Chapter 11

Question 1

family

Answer 1

network of people who share their lives over long periods of time and are bound by marriage, blood, or commitment; who consider themselves as family; and who share a significant history and anticipated future of functioning as a family relationship

Question 2

nuclear family

Answer 2

a wife, husband, and their biological or adopted children

Question 3

extended family

Answer 3

when relatives such as aunts, uncles, parents, children, and grandparents live together in a common household

Question 4

stepfamily

Answer 4

in which at least one of the adults has a child or children from a previous relationship, often called “blended” or “remarried”

Question 5

cohabiting couples

Answer 5

consists of two unmarried, romantically involved adults living together in a household, with or without children

Question 6

single-parenting family

Answer 6

only one adults resides in the household, possessing sole responsibility as caregiver for the children

Question 7

family stories

Answer 7

are narrative accounts shared repeatedly within a family that retell historical events and are meant to bond the family together

Question 8

consensual families

Answer 8

members are encouraged to openly share their views with one another as well as debate these beliefs

Question 9

pluralistic families

Answer 9

families high in conversation but low in conformity; communicate openly and in unconstrained ways, discussing a broad range of topics and exploring them in depth

Question 10

family communication patterns theory

Answer 10

two dimensions underlie communication between family members
conservation orientation
conformity orientation

Question 11

conversation orientation

Answer 11

the degree to which family members are encouraged to participate in unrestrained interaction about a wide array of topics

Question 12

conformity orientation

Answer 12

the degree to which families believe that communication should emphasize similarity and attitudes, beliefs and values

Question 13

protective families

Answer 13

low in conversation and high in conformity; communication in these families functions to maintain obedience and enforce family norms, and little value is placed on the exchange of ideas or the development of communication skills (the romans)

Question 14

laissez-faire families

Answer 14

low in both conversation and conformity, few emotional bonds exist

Question 15

communication privacy management theory

Answer 15

individuals create informational boundaries by carefully choosing the kind of private informational they reveal and the people with whom they share it

Question 16

family privacy rules

Answer 16

the conditions governing what family members can talk about, how they can discuss such topics, and who should have access to family-relevant information

Question 17

triangulation

Answer 17

loyalty conflicts that arise when a coalition is formed, uniting one family member with another against a third person

Question 18

interparental conflict

Answer 18

overt, hostile interactions between parents in a household; while such constant fighting is harmful to the parents’ relationship, the impact upon the children in the household is worse

Question 19

spillover hypothesis

Answer 19

emotions affect and mood from the parental relationship “spill over” into the broader family, disrupting children’s sense of emotional security