Family Communication: Nurturing and Control in a Changing World

Family Communication: Nurturing and Control in a Changing World thoroughly reviews the traditional family communication theories of roles theory, family systems theory, and rules theory in an engaging, non-traditional way. This book uniquely organizes the study of family communication around the concepts of nurturing and control in all family relationships, across all family forms, and their relationships to psychological processes and communicative outcomes in families.

Key Features:

• Looks at Family in All Forms: Traditional nuclear; non-traditional nuclear; bi-nuclear families; cohabitation, single-parent households; step-family and blended configurations; gay families; couples with no children; and extended families are all examined. While not all families fit neatly within any of the traditional definitions, this book articulates a sentiment that most students can resonate to―that all family forms include some form of nurturing and control.
• Explores Sociological and Psychological Factors: Various forces such as governmental, religious, media influences, and social science research, cause us to assume most families are traditional and nuclear, using biological, legal, and sociological definitions. In addition to the sociological and psychological bases of developmental processes, the development of parental attachment is fully discussed, showing how nurturing and controlling communication processes encourage socio-emotional competence in children.
• Explicates New Research Findings: A new family communication theory―Inconsistent Nurturing as Control Theory―explores the ways in which family members attempt to change the undesirable behaviors of a particular family member (e.g., substance abuser, eating disordered individual, gambler, depressed person, violent individual) through their use of nurturing as control.

Intended Audience:
Perfect for the introductory undergraduate course in Family Communication; as well as courses in Sociology, Social and Clinical Psychology, Educational Psychology, Family Counseling, Family Education, and Home Economics

Beth Le Poire (Ph.D., University of Arizona; M.A., University of Arizona; B. A., California State University, Stanislaus) is full professor in the department of communication at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She has 40 published works across com­munication in such journals as Human Communication Research and Communication Monographs. In family communication, her work looks specifically at parental and romantic attachment and the influence of partners on continued problematic behavior in the family (e.g., substance abuse). She has presented more than 70 conference presentations and has been the recipient of 14 top paper awards across national and international conventions. She has also been the recipient of the National Communication Associa­tion′s Golden Anniversary Monograph award. She is just completing her editorship of Communication Reports and serves on 8 editorial boards including Human Communication Research, Communication Monographs, Communication Quarterly, and Journal of Communication. She has taught family com­munication since 1995 to more than 1,200 students.