Department: Communication Studies

Areas of expertise:

• Communication in interpersonal relationships
• Parent-child
• Attachment
• Romance and love
• Marriage

Jennie Rosier, Ph.D., is a Professor of Communication Studies at James Madison University who studies how people create, maintain, and make sense of their closest relationships. Her work sits at the intersection of communication, attachment, and human development, with a particular interest in how our experiences with others influence the ways we communicate, connect, and understand ourselves. At JMU, she teaches courses in attachment communication, interpersonal communication, and research methods. Rosier also engages in public scholarship through her Instagram platform, @DrJennieRosier, where she translates research on attachment, relationships, parenting, and communication into accessible, evidence-informed content for a broader audience.

Rosier’s current scholarship centers on three research programs. Her sleep training research examines parent-child communication and attachment in the context of infant sleep, asking how parents can respond to children’s needs while navigating the cultural pressure to establish independent sleep.

Her research on Gen Z dating explores how a generation of young adults is navigating romantic relationships in a rapidly changing cultural and technological environment. She examines topics such as dating apps, situationships, the talking phase, commitment, emotional vulnerability, and the fear of being “too much.” This work considers how attachment and cultural expectations shape the ways young adults communicate romantic interest, needs, and boundaries.

Her third research program, attachment storytelling, explores the stories people tell about their childhoods, relationships, and identities. Rosier is particularly interested in how attachment experiences become woven into personal narratives—and how those narratives can influence relationships long after childhood.

Across all three programs, Rosier’s work is grounded in a central question: How do our relationships shape the way we communicate, and how does the way we communicate shape the relationships we build?

Media contact: Chad Saylor, saylorcx@jmu.edu