The Routledge Handbook of Family Communication

This third edition again brings together interdisciplinary contributions to provide a comprehensive and multifaceted resource that reflects the breadth and depth of research on family communication and family relationships.
Chapters continue to address theoretical and methodological issues influencing current conceptions of family and cover communication occurring in a variety of family forms and across social, cultural, and physical contexts.
This third edition includes key updates, such as:
The use and influence of social media and technology in families
Parenting and communication in culturally and structurally diverse families
Communication and physical health of family members
Managing personal information about difficult topics in families
The influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on family members
This handbook is ideal for students and researchers interested in interpersonal and family communication, relationships, and family therapy within the disciplines of communication, social psychology, clinical psychology, sociology, and family studies.

Anita L. Vangelisti holds the Jesse H. Jones Centennial Chair in Communication at the University of Texas at Austin, USA. Her work focuses on the associations between communication and emotion in personal relationships. She is a distinguished scholar of the National Communication Association and a fellow of the International Communication Association and the International Association for Relationship Research.

Introduction Part 1: Family Communication Theories and Methods 1. Ten Years of Family Communication Research: Theories, Research Perspectives, and Trends 2. Perspectives on Studying Family Communication: Methodologies, Methods, and Trends Part 2: Communication Across the Family Life Course 3. Mate Selection and Courtship 4. Marital Communication: A Functionalist Perspective 5. Becoming Parents: Risk, Protective Factors, and Key Methodological Considerations for Future Research 6. Between Younger and Older Generations: Family Communication at Midlife 7. Family Communication in Later-Life Part 3: Communication In Various Family Forms 8. Communication in Intact Families 9. Divorced and Single Parent Families 10. Stepfamilies as Developed and Enacted in Communication 11. Communication in Adoptive Families 12. Sexual and Gender Diversity in Family Relationships 13. Support Communication in Culturally Diverse Families: The Role of Stigma Revisited Part 4: The Relational Communication Of Family Members 14. Mothers, Fathers, and Coparenting Others 15. Infant Communication 16. Family Interaction during Middle Childhood 17. Family Relationships during Adolescence 18. Communication during Emerging Adulthood 19. Social Networks and Extended Families Part 5: Family Communication Processes 20. Difficult Family Subjects: Disclosing, Avoiding, Assuming, and Hinting 21. Conflict and Relational Quality in Families 22. Persuasion and Families 23. Social Support in Families 24. Family Stories and Storytelling: Windows into the Family Soul Part 6: Communication And Contemporary Family Issues 25. Work and Family Interaction 26. The Media as an Ecosystem for Family Communication 27. Families Communicating through Technology 28. Military Families and Deployment Separations 29. The Reciprocal Influence of Substance Use Disorders and Family Members' Communication 30. Charting Dangerous Territory: The Family as a Context of Violence and Aggression 31. Physiology and Physical Health 32. Mental Health Part 7: Epilogue And Commentary 33. Family Communication: Past and Future