Communication Commons^™

Stepfamily Stories: How Stories About Rituals Communicate A Sense Of Family, Donna Jean Lang

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Recognizing that family (of any type) is a negotiated construction of individuals provides an insight into how people create the unique relationship that we call “family.” To gain a deeper understanding of stepfamily identity and how a sense of family is constructed, a life story interview approach was used to gather narratives from 20 adult children of stepfamilies. The narratives were analyzed using a qualitative/interpretive method, resulting in a balanced view of stepfamilies as having both positive and negative features similar to any other family type. It was found that individual adherence to rituals within the stepfamily provides a sense …