Parental Mediation of Cell Phone Use and Adolescent Autonomy

Adolescents’ cell phone use occurs during significant developmental shifts in parent–adolescent relationships, as adolescents’ drives for independence can conflict with parents’ desires for connection. This study examines parental mediation of cell phone use within an interpersonal and family communication framework. Previous mediation research has not examined connections with social penetration theory, uncertainty reduction theory, relational dialectics theory, and communication privacy management, each of which has conceptual links to parental mediation. Cell phone mediation reflects the broader phenomenon of disclosure in interpersonal relationships. The extent to which individuals disclose information is influenced by personal desires for autonomy and connection, privacy and intimacy, which are components of interpersonal and family communication theories. This study explores the notion that families develop norms and expectations about cell phones that might influence parental mediation. Results indicate that perceptions of parent–child relationships and family expectations for cell phone use both significantly influence mediation.

The meaning of misinformation and those who correct it: An extension of relational dialectics theory

What misinformation means and what it means to be someone who corrects it is socially contested, especially in interpersonal contexts where politeness expectations complicate correction. Given this flux in meaning, we analyze posts about misinformation correction in interpersonal contexts from the AmItheAsshole subreddit through a relational dialectics theory (RDT) lens. Findings revealed that discourses of misinformation as harmful and as innocuous and potentially helpful constituted the meaning of misinformation, while discourses of misinformation correctors as inconsiderate and as communal guardians constituted the meaning of misinformation correctors. The latter meaning was dependent on the meaning of misinformation and the adjacent ideology of politeness. Thus, we extend RDT by elucidating how the meaning of a semantic object is predicated on a web of larger intertextual meaning.

The Tensions of Strategic Communication Decision-Making: An Exploratory Examination of Theory and Practice

The Tensions of Strategic Communication Decision-Making (TSCD) is introduced as an applied theory describing the way decision-makers experience a risk or crisis and prioritize their strategic communication responses to maintain positive relationships with their publics. Relational Dialectics Theory is applied to illustrate how tensions between organizations and publics influence communication decisions. The strategic messages used by the World Health Organization regarding the Zika virus mega-crisis provide a backdrop illustrating how TSCD is enacted. Theoretical and practical implications for decision-making suggest that TSCD contributes to a more robust understanding of how the changing context in a crisis prompts the prioritization of strategic messages.

The Discursive Struggles of the Client–Worker Relationship in the Social Services

This study examines how disability service workers identify the discourses of the client-worker relationships. We studied the clientworker relationship from the perspective of the relational dialectics theory with a focus on relational contradictions and the meanings created within discursive struggles. We analyzed the interview data from 22 social workers using contrapuntal analysis. According to the social workers’ perceptions, two discursive struggles exist in client-worker relationships: i) the struggle of integration, consisting of the contradiction of the ideal and the real and the contradiction of closeness and reservedness and ii) the struggle of certainty, consisting of the contradiction of predictability and novelty and the contradiction of openness and closedness. These struggles and contradictions arranges on the societal and relational frames to fully depict the nature of social work. Overall, our analysis shows that the client-worker relationship is both bound to the norms of a professional and a close interpersonal relationship, making its study particularly interesting.

A child for every family? Characterizations of “adoptable” foster children in online permanency advocacy publications

Despite the prevalence of children in need of adoption from the U.S. foster care system, only one of every 28 individuals who contact an adoption agency adopt from foster care. In response, adoption professionals create photolistings to maximize the pool of available prospective adoptive families and enhance the visibility of fostered youth. Yet, creating photolistings is challenging because professionals must navigate helping to place children without exploiting or misrepresenting them. Framed by relational dialectics theory, a contrapuntal analysis of 104 photolistings examined the discursive tensions of what it means to be an “adoptable” child. Findings revealed three discourses that constitute meaning: (1) discourse of child as unadoptable, (2) discourse of child as special, and (3) discourse of child as typical. The findings illustrate triadic interplay of all three discourses, wherein framing a child as special and/or typical counters culturally pervasive and damaging assumptions that fostered youth might be unadoptable or less adoptable than other children. Theoretical, methodological, and practical applications are discussed.

