Communication, Family

Communication in families is the mechanism through which members exchange ideas and emotions, generate a sense of a shared group identity and togetherness, and dynamically manage their relationships. Because family communication both reflects and shapes family relationship dynamics, researchers have explored specific interaction behaviors, patterns, and strategies that explain and predict outcomes for families and individual members. As an interdisciplinary field of research, studies on family communication highlight psychological, social, relational, and developmental characteristics and processes in family life within cultural, historical, and technological contexts. This research suggests that communication within families is guided by environmental factors, shapes relationship dynamics, and actively contributes to family consequences, such as marital quality, divorce, parent-child relationships, children's development, sibling relationships, and relationships among extended family members.