Week 2 Family

Communication
and Family
Systems Theory
(Chapter 3)
AHSC 313-513/2/1
Fall 2023
Agenda

• Ice Breaker
• Communication Privacy Management &
Boundaries
• Communication Accommodation
Theory
• Bowen Family Systems Theory &
Activity
• Continuation overview of theories in
family communication
Icebreaker-
Communication Privacy Management
10 min
share in pairs/ small groups
• What is okay to share in a texting versus in person or facetiming &
with whom (parent, sibling, partner, grandparent)?

• What would you tell your sibling (or close friend if you do not have
siblings) that you would not tell your parent?

• Is snooping on a family member’s social media or text messages

okay? What about in their room?
• How do you feel when someone in your family does this to
you? What about a partner/ friend?

• What is considered a privacy violation in your family’s home?

• What personal things are okay to share with the family, you would
not share with the outside world?
• Serious or funny (i.e a nickname or event)
4 concepts: Communication Privacy Management Theory
(CPM)

Boundary rule formation

• Regulate the flow of information between/among others
• Based on culture, gender, age, motivation, context, and the risk/reward ratio

Boundary rule usage

• Boundary access rules: rules that affect decisions about whether to talk about a particular
subject or not, how to talk about the topic, and the timing of any discussion
• Families socialize children and new members into the privacy rules of the family

Boundary rule coordination

• Information becomes co-owned when private information is shared with others
• Co-owners may explicitly or implicitly coordinate their private boundaries

Boundary turbulence arises as privacy rules are violated

• Challenges in managing multiple boundaries, or situational stresses , forgetfulness or
misunderstandings may force family members to reconsider a rule-bound agreement
• Privacy dilemmas
• Confidant believes discloser will be harmed if information is not revealed
• Private information may be revealed or learned accidentally
• Keeping information may jeopardize relationships
Class activity:
Share a time when you may have tried to adapt (CONVERGE) to be more
Communication similar to others

Accommodation Theory • Example: Refrained from using slang/terms/ expressions, or even nonverbal
in Practice(CAT) communication (dress, tone, posture, eye contact, etc.) around certain family.
• Example: Practiced a social norm or religious ritual you normally would not in
your family, but because a certain member did, you all did.

Share in small teams of 4-5

Share a time when you may have tried to highlight differences
Each member should choose 1 of these to
(DIVERGE) with others to try make an awkward situation more
share, but the group should try to give an
comfortable.
example of EACH one.
Please try to make it light, can be funny, try • Example: teased someone (cousin, aunt, uncle, friend, new family member)
not to use family member’s names. (15 min) because they behaved differently than your nuclear family does
• Example made a point of it to make a joke or comment about a difference in
beliefs, lifestyle- in order to maintain a positive relationship.
Communication Accommodation Theory
states:
Think of a time where you might have had some unpleasant results!
We switch our language, accent or dialect
when talking to others within
(multigenerational or welcoming someone
• over accommodated (used patronizing language or nonverbals )or
new into the family) and outside of our
• under accommodated (did not pay enough attention/ ask enough question or
families (multi-ethnic relationships or within
adapt.
social settings).
 Class Activity:
Family
Systems
Theory

In small teams watch the next clip and see if you

can pinpoint the different parts of the systems
theory and identify the punctuation moments and
types of boundaries
Use the next two following slides to help you
 Systems theory principles continued
Holism- greater than the sum of it’sparts
• Goals: desired outcomes and intensions

Mutuality (Interdependence):
• mutual influence what happens to one member will affect all the other members of a family

Functions: Hierarchies & Roles

• Morphogenesis: families reorganize themselves to change and evolve over time

Subsystems & Boundaries

• Enmeshment: lack of differentiation btwn members to minimize the development of individual identity (varying degrees)
• Rules: Established patterns of behavior that contribute the family’s stability
• Cover
• Overt
• Metal Rules- rules about the rules

Calibration: Equilibrium (homeostasis) - systems try to maintain stability

• Multifinality: same set of inputs can lead to different outputs in different families