Voicing the system: How formerly fostered adults make meaning of the U.S. foster care system

The U.S. foster care system aims to provide care to children who are unable to live safely with their families of origin. Yet, fostered youth endure negative experiences before, during, and after foster care. This study investigates tensions between stated goals and experiences of foster care, from the perspective of (formerly) fostered youth. Framed by relational dialectics theory, contrapuntal analysis of 32 narrative interviews revealed two discourses that construct meaning of the foster care system: (1) Discourse of System as (a Necessary) Good aligned with stated goals, constructing the system as helpful and (2) Discourse of System as Harmful (but Necessary) competed with assumptions that foster care is helpful, constructing the system as broken. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Conjointly Co-constituting Relating

Following Baxter and Montgomery’s (1996) Relational Dialectics Theory, relationships and relating are productively characterized as two or more participants engaged in both connecting with and separating from one another in everyday interacting, where connecting and separating form a yin/yang dialectic. Relating is endogenous to human communicating because conjointly co-constituting turns, actions, and meanings always involves two or more persons, who are perforce situated in relationship to one another in some way. Communicating & Relating offers a distinct account of human relating as the participant’s conjoint co-constituting of operative interpretings of connection with and separation from one another in everyday sequential interaction, as is apparent in comparing Communicating & Relating’s account with alternative accounts of relationships.

Komunikasi Interpersonal Antara Kakak dengan Adik Kandung Berkebutuhan Khusus (Studi Kasus pada Kakak yang Mempunyai Adik Kandung Penyandang Autisme)

Basically, every family hopes to have family members healthy both physically and spiritually. That is not merely the hope of every parent, but a child who becomes a sister or a brother will also expect the same thing. However, some families were blessed with a family member who has special needs. This study aims to investigate how interpersonal communication is established between siblings whom one of them is blessed with special needs. The main theory of this study is interpersonal communication theory which is supported by relational dialectics theory and affection exchange theory. The researcher used a descriptive qualitative approach and case study methods. The data was processed and analyzed according to the coding methods. The criteria for the selection of an informant are an older sibling who has a younger sibling with special needs that lives in the same house. The result of this study indicates that interpersonal communication is established by communicating face-to-face without medium, oldest siblings communicate by adjusting to the special needs of the younger siblings, younger siblings tend to communicate in the form of nonverbal communication, each informant experienced relational dialectics, and an exchange of affection is still possible.Pada dasarnya setiap keluarga berharap memiliki anggota keluarga yang sehat secara jasmani maupun rohani. Hal tersebut tidak hanya semata-mata harapan setiap orang tua saja, melainkan seorang anak yang menjadi kakak juga mengharapkan kehadiran adik yang sehat secara jasmani maupun rohani. Namun kenyataannya beberapa keluarga dianugerahi anggota keluarga yang berkebutuhan khusus. Rumusan masalah dalam penelitian ini adalah bagaimana komunikasi interpersonal yang terjalin antara kakak dengan adik kandung yang berkebutuhan khusus. Teori utama penelitian ini yaitu teori komunikasi antarpribadi yang didukung dengan teori dialektika relasional dan teori pertukaran kasih sayang. Peneliti menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif yang bersifat deskriptif dan metode studi kasus. Teknik pengolahan dan analisis data adalah dengan pengodean. Kriteria pemilihan informan yaitu seorang kakak yang mempunyai adik kandung berkebutuhan khusus dan tinggal satu rumah dengan adiknya. Temuan penelitian ini adalah komunikasi interpersonal masih terjalin, komunikasi dilakukan dengan tatap muka tanpa medium, bentuk komunikasi kakak menyesuaikan kebutuhan adik, bentuk komunikasi adik umumnya berbentuk nonverbal, setiap informan mengalami dialektika relasional, dan pertukaran kasih sayang masih mungkin terjadi.