Family as an Intergroup Arena

“It’s My Language, My Culture, and it’s Personal!” Migrant Mothers’ Experience of Language Use and Identity Change in Their Relationship With Their Children: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

“…This trend is seen in other countries, such as the US, where an estimated 25% of children have a foreign parent and one in five families speak a foreign language at home (US Census, 2010). There is, therefore, a need to gain insights into the experience of language use in interethnic families and to examine its relationship to parental identity within the family group (Soliz, 2010). This paper examines how Spanish migrants, who have recently become mothers and are living with partners from a different language culture, understand their use of host and heritage languages with their English-born children.…”

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

“…The present study joins a growing line of research investigating intergroup dynamics of family interaction (Harwood, 2006;Soliz & Rittenour, 2012). This research demonstrates the manner in which communication can assist families in emphasizing common ingroup membership and sustaining positive family relationships in light of social group differences.…”

“…Yet, individual family members may have distinct social identities (Soliz & Rittenour, 2012), which can often create corresponding "outgroups" in the family system (e.g., age in grandparent-grandchild relationships, race/ethnicity in multiracial/ethnic families, sexual identity in families with gay or lesbian family members). Harwood (2006) offers an agenda for intergroup family research stating that, "a social identity approach will be crucial in understanding when and how these individuals categorize as ingroup (family) versus outgroup (different races, faiths, ages, etc.)…”

Fostering "family" : how communication sustains and functions in foster families

“…However, families construct identities over time to create a shared identity via interactions (Manning, 2006;Soliz & Rittenour, 2012). Shared family identity refers to the way family members characterize, experience, or perceive the family as a group across interactional contexts (Manning, 2006).…”

“…Shared family identity refers to the way family members characterize, experience, or perceive the family as a group across interactional contexts (Manning, 2006). Much like adoptive families, the inherent diversity of the foster family structure positions communication as central to the construction, negotiation, and maintenance of a shared family identity (Colaner & Galvin, 2013;Soliz & Rittenour, 2012). Foster children face the difficult task of balancing both their birth family and foster family when constructing their personal and familial identities.…”