Equifinality: Recalibration & Feedback: systems try to reorganize themselves to reach homeostasis.
• Positive Feedback: stimulates and enhances a deviation from the norm
• Negative feedback: Attempt to suppress deviation form family norms
 Punctuation
An event that interrupts a sequence of behaviours and creates change in the family system. Actions are a response to a previous action
and stimulation for another action

Equilibrium

Punctuation Goals

Mutuality/
interdependence

Morphostasis/ Morphogenesis/
enmeshment change

Positive &
negative feedback
FAMILY SYSTEMS
DEVELOP SYSTEM
AND SUBSYSTEM
BOUNDARIES
o Boundaries are symbolic dividers between
family members or between subsystems
o Define separateness and autonomy in a family
o Created around belief systems, ideas, or roles
o Are permeable (can change, be transformed)
o Are often linked to functions in the family
o Define the nature of the contact between
subsystems
oFamilies who function optimally are those who
have clear boundaries

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 BOUNDARIES

External boundaries Internal

Used to reveal or conceal information with the Communication strategies to create and maintain
environment members' sense of “we-ness”

Strategies include : Strategies include:

• Labeling- a group as a family • Naming
• Explaining- one’s relationship/behaviours • Discussing
• Legitimizing- role/power in a family • Narrating/ telling family stories
• Defending- family members in the environment • Ritualizing
 BOUNDARIES: A CONTINUUM
Boundaries exist along a continuum
Overly diffuse (open) Overly rigid (closed)
Continuum
o “Most families have qualities of both boundary types at some point in time and under
some circumstances” (Thomlison, 2010, p. 42).
o Healthy boundaries allow members to shift and change
o Optimal family functioning
 Balance
 The family allows the expression of individuality and the experience of a secure connection
to the family

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BOUNDARIES: RIGID OR DIFFUSE
Overly Rigid Boundaries: Overly Diffuse Boundaries:
• Discourage closeness • Family members are
between family members enmeshed with one another
and between family and (Enmeshed family)
outside systems, yet
promote independence • Over-react

• Families defined as being • Offer mutual support, yet at

Disengaged under react the expense of independence
and autonomy
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Break

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 Symbolic Interactionism- Micro Theory:
The Family as Interacting Members (Belanger a & Ward, 2022)
Discourse Dependance: ​
• We Interpret meaning (words and actions of family members) to understand
relationships, roles​and our self concept within a family.
• “a family is a unit of interacting personalities, rather than just a collection of individuals”
(Whichurch & Dickson, 1999

SI is a combination of theories, in particular:

• Social constructionism: meaning is co-constructed and culturally influenced
• Narrative Theory: The socialization of family members, formation of family identities is
influenced by family narratives/ stories

Individuals develop sense of self, status, and role thorugh attitudes and relationships with
others
• Role conflict occurs when a person is forced to choose between the competing demands
of multiple roles.​
• Role strain is a sense of discomfort felt by one who has difficulty meeting role
expectations

Strengths:
• Emphasis on peoples’ responsibility in shaping their view of the world.
• Used in family therapy to help family members change their interpretations of behaviour
and improve relationships
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Weakness:
• Lack of attention to the impact of wider society on family relationships.
• Disregards factors such as laws, economics, social class, values and society-wide changes
in families.
 Symbolic Interactionism Theory:
Communication is shared meanings and meaning making.

Transactional Information processing Meanings change over

time.
Each members language, Shared events and
Meaning is based on family
culture, world view, SES, coordinate elicit meaning
members mutual influence
verbal and non verbal for another member
on each others’ perceptions
behavior play a role. (dialectics)
Meaning is based on the
Is also affected by Age , Meanings are re-negotiated
Social Experience of
gender, sexual identity, with transitions in the family
language (i.e. co parent vs.
religion, culture, ethnicity, life course
ex spouse)
race, personal and social
history, traditions, birth
order, generational
 Symbolic Interactionism Examples

• Who sits at the head of the table? Who gets served dinner first?

