Adult Children's Experiences with their Parent's Infidelity: Communicative Protection and Access Rules in the Absence of Divorce

Guided by Communication Privacy Management (CPM), the goal of the current study was to examine parental infidelity and to learn what, if any, rules were enacted by participants to either provide access to or protect the information of their parent's infidelity. Rules used by participants to manage this information inside their family were labeled as internal, while rules used to manage this information outside their family were labeled as external. Participants included 13 adult children whose still married parents' relationship involved infidelity. Results indicated that participants created protection rules including two internal (maintenance and cultural) rules and one external (protecting the family from outside scrutiny) rule. Five access rules (context, sex, age, physical environment, and code terms), all internal, were also identified. The results of this study highlight the usefulness of CPM when examining how the knowledge of a parent's infidelity is managed by their children.     

Person-Centered Messages,Attributions of Responsibility,and the Willingness to Forgive Parental Infidelity

This study tested the degree to which person-centered disclosures about parental infidelity are associated with adult children’s attributions of responsibility for infidelity and willingness to forgive the offending parent. Participants included 299 adult children (aged 18–30) who were randomly assigned to hypothetical scenarios manipulating the person-centeredness of the offended parent’s disclosure and the biological sex of the offending parent. Although person-centered disclosures did not predict willingness to forgive, children’s attributions of responsibility for the offense did inversely predict their willingness to forgive. Meaningful differences in attributions of responsibility and willingness to forgive emerged on the basis of the sex of the offending parent. The results support attribution theory by showing that part of understanding third-party relational transgressions involves assessments of responsibility.     

Family Communication Patterns and Adolescent Experiences During Parental Military Deployment and Reintegration: The Role of Inappropriate Parental Disclosures and Perceived Family Understanding

This study examines associations between adolescent reports of family communication patterns (FCPs) and difficulties experienced during the deployment and reintegration of a military parent. Data from 106 adolescents (9–17 years) in 72 National Guard families where a parent had recently returned from overseas deployment were analyzed to examine direct and indirect links between FCPs, perceived family understanding, inappropriate parental disclosures, and adolescent difficulties. Results indicate direct effects for conformity orientation, with it being inversely associated with adolescent difficulties during both deployment and reintegration. Conversation orientation exerts mixed effects on adolescent difficulties during deployment. At a trend level, conversation orientation shares a direct, negative association with adolescent difficulties during deployment but also an indirect, positive association via family inappropriate parental disclosures. Implications of the findings for future research on FCPs as well as programs working with military families are discussed.     

Adult Child Perceptions of Communication and Humor When the Parent Is Diagnosed with Cancer: A Suggestive Perspective from Communication Theory

This study examines the function of communication and humor in the older adult parent-adult child dyad when the parent has been diagnosed with cancer. Qualitative data of open-ended data from 46 adult children of a parent recently diagnosed with cancer revealed that discussing diagnosis and treatment procedures was perceived to be a satisfying conversation, whereas withholding information had an adverse affect. The discussion of the parents' feelings during the cancer period was a difficult and complex communicative experience. The Meta-Humorous Interaction Theory (MetaHIT) was used as a conceptual framework to understand the function of appropriate and inappropriate uses of humor in terms of cognitive, affective, and behavioral elements of humor. Humor was often used as a coping or relief function for discussing side effects of cancer treatment. This investigation underscores the importance of understanding how adult children use humorous communication to cope with the unknown conversational territory of a parent's cancer diagnosis.     

Intergenerational Support and the Role of Grandparents in Post-Divorce Families: Retrospective Accounts of Young Adult Grandchildren

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 support 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.     

Parental Self-efficacy and Sensitivity During Playtime Interactions with Young Children: Unpacking the Curvilinear Association

Although scholars and service providers typically assume that parental self-efficacy (PSE) facilitates sensitive parenting, this study finds that the association between PSE and observer ratings of parents' sensitivity during free play actually is curvilinear. Parents (33 mothers, 5 fathers) from an intergenerational learning program serving low-income families completed the Self-Efficacy for Parenting Tasks Index and were videotaped during a 15-minute play period with their infant/toddler at program entry. Parents' self-reported PSE is positively, albeit weakly, associated with observer ratings of parental sensitivity from low to moderate levels of self-efficacy but inversely associated with sensitivity from moderate to high self-efficacy. Qualitative analyses show that mothers who report high PSE but are rated as low in sensitivity introduce toys when their child is already engaged, restrict their child's access to toys, physically manipulate their child, and violate their child's proximal space. Parenting education programs need to develop strategies for reaching parents who enter with high levels of confidence but lack knowledge of competent parenting practices.     

“They don’t know what it’s like in here”: Incarcerated individuals’ communication with family members

The incarcerated population is large and growing. Maintaining family connections during confinement is linked to positive outcomes, yet the family communication of incarcerated individuals is understudied. We examine the family communication of individuals incarcerated in an urban county jail for women. Four family communication themes were identified: 1) communication access and understanding, 2) family support, 3) parenting challenges, and 4) family conflict. The findings inform both theoretical and practical implications.     

“You're My Parent but You're Not”: Dialectical Tensions in Stepchildren's Perceptions About Communicating with the Nonresidential Parent

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 involvement and parenting, and at the same time they resisted it, often finding communication to be awkward and challenging. In addition, stepchildren wanted open and intimate communication with their nonresidential parents, yet they found openness to be problematic and managed these contradictory demands via segmentation. Implications of these findings are discussed, along with insights to guide professionals working with stepfamilies and adults co-parenting children to better understand and interact in ways that promote healthy stepfamilies.     

Examining the Decision to Talk with Family About Organ Donation: Applying the Theory of Motivated Information Management

Research on organ donation suggests a strong association between family discussions about the issue and final organ donor status. However, very few studies have examined the factors that influence individuals’ willingness to talk directly to their family about this topic or the impact of these discussions. This investigation provides a partial test of a newly developed theory of information management to better understand the processes of family discussions about organ donation. Results from two studies generally support the utility of the theory in this context, suggest ways in which organ donation campaigns may improve their effectiveness, and recommend future directions for researchers in this area. Moreover, the data show differences across ethnic groups that support and extend past work in this area.     

Daughters' Perceptions of Communication with Their Fathers: The Role of Skill Similarity and Co-Orientation in Relationship Satisfaction

This study examines the communication skill similarity between fathers and daughters. Participants were 186 daughters who identified perceptions of both their own communication competence and their father's communication competence. Results indicated that perceived similarity was related to relational satisfaction and quantity of communication. Using the Family Communication Pattern (FCP) model, father-daughter relationship satisfaction and communication skill similarity varied depending on the family type (i.e., consensual, pluralistic, protective, laissez-faire).