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Social and Behavioral Sciences

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Selected Works

Dawn O. Braithwaite

2006

Articles 1 - 4 of 4

Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network

Types Of Communication Triads Perceived By Young-Adult Stepchildren In Established Stepfamilies, Leslie Baxter, Dawn Braithwaite, L. Bryant Aug 2014

Types Of Communication Triads Perceived By Young-Adult Stepchildren In Established Stepfamilies, Leslie Baxter, Dawn Braithwaite, L. Bryant

Dawn O. Braithwaite

This study was an analysis of the kinds of residential parent-stepparent-stepchild triadic communication structures expressed in interviews with 50 college-aged children from established stepfamilies. In an interpretive analysis of the interview transcripts, four communication structures were identified. In the linked triad the stepchild relied on indirect communication with the stepparent through his or her residential parent. The outsider triad was characterized by the stepchild communicating primarily with the residential parent with limited awareness of interdependence with the stepparent. In the adult-coalition triad the stepchild perceived that the residential parent and stepparent had formed a coalition, leading to cautious and distrustful …


“You're My Parent But You're Not”: Dialectical Tensions In Stepchildren's Perceptions About Communicating With The Nonresidential Parent, Dawn Braithwaite, Leslie Baxter Aug 2014

“You're My Parent But You're Not”: Dialectical Tensions In Stepchildren's Perceptions About Communicating With The Nonresidential Parent, Dawn Braithwaite, Leslie Baxter

Dawn O. Braithwaite

The nonresidential parent plays a role in the lives of stepchildren and in stepfamily households. The focus of the present study was on the interaction between the nonresidential parent and his/her child who resides as part of a stepfamily household. Grounded in relational dialectics theory, the researchers performed an interpretive analysis of 50 transcribed interviews with college-aged stepchildren. Stepchildren's perceptions of communication with the nonresidential parent were animated by two contradictions: parenting/nonparenting and openness/closedness. These two contradictions form a totality, interwoven with one another. The parenting/nonparenting contradiction reflected stepchildren's ambivalence over parenting attempts of nonresidential parents. Stepchildren wanted nonresidential parent …


Social Dialectics: The Contradictions Of Relating, Leslie Baxter, Dawn Braithwaite Aug 2014

Social Dialectics: The Contradictions Of Relating, Leslie Baxter, Dawn Braithwaite

Dawn O. Braithwaite

No abstract provided.


The Divorce Decree, Communication, And The Structuration Of Coparenting Relationships In Stepfamilies, Paul Schrodt, Leslie Baxter, M. Mcbride, Dawn Braithwaite, Mark Fine Aug 2014

The Divorce Decree, Communication, And The Structuration Of Coparenting Relationships In Stepfamilies, Paul Schrodt, Leslie Baxter, M. Mcbride, Dawn Braithwaite, Mark Fine

Dawn O. Braithwaite

sing Giddens's (1984) structuration theory, this study explored the communicative processes surrounding the divorce decree in coparenting relationships in stepfamilies. Participants included 21 adults who were coparenting children in stepfamilies who completed diary entries of all interactions with coparents over a 2-week period, and who completed follow-up interviews. Results revealed two structures of signification with respect to the divorce decree that enabled and constrained coparenting interactions. The first signification structure was one in which the decree was framed as a legal document, dictating the rights and responsibilities of parenting, especially with respect to child access and financial issues. The second …