• What is considered polite when you see your grandparents versus your siblings?

• Role Conflict: Both parents have to work

• Which one is expected to get the children up for school in the morning?
• Which parent is expected to take care of aging parents?

• Role Strain:
• What are the expectations of the oldest child versus the youngest child?
• A child is failing in their new high school because of learning challenges and increased workload.

• What rituals or holidays are celebrated?

• Which are the most important?
• What is the ceremony supposed to be when someone dies/ marries?

• If a family is religious, it means they value…..

• How religious one part of the family is compared to the other is shown by?

• NARRATIVE Theory: What story is repeated in the family and what lessons does it intend to teach?
 Social Learning -Micro Theory
(Bandura, 1977)
Theory of Behavioral Acquisition
• Families help us acquire many behaviors and skills throughout our lifetimes to help us with our development individually and socially

Key Concepts:
• Modelling: children imitate behaviors when they are reinforced to do so
• We seek rewards and try to avoid punishment:
• Develop decision making skills “If…., Then…” and a sense of consequences
• We learn through BOTH direct experience and
• vicarious experience : observing the rewards or consequences for other people’s behaviors

Strengths
• Insightful on how family members learn from each other and intergenerationally/ culturally
• Acknowledges family violence dynamics to some extent

Weaknesses
• Can be taken too literally (making assumptions/ predictions of how someone will behave depending on how they are raised)
• Does not take into account biological, psychological and media factors which may be influencing these dynamics
 Process of Vicarious Learning

Paying attention to the Rehearsal of a behavior Motivation for rewards

model
Observe Self- produced or Extrinsic
Retain the rules Have others produce the Intrinsic (vicarious
behavior incentives)
Social Learning
Theory Examples
• The youngest child learns how to get out around a curfew by
observing their older sibling lie about where they are going.

• A child learns how to get extra allowance by watching their sibling do

extra chores

• A partner learns to keep questions to a minimum and not confront

their mate when they are drinking to prevent abusive behaviour

• A child learns from their parent that if they tell a lot of jokes, it will be
easier to make friends.

• The youngest in a family learn how to celebrate the holy day from
following their grandparents’ behaviour/ songs/ rituals.
How White Supremacy
notions of Culture may affect
Family Communication (Gross,
2021)
• Perfectionism :
• Either/ Or- Right- Wrong/ For or Against
Us Thinking:
• Fear of Open Conflict:
• Individualism versus collectivism:
• Right to comfort:
• Defensiveness
• Objectivity-
• Worship of the written word:
• Paternalism:
• Sense of urgency:,
• Power Hoarding:
• Progress is more:
• Quantity over quality:
 Some Indigenous Family
Communication World Views
What are some of your family’s views on communication?
 Dialectical Theory of Communication
The Balancing Act

Discursive Struggles

• How family members navigate the give-and-take interplay of multiple, and sometimes competing, themes
or perspectives, desires and/ or goals
• Figuring out how to balance contradictory needs and or stressors

Distal Discourses- Media, cultural contradictions expectations, roles, sexuality, relationships, etc.)

Proximal Discourses- the relationship between members

Managing Contradictions through Boundaries

• Autonomy and connection (privacy/ developmental)

• Openness/ closedness
• Predictability/ novelty (rigid versus flexible)
• Power versus inequality
• Selection- of boundaries or create subgroups within the family (secrets/ enmeshment, independence)
• Segmentation- separating the contradictions (acting one way at home versus in the family business)
• Neutralizing- limiting what one says within a subgroup in the family
• Cyclic alteration- changing boundaries over time as families develop and grow (i.e. parent/ child)
• Reframing these difference/ contradictions as opportunities for engagement
 Distal- (Cultural Rules)

• Sharing one’s sexuality or sexual identity in an extended family

culture that may not approve
• Marrying someone of another religion or racial identity
• Teen pregnancy

Dialectical Theory Examples Proximal- (Relationship)

• Figuring out how to defend a sibling who has come out as

being a member of the LGBTQ2+ communities or how to
explain this to others

Autonomy and connection :

