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The Contributions And Challenges Of Family Communication To The Field Of Communication, Sandra Petronio, Dawn O. Braithwaite

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

As the Family Communication Commission in the Speech Communication Association is off to a good start, it seems appropriate to bring attention to the contributions and challenges studying family communication has for the discipline of communication. More than a decade ago, Bochner (1976) outlined several fruitful areas of investigation. Clearly, people heeded Bochner’s persuasive arguments and produced research on family communication problems (e.g., Bochner & Eisenberg, 1987; Fitzpatrick, 1988; Noller & Fitzpatrick, 1988; Petronio, 1982; Sillars, Weisberg, Burggraff, & Wilson, 1987). But, the need to examine family communication in more depth is essential to the growth and development of the …