The Push and Pull of Stepfamily Life: The Contribution of Stepchildren's Autonomy and Connection-Seeking Behaviors to Role Development in Stepfamilies

Role negotiation in stepfamilies is an important process that involves and affects all family members. Although researchers have focused on stepparent role development and the influence of stepparents' behaviors, less attention has been given to the influence and experience of stepchildren in role development. This investigation examined the contribution of stepchildren to the type of stepparent roles developed in stepfamilies, as well as stepchildren's experience of role ambiguity and the impact of stepchildren's role content and clarity on relational quality. Fifty-two stepchildren completed questionnaires about their relationships and interaction with their stepparent during adolescence. Findings indicate that stepchildren's autonomy and connection-seeking behaviors predict stepchildren's reports of stepparent role types, stepchildren's reports of stepparents' warmth displays predict stepchildren's role ambiguity, and stepchildren's behavior and role ambiguity relate to their relational satisfaction. Suggestions for future research in this area are proposed.     

Discourses of forgiveness and resilience in stepchild–stepparent relationships

Challenges and conflicts experienced by stepfamilies are well documented, but researchers are increasingly focused on communication processes that facilitate resilience in these relationships. In other contexts, communicating forgiveness has been linked to relational healing after transgressions or adversity. In the current study, the researchers sought to understand how stepchildren talk about the role of forgiveness in the development of positive adult stepchild–stepparent relationships. Data were drawn from interviews with adult stepchildren who have a positive relationship with a stepparent. Following an interpretive analysis, the researchers identified five themes representing the ways forgiveness was conceptualized and enacted in these positive stepchild–stepparent relationships: forgiveness as (a) healing family connections, (b) explicit negotiation, (c) maturation and acceptance, (d) a response to vulnerability and compassion, and (e) evidence of relational growth. Theoretical and practical applications for understanding and fostering resilient stepfamilies and the role of forgiveness are discussed.     

"I'd rather not talk about it": adolescents' and young adults' use of topic avoidance in stepfamilies

This study examined adolescents' and young adults' use of topic avoidance with their mothers, fathers, stepmothers, and stepfathers. The types of topics avoided differed according to the type of parent-child relationship. Specifically, adolescents and young adults engaged in the most topic avoidance with their stepparents (regardless of whether the stepparent was a stepmother or stepfather), followed by their fathers, and then their mothers. Quantitative measures indicated that sex was the most frequently avoided topic across all relationship types. Open-ended responses revealed additional commonly avoided topics, including talking about the other parent/family, deep conversations, and money (e.g., child support payments). The most frequently reported reasons for this avoidance were self protection, relationship protection, and conflict. This research suggests that children in stepfamilies face unique decisions about topic avoidance. Communication Boundary Management Theory (Petronio, 1991) was used to explain how adolescents and young adults might engage in topic avoidance to regulate their personal boundaries, constructing relatively impermeable boundaries with some adults while maintaining looser boundaries with others. Finally, numerous practical suggestions are offered for understanding the balance between openness and closedness in stepfamilies and for promoting healthy stepfamily functioning.     

"I'd rather not talk about it": adolescents' and young adults' use of topic avoidance in stepfamilies

This study examined adolescents' and young adults' use of topic avoidance with their mothers, fathers, stepmothers, and stepfathers. The types of topics avoided differed according to the type of parent-child relationship. Specifically, adolescents and young adults engaged in the most topic avoidance with their stepparents (regardless of whether the stepparent was a stepmother or stepfather), followed by their fathers, and then their mothers. Quantitative measures indicated that sex was the most frequently avoided topic across all relationship types. Open-ended responses revealed additional commonly avoided topics, including talking about the other parent/family, deep conversations, and money (e.g., child support payments). The most frequently reported reasons for this avoidance were self protection, relationship protection, and conflict. This research suggests that children in stepfamilies face unique decisions about topic avoidance. Communication Boundary Management Theory (Petronio, 1991) was used to explain how adolescents and young adults might engage in topic avoidance to regulate their personal boundaries, constructing relatively impermeable boundaries with some adults while maintaining looser boundaries with others. Finally, numerous practical suggestions are offered for understanding the balance between openness and closedness in stepfamilies and for promoting healthy stepfamily functioning.     

“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.     

