Chapter 11

Question 1

What are the six characteristics that distinguish families from other social groups?

Answer 1

a network of people who:

1. Share their lives over long periods of time (have a strong sense of family created by how they communicate)
2. Are bound by marriage, blood, or commitment (use communication to define boundaries that distinguish them from other families and within the family)
3. Who consider themselves family (emotional bonds underlying family relationships are intense and complex)
4. Who share a significant history (can stretch back for generations and set expectations for how family members should behave)
5. Anticipate future functioning in a family relationship. (may share genetic material meaning they share physical characteristics as well as similar personalities etc)
6. Family members constantly juggle multiple and sometimes competing roles.

Question 2

What are the 6 types of families?

Answer 2

• Nuclear family
• Extended family
• Step family
• cohabiting couples
• single-parent family
• voluntary kin family (lack blood or legal kinship but who nevertheless consider themselves family)

Question 3

What are the three types of family stories?`

Answer 3

Courtship stories
Birth stories
Survival stories

Question 4

Courtship stories

Answer 4

How parents fell in love. Emphasize the solidarity of the parent’s relationship which children find reassuring. Also gives children a framework for understanding romantic love.

Question 5

Birth stories

Answer 5

describe the latter stages of pregnancy, childbirth, and early infancy of a child. Help children understand how they fit into the family, which roles they are expected to play and what their parents hope and dream for them.

Question 6

Survival stories

Answer 6

relate the coping strategies family members have used to deal with major challenges. May be physical or relay a family members ability to prevail by achieving a level of financial stability or other forms of success.

Question 7

Family communication patterns theory

Answer 7

The idea that two dimensions, conformity orientation and conversation orientation, underlie the communication between family members.

Question 8

Conversation orientation

Answer 8

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

Question 9

Conformity orientation

Answer 9

The degree to which family members believe communication should emphasize similarity or diversity in attitudes, beliefs, and values.

Question 10

Relational dialects

Answer 10

Two competing impulses in relationships.

Question 11

Autonomy and connection

Answer 11

Valuing connection between family members while also respecting each persons individuality.

Question 12

Openness and protection

Answer 12

Being open and vulnerable while also wanting to protect certain information.