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This study focused on how adopted adults who have reunited with at least one birth family member experienced identity shifts related to their original birth certificates (OBCs). Framed by the Communication Theory of Identity (CTI), 50 adopted adults discussed their experiences related to their OBCs and how their identities are connected to this symbol through three of the layers of CTI, the personal, enacted, and relational layers. Participants discussed the presence of an ambiguous and unsolvable identity that interpenetrated with their other identity layers. Findings extend CTI to include an additional layer for adoptees – phantom identity – which can explain the life adoptees would have lived had they not been adopted. This identity was salient for participants as it manifested in ways such as expressing frustration with obstacles in gaining access to their OBC and refocusing their professional life to support other adopted adults. Moreover, findings offer implications for the examination into current adoption record practices in the United States, additional state mutual consent registries, and increased access to adoption-competent counselors for adoptees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Routines and rituals are ubiquitous across scholarship in family communication yet are overlapping and idiosyncratic concepts, making a clear distinction between them difficult. This paper builds clarification around the concepts by arguing for attending to what we call the routinized and ritualized aspects of family activities. We demonstrate this approach's utility through a qualitative thematic discourse analysis of 697 Twitter posts discussing the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on family food practices in the United States. We identify three themes that convey the broad impacts of lockdown conditions on family food practices: bolstering, disruption, and reimagining. We then analyze each theme's salience within daily meals and holiday meals – two food provisioning sites frequently considered routines and rituals, respectively. Theoretically, this paper forwards a conceptualization of routines and rituals that delineates the symbolic and instrumental elements embedded within each; empirically, it demonstrates the multifaced effects of the pandemic on family food life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Racial minority families engage in "racial socialization," the process by which individuals develop meaning and understanding of what race is, and its implications. While parents are often seen as the site of this socialization, we wanted to explore which racial socialization messages were salient for young adults, and from whom they received these messages. This paper utilized focus groups to explore messages that young Black adults received about race, and what this means for their racial identity. We identified three dominant themes in our analyses: (a) the content of familial messages regarding race, identity, and prejudice, (b) critical incidents that shaped individuals' understandings of Black racial identity, and (c) familial sources. Each of these themes is constituted by various experiences and examples that shed light on racial socialization in today's social climate. Overall, parents, extended family members, and community members were sources of socializing what race meant to young Black adults. We discuss implications for research on racial socialization and family communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adoptive families must navigate public discourse about adoption. This study examined how transracial adoptive (TRA) and same-race adoptive (SRA) families communicated to their children through internal boundary management, teaching external boundary management strategies, and preparation for bias as ways to address adoption microaggressions (AMAs). 104 U.S. adoptive parents (TRA = 77; SRA = 27) completed a survey about their communication about four types of AMA situations (i.e., Lucky, Destiny, "Deficient" Birth Parents, Search). What parents directly communicated to the child to address these AMAs and links to what parents thought of AMAs were explored. Nine themes emerged within parents' communication reflecting different uses of internal boundary management, teaching external boundary management, and preparation for bias strategies. Findings illuminated the complexities in parents' direct communication involving nuanced messages to adopted children about navigating AMAs. Enhanced education and training for adoptive parents can improve their understanding and ability to help children who are adopted address adoption bias. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, romantic partners and families were forced to develop new routines under increasingly stressful circumstances. These conditions had the potential to introduce challenges in romantic relationships, exacerbate existing tensions, and called for the implementation of effective coping strategies. In this study, 151 dyads (302 individuals) from across the United States wrote narrative responses to open-ended questions about the effects of COVID-19 on their relationship and the coping behaviors they employed during the early months of the pandemic. Responses were subjected to thematic analysis to identify categories for each question. Four themes emerged reflecting effects on relationships and eight categories emerged describing the coping strategies used by participants. The results are discussed in terms of their alignment with the logic of relational turbulence theory and perspectives on communal coping, as well as the practical implications for helping couples manage stress during times of crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influx of Central American families fleeing gang violence in the countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras has captured the attention of the government, citizens, and the media and has created a crisis of its own leading to strong rhetoric and policy changes from the current U.S. administration led by Donald Trump. This study conducts a textual analysis of 35 stories published by The New York Times about the Central American migrant crisis between January of 2016 and mid-May of 2019 and identifies four categories of content: New kinds of migrants at the U.S. border, the Central American migrant crisis, the Trump administration's approach to the crisis, and critique of Trump policy. Sub-categories were also developed for three of these categories. The findings indicate that there has been a shift in the type of migrant who tries to cross the border or seek asylum in the United States. Instead of undocumented single men migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, there are now Central American migrant families displaced by the gang violence in Central America. The stories analyzed in this study highlight the changes to U.S. border and immigration policy partly in response to changes in migration patterns caused by this crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined conflict, parenting communication style, and attitudes regarding the parent-child relationship for a marginalized special population: incarcerated mothers and their children. Bronfenbrenner's bio-ecological perspective served as a guiding framework, based on its ability to consider family interactions across ecological contexts, both proximal and distal to the developing child's home setting. Fifty incarcerated mothers in the central U.S. provided in-depth interviews and individual self-report surveys. Findings indicate that incarcerated mothers most frequently used an authoritative parenting communication style in conflict situations that ended positively, and authoritarian style in conflict that ended negatively. Authoritative parenting was associated with incarcerated mothers' reports of greater satisfaction with parenting. Study findings suggest that parenting communication style can help support efforts to reduce recidivism. Contextualizing these findings within Bronfenbrenner's model, the present study affirms the role of proximal as well as distal factors governing relational communication between incarcerated mothers and their children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motherhood is a complicated experience as well as concept in U.S. society, and while several notions of motherhood circulate in U.S. culture, they are not equally accepted. Their unequal circulation is the focus of our study. Using relational dialectics theory, we sought