A Communication-Based Approach to Adoptive Identity: Theoretical and Empirical Support

The current study uses structural equation modeling to examine adoptive parent communication as it relates to adoptee adjustment directly and indirectly through adoptive identity. Using retrospective accounts of 179 adult adoptees, findings indicate that both adoption- (adoption communication openness) and non-adoption-related (parental confirmation and affectionate communication) parental communication are related to adoptive identity work and positive affect about adoption and birth parents. Preoccupation mediates the relationship between parental communication and adoptee adjustment. The current study integrates research and theorizing from identity, adoption, and communication literatures to develop a communication-centered conceptual model of adoptive identity development to inform future adoption research and practice

Is a dyadic stressor experienced as equally distressing by both partners? The case of perceived fertility problems

Using data from a population survey, this article explores whether perceptions of having a fertility problem among 926 U.S. couples in heterosexual relationships (women aged 25–45 and male partners) are associated with distress. Most couples did not perceive a fertility problem (58%). In almost a third (30%) of the couples, only women perceived a fertility problem; in 4%, only the men; and in nearly a fifth (19%), both perceived a problem. Adjusted for characteristics associated with fertility problems and depressive symptoms, those who perceived a problem exhibited significantly more depressive symptoms than those who did not. Fertility problems are sometimes experienced as individual because in some couples only one partner perceives a problem or has higher distress in response to their own rather than to their partners’ perceived problems. For women, fertility problems are experienced as a couple phenomenon because women were more distressed when both partners perceive a problem. The perception of fertility problems is gendered in that women were more likely to perceive a problem than men. Furthermore, men are most distressed when they perceive a problem and their partner does not

Communicatively forming a developed adoptive identity: Explicating the association between parental communication, developed adoptive identity, and adoptee adjustment

Adoptive families are inherently discursive, with communication acting as the lifeblood connecting the child to his or her adoptive parents. Adoptive families rely upon communication to create and maintain their relational bond. Communication is also the basis of our understanding of self as our identities are rooted in social interaction. Identity development for the adoptees is a unique process in which adoptees construct both a cohesive definition of the self and an understanding of what it means to be an adopted person. In the current study, I examined the communicative pathways through which adoptive identities are formed. I specifically focused on developed adoptive identity, or identities in which adoptees incorporate both positive and negative aspects of their adoption into a sense of self that includes, but is not overly preoccupied with, their adopted status. Guided by adoption, identity, and communication literature, I set out to develop a holistic understanding of the process of adoptive identity development from a communication perspective. In researching this adoptive identity formation process, I first examined the role of parental communication in facilitating the formation of developed adoptive identities. Second, I explored the association between developed adoptive identity and adoptee adjustment as indicated by individual well-being and relational well-being with the adoptive and birth parents. Participants included 220 adult adoptees who completed a questionnaire assessing their adoptive identity, contact with their birth parents, adoptive parent communication, and individual well-being as well as their affect about their adoption, birth parents, and adoptive parents. Findings from the present study reveal that adoptive parents’ communication openness, parental confirmation, and acknowledgement of difference as well as the level of structural openness in the birth parent relationship influence the adoptive identity development process. Adoptive identity in turn was related to individuals’ affect for their birth parents and affect about adoption. The results are discussed in terms of implications for adoptive parent communication, conclusions about adoptive identity, and limitations and future directions for research

Communicatively Managing Religious Identity Difference in Parent-Child Relationships: The Role of Accommodative and Nonaccommodative Communication

Guided by Communication Accommodation Theory, we examine the communicative management of religious difference in parent-child relationships. Using survey data from emerging adults (N = 409), we found that religious difference is associated with decreases in relational satisfaction and shared family identity. Further, parents’ religious communication has the potential to promote relational well-being. Accommodative communication (religious-specific supportive communication and respecting divergent values) was associated with increases in relational satisfaction and shared family identity. Two forms of nonaccommodative communication (inappropriate self-disclosure and emphasizing divergent values) were associated with decreases with relational satisfaction and shared family identity; giving unwanted advice was associated with decreases in relational satisfaction but not shared family identity. Giving unwanted advice moderated the relationship between religious difference and relational satisfaction. Differences were also discovered between families with interfaith and intrafaith parental dyads. Findings suggest theoretical and methodological contributions to family communication, religious, and intergroup research

Methodological Appendix A for: McQuillan, J., A. L. Greil, A. Rybinsk, S. Tiemeyer, K. M. Shreffler, and C. Warner Colaner. 2020. Is a dyadic stressor experienced as equally distressing by both partners? The case of perceived fertility problems. \u3ci\u3eJournal of Social and Personal Relationships.\u3c/i\u3e DOI: 10.1177/0265407520953903

Barnett, Marshall, Raudenbush, and Brennan (1993) provide an approach to crosssectional couple data that increases the power and precision of the estimates and allows the simultaneous analysis of both partners. Following Barnett et al (1993), we constructed two parallel versions of the distress scale for each partner by matching standard deviations of individual items. We randomly assigned each of the 10 items to an A or B group (each group had five items). This procedure resulted in two parallel subscales of distress for each partner. Overall, the subscales had equal amounts of error variance. The level 1 data were “stacked” with four rows of data for each couple and columns containing the partner ID, the individual ID, an indicator for women, an indicator for men, and a column for the distress subscales. The level 2 (couple level) data contained one row for each couple and columns for all of the other variables

The Communication Privacy Management of Adopted Individuals in Their Social Networks: Disclosure Decisions in Light of the Discourse of Biological Normativity

Although adoptees are often stigmatized for their nonnormative identity, adopted individuals must communicate with nonfamily members to integrate their adoptive identity into their definition of self. In the current study, adult adoptees (n = 25) were interviewed about their processes for disclosing their adoptive status in their social networks. Drawing upon communication privacy management (CPM) theory, inductive analyses demonstrated that adoptees created motivational and contextual criteria to enact privacy rules surrounding adoption. Adoptees maintained privacy to avoid messages of “difference,” insensitive comments, imperviousness, and negative opinions about adoption. Adoptees disclosed about their adoption to build relational closeness and to educate/advocate for adoption. These privacy decisions were undergirded by the societal assumption that families are biologically linked or the discourse of biological normativity (Suter et al., 2014)

Expanding the conceptual and empirical boundaries of family communication patterns: The development and validation of an Expanded Conformity Orientation Scale

<p>Family communication patterns theory (FCPT) explores how family members communicate to create a shared social reality via conversation and conformity orientations. Recently, scholars have noted that the current conceptualization and operationalization of conformity orientation is unnecessarily narrow in scope by representing conformity as controlling and repressive, rather than as cultivating homogenous attitudes, beliefs, and values among family members. To address these concerns, we tested the factor structure of the most common measure in FCPT research, the Revised Family Communication Patterns scale (Study One). Based on theoretical and methodological concerns that emerged from Study One, we then created and validated a new scale in Study Two – the Expanded Conformity Orientation Scale (ECOS). Findings from Study Two demonstrated concurrent and discriminant validity. Implications for the use of the ECOS in future studies are discussed.</p