romo, L. K. (2016). How formerly overweight and obese individuals negotiate disclosure of their weight loss. Health Communication, 31, 1145-1154.
• Romo, L. K., & Abetz, J. S. (2016). Money is important but it’s not everything”: A dialectical analysis of how cultural financial discourses are constituted in people’s communication with their romantic partner. Communication Studies, 67, 94-110.
• Thompson, C. M., & Romo, L. K. (2016). The role of communication competence in buffering against the negative effects of alcohol-related social networking site usage. Communication Reports, 29, 139-151.
• Thompson, C. M., & Romo, L. K. (2016). College students’ drinking and posting about alcohol: Forwarding a model of motivations, behaviors, and consequences. Journal of Health Communication, 21, 688-695.
• Romo, L. K., Dinsmore, D. R., & Connolly, T. L. (2016). “Coming out” as an alcoholic: How former problem drinkers negotiate disclosure of their non-drinking identity. Health Communication, 31, 336-345.*
• Romo, L. K. (2016). “Family secrets.” In (Eds.) Berger, C., & Roloff, M. International Encyclopedia of Interpersonal Communication. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
• Romo, L. K., Davis, C. N., & Fea, A. L. (2015). “You never know what’s gonna happen”: An examination of communication strategies used by college student athletes to manage uncertainty. Communication and Sport, 3, 458-480.*
• Romo, L. K. (2015). An examination of how people in romantic relationships use communication to manage financial uncertainty. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 43, 315-335.
• Romo, L. K., Dinsmore, D. R., Connolly, T. L, & Davis, C. N. (2015). An examination of how professionals who abstain from alcohol communicatively negotiate their non-drinking identity. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 43, 91-111.*
• Romo, L. K. (2014). “These aren’t very good times”: Financial uncertainty experienced by romantic partners in the wake of an economic downturn. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 35, 477-488.
• Romo, L. K. (2014). Much ado about money: Parent-child perceptions of financial disclosure. Communication Reports, 27, 91-101.
• Romo, L. K., & Dailey, R. M. (2014). Weighty dynamics: Exploring couples’ perceptions of post-weight loss interaction. Health Communication, 29, 193-204.
• Romo, L. K., & Vangelisti, A. L. (2014). Money matters: Children’s perceptions of parent-child financial communication. Communication Research Reports, 31, 197-209.
• Dailey, R. M., Thompson, C. M., & Romo, L. K. (2014). Mother-teen communication about weight management. Health Communication, 29, 384-397.
• Thompson, C. M., Romo, L. K., & Dailey, R. M. (2013). The effectiveness of weight management influence messages in romantic relationships. Communication Research Reports, 30, 34-45.
• Donovan-Kicken, E., Guinn, T. D., Romo, L. K., & Ciceraro, L. D. L. (2013). Thanks for asking, but let’s talk about something else: Reactions to topic avoidance messages that feature different interaction goals. Communication Research, 40, 308-336.
• Romo, L. K. (2012). Living “above the influence:” How college students communicate about the healthy deviance of alcohol abstinence. Health Communication, 27, 672-681.
• Romo, L. K., & Donovan-Kicken, E. (2012). “Actually, I don’t eat meat”: A multiple-goals perspective of communication about vegetarianism. Communication Studies, 63, 405-420.
• Romo, L. K. (2011). Money talks: Revealing and concealing financial information in families. Journal of Family Communication, 11, 264-281.
• Dailey, R.M., Romo, L. K., & Thompson, C. M. (2011). Confirmation in couples’ communication about weight management: An analysis of how both partners contribute to individuals’ health behaviors and conversational outcomes. Human Communication Research, 37, 553-582.
• Dailey, R. M., McCracken, A., & Romo, L. K. (2011). Confirmation and weight management: Predicting effective levels of acceptance and challenge in weight management messages. Communication Monographs, 78, 185-211.
• Dailey, R. M., Richards, A., & Romo, L. K. (2010). Communication with significant others about weight management: The role of confirmation in weight management attitudes and behaviors. Communication Research, 37, 644-673.
• Dailey, R. M., Romo, L. K., & McCracken, A. (2010). Messages about weight management: An examination of how acceptance and challenge are related to message effectiveness. Western Journal of Communication, 74, 457-483.

Education

• Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin (2008 — 2013)
• MA American University (2001 — 2002)
• BA Albion College (1997 — 2001)

Companies

• Associate Professor of Communication North Carolina State University (2018)
• Assistant Professor North Carolina State University (2013 — 2018)
• Assistant Instructor The University of Texas at Austin (2008 — 2013)
• Lecturer Texas State University (2012 — 2013)
• Visiting Instructor Albion College (2011 — 2011)
• Communication Coach McCombs School of Business (2009 — 2011)
• Communications Director Center for Public Policy Priorities (2004 — 2008)
• Associate The Hauser Group (2002 — 2004)

Skills

• Event Planning
• Program Development
• Public Relations

Other

Qualitative Research, Community Outreach, Student Development, Student Affairs, Teaching, Grant Writing, Editing, Research