Casing the Family: Theoretical and Applied Approaches to Understanding Family Communication

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There is no one strict definition of family communication, because each family is different.

Sarah Symonds LeBlanc’s Casing the Family: Theoretical and Applied Approaches to Understanding Family Communication fuses case studies with communication theories to examine various family types and scenarios that US families encounter. By examining the family and the scenario from each case study, students are able to critically analyze and discuss a “safe” family.

Featuring 35 expertly written case studies, Casing the Family, is divided into five comprehensive sections:

• Changing Nature of Family examines different types of family and illustrates how much the definition of family has changed in our culture.
• Relationships, Parents, and Culture features a myriad of intercultural and interpersonal issues such as societal norms, divorce’s impact on families, and race & gender.
• Negotiation of Boundaries within the Family discusses in-law relationships, relationships between birth parents and grandparents, parent-teen communication, and multi-generational care issues.
• Dark Side of Family presents the growing epidemic of addiction with families, how bi-partisan parents’ communication influences their children’s beliefs, how family estrangement affects family’s get-togethers, and much more.
• Health and Family discusses siblings with mental-disabilities, emotional regulation theory when dealing with a disease, couples communication through miscarriage, navigating healthcare and treatment decisions, and family conflict when adult children have to make health care decisions about their parents.