to identify dominant and marginalized discourses evoked by new mothers who are dissatisfied with their transition to motherhood. Twenty women with a first child under the age of two years old shared their experiences during semi-structured interviews. These mothers' talk reflects a variant on dominant discourses of motherhood - the Discourse of Motherhood as Innately Desired (DMID) where wanting to be, as well as looking like, a "good" mother are subthemes. However, the Discourse of Motherhood as Learned (DML) served as a counterpoint for sense-making that offers space for alternative, albeit marginalized, understandings of motherhood where it is not assumed as the primary goal for women nor a natural extension of their womanhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four hundred and seventy-nine undergraduates reported on family discussions about the 2016 election that occurred over that same year's Thanksgiving break. Family Communication Patterns Theory was used to predict the perceived outcomes of such discussion on family members. Higher conversation orientation predicted a more positive perceived effect of political talk on family closeness. Perceived similarity of political views partially moderated the relationship between conformity orientation and perceived effect of political talk on family closeness. Reported stress levels since the election were negatively predicted by the perceived (positive) effect of political talk on family closeness. Practical and theoretical implications for families and political socialization processes are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family farms represent a huge portion of agriculture in the United States today. These family farms may struggle to balance both family relationships and business concerns, which can cause conflict among members. Some of this conflict may be derived from the independent, self-reliant nature of family farmers. These characteristics may influence how family farm members are able to deal with conflict, and how they choose to communicate during conflict interactions. This project used intragroup conflict theory and family communication patterns to explore the impact of everyday conflict on job satisfaction, communication satisfaction, and profitability in family farm businesses. Survey data were collected from family farm members (N = 204). The results of structural equation modeling showed conversation and conformity orientation significantly predicted relational, process, and status conflict in the model, yet only status conflict significantly predicted communication satisfaction. These findings suggested family farm members struggle with communication, which influences status conflict experiences and communication satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grounded in face theory (see Brown & Levinson, 1987; Cupach & Metts, 1994; Goffman, 1967) and exploratory in nature, the present study sought to understand the face-related experiences o f parents whose children were conceived with an anonymous donor. The sample included 19 parents from the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada, who experienced infertility, were in a lesbian relationship, or identified as solo parents. The researchers identified face-related concerns parents have for themselves and their children and preventative facework strategies they enact to avoid or minimize face loss. Findings showcase parents' desire for social approval, autonomy, respect, and preventing rejection. Also discussed are a variety o f facework strategies, namely, disclosure, avoidance, closedness, humor, deception, and strategic donor choice. The findings support and extend previous research on donor-assisted families and showcase the complexity o f face for members o f these families by highlighting instances where communication simultaneously preserves and threatens face. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study was designed to examine the imparts of family communication patterns (FCP), relational closeness, and culture on adult children's conflict styles with their parents. Participants (/V = 594) from the United States, China, and Saudi Arabia completed self-report questionnaires that included questions about their family's conversation and conformity orientations, relational closeness, and their conflict styles with their parents. The results show that conversation orientation is a positive predictor of collaboration and compromise, conformity orientation is a positive predictor of accommodation and avoidance, and relational closeness is a negative predictor of dominance across cultures. Relational closeness also interacts with conversation orientation to influence dominance. The cross-cultural invariance provides empirical evidence of the universal application of FCP in family conflict communication. More importantly, significant interactions between culture and conformity orientation and closeness show that culture's influence on family communication is better understood through indirect rather than direct roles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of the present study was to utilize two theoretical models, one based on a mediation approach and the other on the theory of planned behavior (TPB), to understand parents’ mediation of their adolescents’ social media use. Data were collected from parents of adolescents ages 10–18 in two countries, the United States (US) and the Netherlands. Results indicated significant differences between the two samples. Specifically, American parents reported more concern about adolescent social media use, more positive attitudes and perceived subjective norms tocontroladolescent use, and higher levels of active and restrictive mediation. In general, demographics and parental concern accounted for more explained variance in mediation behaviors among Dutch parents, and the TPB-based variables accounted for more explained variance among American parents. Results suggest important implications for the integration of different theoretical models to explain parent mediation behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Discussions about racial and ethnic differences may allow international, transracial adoptive families to construct multiracial and/or multi-ethnic family identities. However, little is known about the ways family communication influences how discussions about racial and ethnic differences occur. This study examined associations between observed family communication constructs, including engagement, warmth, and control, and how adoptive families discuss racial and ethnic differences using a sample of families with adolescent-aged children adopted internationally from South Korea (N = 111 families, 222 adolescents). Using data collected during mid-adolescence and again during late adolescence, higher levels of maternal control and positive adolescent engagement were independently associated with a greater likelihood that family members acknowledged the importance of racial and ethnic differences and constructed a multiracial and/or multi-ethnic family identity. Adolescent engagement was also related to a greater likelihood that family members disagreed about the importance of racial and ethnic differences, and did not build a cohesive identity about differences. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Many Korean American (KA) families live at the intersection of two languages and two cultures. When considering how parent-child relationships are negotiated through daily interactions within perceived parameters of cultural norms and expectations, it becomes important to better understand which cultural norms and expectations are taken up by different family members who have access to different sets of cultural norms. Through the lens of positioning theory, this study analyzed home interactions of three KA families with children (ages 6–12) to investigate the relationship between bilingual use and parent-child roles. Parent-child interactions demonstrated complex negotiations around boundaries of parents’ authority through language shifts between Korean and English and speech-level shifts between formal and informal language in Korean. Family members displayed linguistic strategies that either broke away from traditionally hierarchical parent-child relationships by moving toward more friend-like horizontal relationships or reinforced expectations and norms associated with roles in the family. Findings illuminate changing patterns in norms and expectations of modern KA family relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]