• Negotiating curfew/ number of text messages/ check ins

• Deciding when adult children can leave home or return

Openness/ closedness:

• sharing a teen pregnancy within the extended family/ outside

of the family
• Sharing illness or separation within the family/ extended
family. Outside of the family

Predictability/ novelty (rigid versus flexible):

• Role changes within the family/ care taking

• Preserving rituals within the family, as new family members
are added from different cultures or people move away
Class Activity: Strategies to manage dialectics: ( Baxter 1990)
10 min in pairs
In Pairs, choose a point in your life where you had to deal with a dialectal challenge and briefly
describe which strategy(s) you used to deal with it.

Selection- choosing between opposites & / or boundaries or create subgroups within

Strategies the family (secrets/ enmeshment, independence)

Segmentation- Individuation- separating the contradictions (acting one way at home

versus in the family business)

Neutralizing-diminishing the intensity of the contrasting poles between people,

monitoring and building boundaries. (i.e. limiting what one says within a subgroup in
the family)
Cyclic alteration- choosing one of the opposite poles at different points in time. (i.e.
changing boundaries over time as families develop and grow – example- parent/ child)

Reframing- Transforming perceptions of these difference/ contradictions as

opportunities for engagement so that they are not always viewed as opposites
Narrative Theory of Family Communication: The stories
we tell
Stories are essential & used :
• To make sense of the family’s worlds
• To construct and alter their own individual and collective identities
• To cope with stress and loss, and help others
• Underline meaningful family experiences (positive and negative)

Recounting
• Family history
• Memories

Accounting
• For the behaviours of the member(s)
• Reasons for change/ adaptation in the family

Process and Content

• Process: Who is allowed to tell the story ? When is it told? Is it interactive?
• Content: to convey a sense of “”We-ness”, to teach a rule or lesson, to share identity- i.e.
family image/ metaphor/or motto, perspective taking
Narrative Theory
Examples:
• Recounting:
• Gotcha days- collective celebration
• Immigration/ migration story- conveying
culture/ resilience
• A special trip- bonding
• Sharing collective Grief/ loss

• Accounting
• Surviving an accident/ illness- perhaps to
teach a lesson or reinforce a boundary
• Stories about how something should be
done
• Cultural rules or practices
• transmission of cultural norms/
values
• Adapting to college life
Homework

• Please read ch. 2

• Please read the McGoldrick Articles on Moodle
under week 3
• Watch videos under week 3
References
• Anderson, S.A., Sabatelli, R.M. (2007) The Family as a System. Ch.1 In: Anderson, S.A., Sabatelli, R.M. (2007) Family interaction: A multi-
generational developmental perspective (4th Ed.)Montreal: Pearson Education Incorporated. pgs 3-19.

• Belanger, M., Ward, M. (2022) What is Family (ch.1) in The Family Dynamic: Canadian Perspectives, 8e. Tophatmonocle Corp.

• Galvin, K., M., Braithwaite, D.O, Bylund, C.L. (2015) Ch. 1. Introduction to the Family. Family communication cohesion and change 9th Ed..
New York, Routledge. Pg.131-154.

• Georgas, J. (2003). Family: Variations and Changes Across Cultures. Online Readings in Psychology and Culture,
6(3).https://doi.org/10.9707/2307-0919.1061

• Gros, A. (OCTOBER 18, 2021) White Supremacy Culture Shows up in our Families + Practices for How We Can Dismantle It. Retrieved
from
https://mistresssyndrome.wordpress.com/2021/10/18/how-white-supremacy-culture-shows-up-in-our-families-practices-for-how-we-ca
n-dismantle-it/

• Indigenous Works (2022) Resources/ Getting Started/ Cultures Cited in Shimoni, R. Baxter, J. (2024) Ch. 3. Working with Families Eighth
Edition. Pearson Canada Inc.

• Segrin, C. Flora, J.(2011) Theoretical Perspectives on family communication. Ch. 2 In: Family Communication (2nd Ed). New York:
Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group. Pg. 25-44.