Communicative Correlates of Satisfaction, Family Identity, and Group Salience in Multiracial/Ethnic Families

Abstract

Guided by the Common Ingroup Identity Model (S. L. Gaertner & J. F. Dovidio, 2000) and Communication Accommodation Theory (C. Shepard, H. Giles, & B. A. LePoire, 2001), we examined the role of identity accommodation, supportive communication, and self‐disclosure in predicting relational satisfaction, shared family identity, and group salience in multiracial/ethnic families. Additionally, we analyzed the association between group salience and relational outcomes as well as the moderating roles of multiracial/ethnic identity and marital status. Individuals who have parents from different racial/ethnic groups were invited to complete questionnaires on their family experiences. Participants (N = 139) answered questions about relationships with mothers, fathers, and grandparents. The results of the multilevel modeling analyses are discussed in terms of implications for understanding multiracial/ethnic families and family functioning.

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

“…Three behaviors specific to religious talk within families are highlighted in the present study based on previous intergroup research (e.g., Harwood, 2000;Soliz, Thorson, & Rittenour, 2009) and relevance to the current context: inappropriate self-disclosure, emphasizing divergent values, and giving unwanted advice. Inappropriate self-disclosure occurs when individuals offer excessive and unwanted information about their religious experience.…”

“…There are numerous ways to categorize accommodative behaviors such as the degree to which one manages discourse by selecting appropriate topics of conversation, controls the conversation through body language and interruptions, and adapts the selection and delivery of verbal communication to increase interpretability (Harwood, Soliz, & Lin, 2006); the interpretation of what is considered to be accommodative is dependent upon the context and skill of the communicators. In the present study, we target two accommodation behaviors demonstrated to be important in other family research taking an intergroup approach (e.g., Harwood, 2000;Soliz, Thorson, & Rittenour, 2009) and relevant to religious difference: religious-specific supportive communication and respecting divergent values.…”

“…Such support can potentially ameliorate negative effects of intergroup distinctions by personalizing interactions (Soliz, Thorson, & Rittenour, 2009). Religious-specific supportive communication incorporates the immediacy and responsiveness elements of supportive communication, but specifically focuses on religious beliefs.…”

“…Twenty-nine items assessed the two accommodative (religiousspecific supportive communication and respecting divergent values) and three nonaccomodative behaviors (emphasizing divergent values, giving unwanted advice, and inappropriate disclosure). Items were drawn from existing measures assessing (non)accommodation communication (Harwood, 2000;Soliz, Thorson, & Rittenour, 2009) and adapted to address religious difference. After an itemlevel analysis for each dimension, we subjected all the items to a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) using Mplus (Muthén & Muthén, 2010) to assess discriminant validity of these measures.…”

Parental Socialization of Ethnic Identity: Perspectives From Multiethnic Adults

“…Although relatively limited, a more concerted effort to include individuals with multiple ethnic backgrounds is appearing in the research on ethnic identity. Building on some of the early work on multiethnic experiences (e.g., Root, 1996) and using theories from the social identity tradition and more critical theories (e.g., complicity theory, performance theories), scholars have focused their attention on understanding how individuals embrace and express multiethnic identity (Moreman, 2011;Orbe & Drummond, 2007;Rockquemore & Brunsma, 2002), family communication and ethnic diversity (Orbe, 1999;Soliz, Thorson, & Rittenour, 2009), and well-being (Sanchez, Shih, & Garcia, 2009). Emerging from this research is the complexity situated in the development, negotiation, and expression of ethnic identity.…”