Relational Uncertainty and Relationship Talk within Courtship: A Longitudinal Actor–Partner Interdependence Model

This study investigated the interplay between relational uncertainty and relationship talk for actors and partners over time. Participants were 135 romantic couples who completed an online survey once per week for six weeks. Between-person and within-person results indicated that people experiencing relational uncertainty appraised relationship talk as more threatening to themselves and to their courtship; they also reported avoiding more and enacting less relationship talk. Lagged analyses demonstrated that individuals who reported avoiding more and enacting less relationship talk in one week experienced more relational uncertainty in the following week. Partner effects, although not as prominent as actor effects, implied mutual influence within couples. The paper concludes by discussing how the findings advance scholarship on relational uncertainty and relationship talk.     

A Typological Examination of Communication Competence and Mental Health in Stepchildren

Despite continued interest in communication and family functioning, researchers have been challenged to adequately describe the complicated dynamics and complex configurations of stepfamilies. This study extends previous stepfamily research by classifying stepchildren according to their beliefs and experiences with key dimensions of stepfamily life, and by examining differences in perceptions of communication competence and mental health among different stepfamily types. Participants included 586 stepchildren from four different states who completed a series of survey measures. Results of cluster and discriminant analyses revealed five discrete types of stepfamilies, including bonded, functional, ambivalent, evasive, and conflictual stepfamilies. Estimates of validity for the typology revealed significant differences in self-reported communication competence and mental health among the five stepfamily types, as well as significant differences in perceptions of mothers’ and stepparents’ communication competence.     

An Examination of Relational Uncertainty,Romantic Intent,and Attraction on Communicative and Relational Outcomes in Cross-Sex Friendships

This investigation explored the impact of relational uncertainty and its correlates (i.e., attraction and romantic intent) on cognitive, communicative, and behavioral outcomes in cross-sex friendships. Participants included 352 people who reported on a current cross-sex friendship. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that social attraction increased relational satisfaction while relational uncertainty decreased relational satisfaction. Further, social attraction decreased topic avoidance while romantic intent and relational uncertainty increased topic avoidance. Finally, social attraction increased the use of relationship talk, routine contact and activity, and emotional support maintenance behaviors, while relational uncertainty decreased the use of these maintenance behaviors. This study provides researchers with a starting point for understanding the consequences associated with interpersonal attraction, romantic intent, and relational uncertainty in cross-sex friendships.     

Dyadic perspectives on advice between friends: Relational influence,advice quality,and conversation satisfaction

Theory on advice currently gives insufficient attention to relational context, the interaction, and the advisor’s perspective. We conceptualize advice interactions as dyadic processes within relationships, and examine how relationship assessments influence perceptions of advice and the interaction. Friends reported on their relationships (152 dyads, N?=?304), had conversations that included advice, and then rated advice quality and conversational satisfaction. An actor–partner interdependence model supported a “mutual influence model:” both advisors and recipients were influenced by their own and their partners’ assessments. For advisors and recipients, higher ratings of partners’ past support increased their own advice quality ratings and conversation satisfaction, and higher advice quality increased conversation satisfaction. Relationship reports from the partner’s perspective impacted individuals’ outcomes in unexpected ways.     

The impact of an older adult parent on communicative satisfaction and dyadic adjustment in the long-term marital relationship: adult-children and spouses' retrospective accounts

This research examined adult-children and their spouses' (N v = v 15 dyads) self-reports of communicative behaviors in the long-term marital relationship when caring for an older adult parent in their home and long-term married couples (N v = v 34 dyads) not caring for a parent. A quasi-experimental retrospective design was implemented to determine the effect of an older adult parent on the relational change of the adult marital dyad. Results of a mixed model ANOVA revealed a significant 2-way interaction effect in a negative direction regarding communicative satisfaction for long-term married couples after a parent has moved into the adult-child home with no other substantial or significant findings. An analysis of the means indicated that the interaction effect is a function of the fact that having a parent present slightly decreases marital satisfaction, whereas when the parent is not present satisfaction increases. Implications of the results for the study of caring for an older adult parent in the adult-child and spouse long-term marital relationship are discussed, and future applications of the life span developmental perspective are suggested     

Topic Avoidance,Everyday Talk,and Stress in Romantic Military and Non-Military Couples

Relationships are increasingly impacted by military involvement, necessitating a deeper understanding of communication within these couples. This study examined perceptions of everyday talk, topic avoidance, and stress of participants romantically involved with (a) a military partner (n = 118) or (b) a non-military partner (n = 94). Couple types avoided similar topics, but non-military partners avoided these topics more frequently than military partners. Both couple types engaged in everyday talk, but military partners found this communicative exchange to be more important. Non-military partners experienced greater stress than military partners, and communication was predictive of the stress experienced. The results of this study highlight similarities and differences in romantic couples and reveal areas in which relationship education can address these communicative nuances of military couples.     

