Kathleen M. Galvin - Family Communication: Cohesion and Change (9th Edition)

Ninth Edition

Family Communication

Cohesion and Change

Kathleen M. Galvin

Northwestern University

Dawn O. Braithwaite

Northwestern University

Carma L. Bylund

Northwestern University

First published 2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Published 2016 by Routledge
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ISBN: 9780205790760 (pbk)

Cover Designer: Bruce Kenselahar

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Galvin, Kathleen M.

Family communication : cohesion and change/Kathleen M. Galvin, Northwestern University,

Carma L. Bylund, Hamad Medical Center, Doha, Qatar, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center,

Dawn O. Braithwaite, University of Nebraska.

pages cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN-13: 978-0-205-94523-8

ISBN-10: 0-205-94523-6

1. Communication in familiesUnited States. 2. Interpersonal communication

United States. I. Title.

HQ734.G19 2015

306.85dc23

2013047760

To my family: the Galvins, Wilkinsons, Nicholsens, and Sullivans,
plus the special friends I consider as my family. KMG

To all my familiesadoptive, stepfamily, voluntary, beagle
and especially my husband, Chuck. Thanks to all of you, its
a wonderful life. DOB

To the many people I am privileged to call family, especially Greg,
Thurman, Nicholas, and Madeline. CLB

It is with amazement and a deep sense of gratitude that we introduce the ninth edition of Family Communication: Cohesion and Change. The first edition, published over 30 years ago, represented the first textbook to explore the family from a communication perspective. At that time few communication classes addressed the subject, and only a small number of communication scholars conducted research in the area. Currently, most communication departments in colleges and universities offer one or more courses on the subject at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. The field has progressed from an early period when marital communication dominated the research agenda to the present when scholars address interaction within multiple family forms; there is a research journal devoted to family communication scholarship, and the number of family communication scholars and students is at an all-time high.

The authorship team has changed over these years. Kathleen M. Galvin initiated the book project in 1980 and the first copy was published in 1982. Bernard J. Brommel served as coauthor on the first five editions; Carma L. Bylund assumed that role for the next three editions. Dawn O. Braithwaite joined Galvin and Bylund as the second author for this ninth edition.

Historically, family interactions have received scholarly attention from family therapists, academic psychologists, and sociologists, who studied family issues at the macro level. Today, family scholars rely on a wide range of theories developed within the family communication field and in areas of social sciences. Contemporary scholars address questions related to family members interactions within a wide range of family forms and address interactions across the life span and within multiple cultures, relying on theories developed within the social sciences as well as those developed by family communication researchers. Todays scholars undertake their studies using multiple quantitative and qualitative methodologies that have grown increasingly sophisticated with each passing decade. As an increasing number of communication scholars focus on family interaction, their findings contribute increased depth and insight to each edition of the book.

Our basic premise remains the samecommunication processes create and reflect family systems and family identity. Relying on a range of theoretical perspectives, we examine the communication patterns enacted within families to demonstrate how these patterns affect, and are affected by, family life in the twenty-first century. Our objective focus remains to describe family interaction patterns rather than to prescribe specific interaction practices because we believe there are multiple ways to be a well-functioning family. We believe that readers will be in the best position to make their own choices about family communication when they have in-depth and up-to-date information on family interactions processes.

Throughout the book we present a range of family experiences, including introductory case examples that open each chapter, and de-identified real-life examples appear throughout the text. These are first-person examples provided by our students, friends, and family members. These personal examples ground the theory and research in real-life experiences.

We made multiple changes in this edition based on feedback from instructors using this book as well as from thoughtful reviewers and comments from our students. Each chapter has been revised to keep pace with changes in the discipline and the state of everyday family life. More specifically we have developed sections that address the following topics: communication challenges in military families, the increasing impact of new technologies on family interaction, shifts in structured aging patterns to highly flexible ones. We have also paid increased attention to international and ethnic families as well as to national crisis situations.

In addition to updating the research base in every chapter, we now begin each chapter with learning objectives readers can expect to address. Other changes include the following:

: Expanded the Families: current status section and the discussion of emerging family forms

: Updated the primary and secondary functions framework

: Updated the description of theories with a special focus on advances in relational dialectics theory

: Added a new mediated section to networks and expanded the narrative section addressing varied family forms and storytelling practices

: Added a section on respect and expanded the rituals section

: Expanded the treatment of diversity and sexuality

: Explored the increasing complexity of family and gender roles

: Developed the focus on power as negotiated in interaction across diferent family forms

: Expanded the discussion of conficts as managed rather than resolved and the characteristics of negotiating confict as an interpersonal family process

: Enlarged the discussion of the role of communication in life stages and across the life course