The SAGE Handbook of Family Communication

Lynn H Turner, Richard West

• Publisher: SAGE Publications, Inc
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781483324029
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Communication Studies
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Athorough exploration of the critical topics and issues facing family communication researchers today The Sage Handbook of Family Communication provides a comprehensive examination of family communication theory and research. Chapters by leading scholars in family communication expand the definition of family, address recent shifts in culture, and cover important new topics, including families in crisis, families and governmental policies, social media, and extended families. The combination of groundbreaking theories, research methods, and reviews of foundational and emerging research in family communication make this an invaluable resource that explores the critical topics and issues facing family communication researchers today.

Part I Foundations

Chapter 1 The Challenge of Defining “Family”

Lynn H. Turner Marquette University

Richard West Emerson College

The family is a critically important social institution with huge implications for laypeople, policy makers, and scholars alike. As Socha significantly noted in 1999, family comprises the first group to which a person belongs, and usually provides the most long-lasting group membership for individuals. In addition, as we and others have commented (e.g. Floyd, Mikkelson, & Judd, 2006; Galvin, 2006; Turner & West, 2013), in the United States, family is seen as a group that is qualitatively different from any other group to which a person belongs. The enduring bonds of obligation, the unique communication behaviors, the evolution through time, as well as the expectations for affection and support that characterize family set it apart from other groups. Further, the family’s contributions to an individual’s sense of identity and self-worth have long been noted, and as Olson, Baiocchi-Wagner, Kratzer, and Symonds (2012) comment, “. . . our families provide the glue that connects all the parts of our lives—for better and for worse” (p. 1). In addition, Braithwaite and her colleagues (2010) report that the family is “the most pervasive and central of human institutions” (p. 389). Clearly, family is a term signifying something of importance to people, and a term that is fraught with meaning. The question is: what does it mean?

When a term is as important to people as family is, then the process of defining it also becomes important. Yet, defining family often is a problem that bedevils policy makers, laypeople, and scholars alike. In the realm of public policy, Tankersley (2008) comments that the definition of family is at the core of many political debates as well as policy-making discussions. The task of defining family becomes critical as politicians try to develop laws and policies affecting families. The myriad laws related to family life have had a profound effect upon family members. Specific laws, including the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), continue to influence nearly every family today. More general policies, too, including those related to child custody, unemployment benefits, and earned income tax credits also affect how policy contributes to the definition process. In many ways, these laws and policies comment on the definition of family either specifically as in the 2013 U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing married same-sex couples to receive federal benefits, or by implication, as in the FMLA.

Many questions attend the task of defining family, including but not limited to: Is a difference implied in saying “the family” as opposed to “family?” And, what might that difference mean (Holstein & Gubrium, 1995)? Do we see family as a refuge from outside trauma and a source of comfort and support in the face of life’s stressors? Or do we imagine the family as a crucible for pain and conflict? Or is it both? Or neither? For that matter, when we invoke the concept of family, what people do we include? Are we speaking of people who share living space, who are related by blood, or those who, through some qualitative algorithm, feel like family to us? When we mention family, are we talking about those who raised us (our families-of-origin), those to whom we were born (our families-of-procreation), those with whom we currently live, or some other configuration? Is anyone, or any entity, allowed to have the final say in defining family? If we privilege one family form over others, what does that mean about the forms we leave out of our definition?

Given these complexities, the purpose of this chapter is four-fold. First, we explore a number of considerations that make defining family complicated. We then we review a body of research that specifically attempts to confront the problems of defining family, with a special emphasis on the communication literature. Third, we review communication literature and practice that skirts the definitional problem in favor of advancing typologies of family. Finally, we look to the future and pose a research (and practical) agenda regarding family definition.

