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Introduction to Textbook

The development of family communication courses and related textbooks reflects the movement toward studying these vital, life-long family relationships. Based on this text, a family communication course attempts to provide students with an understanding of how communication functions to develop, maintain, enrich, or limit family relationships. This text is based on eight core beliefs about families:

1. There are many ways to be a family.
2. Each family must work, and at times struggle, to create its own identity.
3. Communication serves to construct as well as reflect family relationships.
4. Communication is the process by which family members create and share meanings.
5. Families interact and socialize members to their underlying values and beliefs about significant life issues.
6. Families involve multigenerational communication patterns.
7. Families reflect cultural communication patterns.
8. In well-functioning families, members work at understanding and negotiating their communication patterns; they recognize that developing and maintaining relationships takes effort.

Family communication courses reflect the trend in family research to understand functional families across a wide range of structures and cultural backgrounds. This text proposes a specific framework for family communication, using cohesion and adaptability axes to reflect primary family functions. Within this framework, students are encouraged to understand the following position: The family is a system constituted, defined, and managed through its communication. Family members regulate cohesion and adaptability and develop a collective identity through the flow of patterned meaningful messages. Families are discourse dependent; they rely on communication to develop, create, maintain, and define their identities over the life course.

Within the family system, relationship issues include patterns of intimacy, maintenance, rituals, roles, secrets, rules, power, decision-making, and conflict as families face developmental and unpredictable crises. All of these patterns and processes occur within a network of evolving interdependent relationships and are located within a defined cultural context. This edition of the text highlights issues of family diversity, family functioning and wellbeing, and theories of family communication. The goal throughout the book is to help readers understand and apply what they learn about communication dynamics to their own or others’ family experiences.

Teaching a family communication course is both a challenge and a joy. Your lectures, discussions, and exercises will change students’ understanding of their own family relationships. The materials provided through this course website are intended to help instructors develop a course that explores and applies the diverse family communication topics covered in the text with clarity and depth. Various instructors who use Family Communication: Cohesion and Change have contributed materials. These suggested syllabi, activities, and assignments should be altered to meet individual classroom and instructor needs.

Classroom Climate and Evaluation

Because of the personal manner in which certain students may approach the material, creating an open and supportive classroom climate is imperative. Although students should not be forced to share deeply personal information (always give options to reflect on families other than their own), it is likely that many will do so. As such, all students should be encouraged to listen without judgment and to respect each other’s experiences. See “Activities & Homework Assignments,” where we provide a few suggestions for establishing an effective classroom climate, particularly in the first few days of class.

The potentially personal nature of certain student responses (oral and written) also creates challenges for evaluation. Evaluation of the course assignments may be done in a rather traditional manner with points or letter grades assigned to assignments. However, one unique evaluation issue must be raised if instructors permit or encourage students to use their own families for their assignments. Instructors need to avoid students perceiving they are being evaluated on their family rather than their analysis. In order to prevent such difficulties, the assignments need to be very carefully structured. Instructors need to set very specific guidelines for the topics or issues that must be dealt with within the paper and the specificity of coverage.

For example, "Prepare a systems analysis of your own family or another family" may result in a series of stories, which may not include an in-depth analysis of the concepts and issues included in the course. More specific guidelines may be helpful. For example, "Develop a systems analysis of a family: describe how communication regulates cohesion and adaptability by a flow of message patterns through a defined network of evolving interdependent relationships. Be sure to include such areas as the family's primary and supporting functions, ethnicity, rules, stories and roles. Cite specific examples to support your statements." This specificity should ensure that students are analytical and move beyond the family story level of response. Many of the provided sample assignments include specific guidelines and evaluation criteria. These can be used as a guide when creating original assignments and activities.

Instructor Hub Content

Follow the link at the top of the page to access the instructor materials, which include:

Course Materials

• Syllabi & Suggested Calendars
• Course Projects & Paper Examples
• Essay Assignments
• Test/Quiz Questions and Answer Keys
• Case Studies in Family Communication
• Family Communication Film and Television Examples
• Family Communication in Literature Examples

Chapter Outlines

• Detailed Outlines
• Discussion Questions
• Case Study Questions
• Sample Chapter Activities

Chapter PowerPoint Slides

Book Information Complimentary Exam Copy