Publisher's Synopsis
Families are primarily composed of involuntary relationships that are
often rife with emotional intensity, subtle innuendo, and histories of
both great pleasure and intense grievances. The reason families are so inter-
esting to most of us is that we all come from some sort of family (our family
of origin), and most of us are moving toward some sort of family (our newly
formed family or, potentially, our family of procreation). Many of us came
from family situations that were highly satisfying, and we report feeling
nurtured, loved, and supported. Some of us were less fortunate and came
from families where we experienced high levels of control with less nurtur-
ing, and we were dissatisfied with our experiences. Almost all of us want to
know how to "do" family communication in the future so that we can have
the most satisfying family lives and communicative experiences. In addition,
many groups or agencies (governmental and religious) attempt to weigh in
on issues relevant to family life, and debates abound regarding what type of
family form is best (for children and adults) and what types of families
should be recognized legally (or not).
To lay the groundwork for understanding family communication, it
is first necessary to come to a common understanding of notions of family,
communication, and family communication. The danger in defining such
terms is that as you read each term just now, you quickly referenced your
understanding of each. This is wonderful for learning because you already
have the cognitive foundation (i.e., basic idea), but it's also potentially prob-
lematic for learning in that you might feel you understand family, commu-
nication, and family communication so well that you might be less receptive
to new ways of thinking about them.
