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Articles 1 - 8 of 8
Full-Text Articles in Critical and Cultural Studies
“Love Needs To Be Exchanged”: A Diary Study Of Interaction And Enactment Of The Family Kinkeeper Role, Dawn O. Braithwaite, Jaclyn S. Marsh, Carol L. Tschampl-Diesing, Margaret S. Leach
“Love Needs To Be Exchanged”: A Diary Study Of Interaction And Enactment Of The Family Kinkeeper Role, Dawn O. Braithwaite, Jaclyn S. Marsh, Carol L. Tschampl-Diesing, Margaret S. Leach
Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications
Family kinkeepers enact an important role centered on interaction and maintaining family relationships. The researchers studied kinkeeping communication in light of mediated communication, topics engaged, and kinkeepers’ assessments. Thirty-four self-identified kinkeepers kept an interaction diary over 2 weeks. Their 275 reports represented 1,487 interactions using largely mediated communication channels (text, telephone, e-mail, social media), centered on everyday activities, rituals, and health and safety. Despite potential complications of the role, kinkeepers reported high agreement and openness with family members, little conflict, and overall satisfaction with their interactions. Implications of these findings, new directions for researchers, and the important mediated role of …
Communication Structures Of Supplemental Voluntary Kin Relationships, Dawn O. Braithwaite, Jenna Stephenson, Julia Moore, Katie Brockhage
Communication Structures Of Supplemental Voluntary Kin Relationships, Dawn O. Braithwaite, Jenna Stephenson, Julia Moore, Katie Brockhage
Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications
Although scholars have constructed typologies of voluntary (fictive) kin, few have considered challenges and opportunities of interaction and relationships between biolegal and voluntary kin. This study focused on one type of voluntary kin, supplemental voluntary kin, relationships that often arise because of differing values, underperformed roles, or physical distance from the biolegal family, and wherein relationships are maintained with biolegal and voluntary kin. We examined how these family systems are constructed via interactions in relational triads of “linchpin” persons between biolegal family and voluntary kin. From in-depth interviews with 36 supplemental voluntary kin, we examined themes in the linchpins’ discourse …
Family Communication About Sex: A Qualitative Analysis Of Gay And Lesbian Parents' Parent-Child Sex Communication, Allison Bonander
Family Communication About Sex: A Qualitative Analysis Of Gay And Lesbian Parents' Parent-Child Sex Communication, Allison Bonander
Department of Communication Studies: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
As the number of same-sex parents creating families and raising children rises, the stigma surrounding parent-child sex communication (PCSC) remains constant. Parents serve as one of the primary sources of information regarding sex and sexuality to their children; however, gay and lesbian parent-child sex communication remains largely unstudied. Framed within grounded theory, the primary goal of this study is to investigate how gay and lesbian parents navigate and enact parent-child sex communication with their children. Through 22 in-depth interviews with gay and lesbian parents who have directly communicated about sex and sexuality with their children, the following four research questions …
Theory And Research From The Communication Field: Discourses That Constitute And Reflect Families, Kathleen M. Galvin, Dawn O. Braithwaite
Theory And Research From The Communication Field: Discourses That Constitute And Reflect Families, Kathleen M. Galvin, Dawn O. Braithwaite
Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications
From the disciplinary perspective of communication studies, we review theory and research in family communication, including a brief history of the family communication field; the contributions of a family communication perspective; and 5 theories of family communication: communication accommodation theory, communication privacy management theory, family communication patterns theory, narrative theor(ies), and relational dialectics theory. We then illustrate the concept of discourse dependence in family communication processes and discuss current trends in family communication research. We also suggest emerging directions for family communication scholarship.
Quality Interactions And Family Storytelling, Allison R. Thorson, Christine E. Rittenour, Jody Koenig Kellas, April R. Trees
Quality Interactions And Family Storytelling, Allison R. Thorson, Christine E. Rittenour, Jody Koenig Kellas, April R. Trees
Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications
This study examined how individuals’ satisfaction with their family, as well as the ways they negotiated the telling of a family story, combined to predict their perceived quality of the storytelling interaction. Drawing from family members’ (150 individuals, 50 families) joint telling of an often told family story, multilevel modeling analyses revealed significant variance within and between families’ perceived quality of their storytelling interaction. These variances were explained by family satisfaction and family-level ratings of engagement during storytelling. These findings drive our suggestions for future assessment of multiple members’ perspectives of joint family storytelling interactions.
Transmitting Relational Worldviews: The Relationship Between Mother-Daughter Memorable Messages And Adult Daughters’ Romantic Relational Schemata, Jody Koenig Kellas
Transmitting Relational Worldviews: The Relationship Between Mother-Daughter Memorable Messages And Adult Daughters’ Romantic Relational Schemata, Jody Koenig Kellas
Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications
This study investigates memorable messages that daughters report hearing from their mothers about romantic relationships to examine the development of meaning in the content of parent-child communication and the ways in which these messages may affect and reflect adult daughters’ relational worldviews. Findings from a study involving 149 adult daughters revealed 4 supra-categories of memorable messages: value self, characteristics of a good relationship, warnings, and value the sanctity of love. Moreover, statistical analyses reveal that memorable message types significantly related to daughter’s romantic relationship schemata as operationalized by Fitzpatrick’s (1988) couple types. Both message and couple type predicted intergenerational transmission.
Intergenerational Support And The Role Of Grandparents In Post-Divorce Families: Retrospective Accounts Of Young Adult Grandchildren, Jordan Soliz
Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications
The purpose of the current study was to examine grandparent support to grandchildren following the divorce of parents. Participants (N = 42) responded to questions focusing on the enactment of support and relationships with grandparents. Through these retrospective, self-report accounts, six categories of grandparent support were identified. Additionally, four barriers to grandparent sup-port emerged from the responses of the grandchildren. These categories of and barriers to intergenerational social support are discussed as they relate to characteristics and expectations of provided support in post-divorce families.
“You’Re My Parent But You’Re Not”: Dialectical Tensions In Stepchildren’S Perceptions About Communicating With The Nonresidential Parent, Dawn O. Braithwaite, Leslie A. Baxter
“You’Re My Parent But You’Re Not”: Dialectical Tensions In Stepchildren’S Perceptions About Communicating With The Nonresidential Parent, Dawn O. Braithwaite, Leslie A. Baxter
Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications
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 …