Money as Relational Struggle: Communicatively Negotiating Cultural Discourses in Romantic Relationships

Using the lens of Relational Dialectics Theory, this study sought to uncover how competing U.S. cultural financial discourses are negotiated in people’s everyday conversations with their romantic partner. The investigation uncovered that in multiple and varied ways, participants understood money to be a major source of tension in their romantic relationships. One overarching discursive struggle animated participants’ financial talk with their partners: “money is everything” versus “money isn’t everything.” Within this struggle, participants communicatively negotiated the cultural value of money in an attempt to marginalize its power and potential negative influences on relational and economic well-being. Although money is critical in helping people meet their basic needs, this study suggests that deemphasizing the importance of money as all-consuming and omnipotent has the potential to alter couples’ financial and relational well-being.     

An interactionist perspective on dominance‐submission: Interpersonal dominance as a dynamic,situationally contingent social skill

Dominance‐submission in interpersonal interaction typically has been conceptualized as largely a function of either highly stable characteristics of individual actors (e.g., basic termperament, genetic heritage, fixed social roles) or highly dynamic properties of situations (e.g., relational control sequences). Too, the dominance end of the continuum frequently has been infused with negative connotations. Here it is argued that a more balanced and comprehensive perspective is achieved by conceptualizing interpersonal dominance as influenced by a combination of person, situation, and relationship factors and as including positive qualities that also underwrite social competence. Experimental data relevant to this interactionist perspective were examined for the impacts of one traitlike actor variable (self‐reported social skills), two situational factors (communication format and message goal), and one relationship factor (acquaintanceship) on dominance displays during dyadic interactions. Sender and receiver perceptions were also triangulated with observational data from trained coders. Results support an interactionist conceptualization of dominance.     

Communication between Grandparents and Grandchildren in Geographically Separated Relationships

This study examined grandparents' reports of their use of three media—face-to-face, telephone, and email—in geographically separated relationships with grandchildren. Grandparents used telephone and email more frequently than face-to-face communication. There were no sex differences in frequency and satisfaction with the three media. Email use was examined in depth due to the dearth of research on its use. Grandparents who reported that they and their grandchildren were equally likely to initiate email were more satisfied with its frequency and quality than those who reported primary responsibility for email communication. Satisfaction with telephone communication predicted relational quality.     

Privacy issues in relational embarrassment: Impact on relational quality and communication satisfaction

Past theorizing on causes for embarrassing situations has not taken the context of the relationship into account. This study takes exception to that oversight and examines embarrassment within the context of romantic relationships. Respondents (n = 199) were asked to identify embarrassing situations caused by romantic partners. Responses were content analyzed and three major categories were found: revealing relational secrets, inappropriate actions and awkward situations. All of these situations were considered to be breaches of relational privacy, where the partner made something public that was expected to be kept private between the couple. Respondents were also asked to assess the impact frequency of embarrassment has on feelings of relational quality and relational communication satisfaction. Gender, length of relationship, and currency of relationship were also considered. Using canonical correlations, the findings show that current relationships are longer, have less embarrassment and have higher levels of relational quality as well as satisfaction with relational communication. While past relationships are perceived to be shorter, have more embarrassment and have lower levels of relational quality as well as satisfaction with relational communication. Interpretations of these results are offered, in light of relational privacy issues.     

The Influence of Expectations for Health-Related Talk on Reports of Marital Satisfaction A version of this paper was presented at the 2002 annual meeting of the National Communication Association in New Orleans,LA.

The present study empirically operationalizes the health-related talk of married individuals (N?=?349) and reports on the factor structure of these health-related talk expectations and the reliability and convergent validity of the two-factor solution. Both factors were significantly correlated with participants’ self reports of marital satisfaction. Implications for the relationships between health-related talk and marriage are discussed.     

Rituals in Committed Romantic Relationships: The Creation and Validation of an Instrument

Rituals are widely studied in interpersonal communication research, but no instrument for assessing the preceived use of rituals among couples in committed romantic relationships exists. The purpose of this investigation was to create and validate such a measure (Rituals in Committed Romantic Relationships; RCRR). Five-hundred-sixty individuals in committed romantic relationships responded to a 50-item questionnaire that measured 5 sets of rituals pertaining to daily routines and tasks, idiosyncratic behavior, everyday talk, intimacy, and couple-time. In addition, they completed measures of perceived relational quality and perceived relational intimacy. Multiple analyses supported a 5-factor model consisting of 30 of the original 50 items. Perceived use of rituals was predictive of alterations in both perceived relational quality and perceived relational intimacy.