Difficulties in Creating a Definition of Family

The task of defining family may be complicated by the myriad choices currently affecting family structures. Relational choices, including cohabitation, divorce, and postdivorce friendships, have influenced the composition of the Western family. Reproductive technologies, including contraception, surrogacy, and in vitro fertilization have provided both women and men with opportunities to plan how many children to have, whether to have children at all, or whether to involve others in the process of child bearing for the family. In addition other technologies may affect who is a member of the family. For instance, online communication allows people to interact across geographic space, and this may have an effect on who is considered a family member. Grandparents, and other extended family members, may become more central to a family’s functioning through their ability to Skype with and text their grandchildren (Turner, 2012). As Webb, Ledbetter, and Norwood (Chapter 23, this volume) observe, families are formed via technologically assisted communication through practices like online adoptions or the facilitation of assisted reproductive technologies such as surrogacy or egg and sperm donors. Technologically assisted communication also serves to maintain family ties, as Webb et al. note. Social media such as Facebook, for example, have been used to seek reassurance from others (Clerkin, Smith, & Hames, in press) and to alleviate loneliness for college students who have moved away from their families-of-origin (Lou, Yan, Nickerson, McMorris, 2012). Yet, if such reassurance from family members has not been provided, what effect does this have upon the family? Are the college students beginning to be edged out of the definition?

Further, we cannot ignore the influence of the media on shaping the definition of family, because so many people in the United States base their ideas about family on mediated images (see, for example, Tyus, Chapter 22, this volume). Television, talk radio, social media, newspapers, and popular press all remain instrumental teachers about what constitutes family. Watching Modern Family, for instance, gives the viewer some insights into a gay-father-headed household. Listening to Rush Limbaugh, a conservative talk show host, provides listeners with Limbaugh’s views on the effects immigration has on families. Reading tweets from unmarried Hollywood couples who are recent parents sends messages about possibilities for parenting and family life. Scanning some 2013 headlines relevant to families, reveals the following messages about what constitutes family (and what does not): “Millennials, in Their Parents’ Basements” (Rampell, 2013); “Controversy Continues Over Gay Parenting Study” (Inside Higher Education, 2013); and “For Stronger Families, Focus on Childcare, Not Birthrates” (Gregory, 2013).

Another complicating factor for understanding the definition of family concerns the economy. The financial ebbs and flows in the United States affect the family unit and even strike at people’s conception of family. Some family members, because of job loss, reduced labor hours, or unemployment, are incapable of living alone. These members frequently return to their family-of-origin because they can no longer afford housing expenses. A man and his children may return to his p...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction The Family Communication Tree: Deep Roots, Strong Branches
• Part I Foundations
• Chapter 1 The Challenge of Defining “Family”
• Chapter 2 Constructing a Cultural Identity Through Family Communication
• Chapter 3 Theoretical Approaches to Family Communication
• Chapter 4 Research Methods and the Study of Family Communication Practices
• Part II Family Behaviors and Dynamics
• Chapter 5 Communicated Narrative Sense-Making Understanding Family Narratives, Storytelling, and the Construction of Meaning Through a Communicative Lens
• Chapter 6 Family Conflict and Communication
• Chapter 7 Intimacy and Family Communication
• Chapter 8 Communication and Family Violence A Review of Recent Scholarship
• Chapter 9 Social Support Processes in the Family
• Chapter 10 Stress and Coping in Families A Review and Synthesis of the Communication Research
• Chapter 11 Examining Family Secrets From a Communication Perspective
• Chapter 12 Family and Partner Communication About Sex
• Part III Family Forms
• Chapter 13 Intergenerational Family Relationships
• Chapter 14 Communication in Adult Sibling Relationships
• Chapter 15 Communication in Lesbian and Gay Families
• Chapter 16 Communication in Postdivorce and Stepfamily Relationships
• Chapter 17 Aging Families and Family Communication
• Part IV Family Interfaces
• Chapter 18 Organized Religion and Family Communication Support and Oppression
• Chapter 19 Education and Family Communication
• Chapter 20 Families Communicating About Health
• Chapter 21 Work and Family Communication
• Chapter 22 It’s All in the Family A Historical Analysis of Diversity and Family Communication Within Television Sitcoms
• Part V Emerging Topics in Family Communication Research
• Chapter 23 Families and Technologically Assisted Communication
• Chapter 24 Communication in Military Families Across the Deployment Cycle
• Chapter 25 Positive Family Communication Toward a New Normal
• Chapter 26 Familial Solidarity and Religious Identity Communication and Interfaith Families
• Epilogue On Family Communication’s Search for Meaning
• References
• About the Editors
• About the Contributors
• Index
• Publisher Note