Relational Maintenance: The Role Of Communication In A Family

Great Essays
Within every household, there’s a family who has their own unique and diverse way of interacting and communicating with one another. There is no such thing as a perfect family, but that does not mean a family cannot be happy. Through communication and effort, a family can surpass any obstacles it may face and be guided to a healthy, loving life. According to Galvin, Braithwaite, and Bylund, “Communication serves as the process by which a family member create and share their meanings with each other” (2015, pg. 3). Communication can vary from language, symbols, and even gestures and through these methods of communication, memories are made. To be able to understand communication, an individual must be able to grasp how relational maintenance plays a role; methods used to keep the relationship …show more content…
In the article, “Examining commitment and relational maintenance in formal youth mentoring relationships” relational maintenance has seven different characteristics: assurances, openness, positivity, sharing tasks, social networks, advice, conflict management (Gettings and Wilson, 2014, pg. 1095). Through relational maintenance, a family can prevent the relationship from spiraling downward and help guide themselves to a healthy life. A family does not have to put in too much thought into relational …show more content…
When he was home, he was always outside feeding the animals, so I wouldn’t see him until the night. This lead to a very distant relationship with my father as I was growing up. Now, I understand. After being able to meet my dad’s father, I was able to understand why my father is so distant. He never received any affection from his father and my father was born into a whole different culture than I was. My father works hard and I know that he loves each and one of us. He just has a different way of expressing

Related Documents

  • Great Essays

    Question 1a Be able to develop professional relationships with children and young people. Demonstrate how to establish rapport and respectful trusting relationships with children and young people. Working with children is both challenging and rewarding because, to a large extent, it is all about social interaction and trusting relationships. Relationship building describes the process of establishing emotional connection with others based on trust and mutual respect. Positive relationships do not happen by chance thus, being able to communicate effectively and constructively with children and young people, is extremely necessary in building and strengthening respectful and trusting relationships.…

    • 1714 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I either visited him or he would come home on the weekends since my mother and I were around to care for him. I wouldn’t talk about my father in public because I always felt like people pitied me if they found out. I didn’t feel like I deserved pity. Growing up with my father made me feel strong. I felt like I could make it through anything because I had already had to put up with so much.…

    • 533 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In a generation where communication skills have relocated primarily to a technological platform, it is imperative that heightened communication between children and parents exist as a method of maintaining emotional well being in an atypically modernizing society. This can be accomplished in numerous practices between adults and adolescents; being readily available, attentively listening to one another and responding in a fair-minded manner are superlative methods in which all members of a family, particularly parents and their children can communicate. While the world begins to focus on the detrimental relations between children and their superiors, it is beneficial to recognize how communication built on equality can lead to a better understanding…

    • 800 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Parenthood Film Analysis

    • 1065 Words
    • 4 Pages

    As we all know that communication is one of the biggest things in life for us human. We listen, learn, and understand the way how people communicate towards us. There are a lot of different ways that people communicate, such as gender communication and family communication. However, we will be learning about the family communication through a film called “Parenthood”. Throughout this film there were a lot of interesting role in each family, but I would like to share from what I have seen and describe you with two family that have a lot of connection that related to family communication patterns.…

    • 1065 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    During meal times there is active exchange of ideas and each member is given equal time to participate. d. Extent of Congruent and Incongruent Messages: Both the mother and the teens appear to have the majority of their communication be congruent. However, Mother at times tells her daughter I love you but I don’t like you sometimes. Ha Ha e. Types of Dysfunctional Communication Processes Seen in Family: Occasionally observed parent led communication that limits child participation and input and at other times, the teens appear not to engage in any communication.…

    • 2051 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    In discussing the four family communication patterns from the textbook, Danielle and I discussed the communication patterns of the familes that we grew up in. After reading all four of the patterns Danielle stated that her younger family life fit the "Protective Families" description well. "Children should be seen and not heard" was and still is a favorite saying with Danielle's step father. She has also said that her parents made little effort creating oppurtunities for family discussion. Almost all decisions were made by her step father. My family falls into the description of "Pluralistic Families" we would often have broad and open discussions on the days events.…

    • 384 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    This study provides insight on how structural family therapy and communication impact adjustment in the family system. (McNeil, Hershberger, & Nedela, 2013), used an intervention that dealt with low-income families who was concern about their adolescent being involved in gangs. The authors purpose was to help families focus on their strengths since poverty is not always the case for adolescents engaging in gang activities. The authors demonstrate the three stages in which a therapist should take to address the concern, During the first stage, the therapist’s goal is to build a relationship with the family by asking them questions that will help them recognize their strengths.…

    • 289 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Research classifies communication as an important ‘piece’ of strong marital, parent-child, and sibling relationship ‘puzzle’. Family communication creates an air of that allows family members to express and communicate their different feelings as well as their needs, wants and concerns for each other. Family communication is important as it can let others know what someone might be thinking about or what they are feeling. This is extremely important as it can let other family members know how to help that particular family member. Communication encourages trust and support in families.…

    • 1034 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Interview My Father

    • 1674 Words
    • 7 Pages

    My father expresses love more than just words but actions such as hugging. When I was, young I recall hugging my parents every morning before they headed to work and when they arrived home from work. He admits he did not have a good childhood, he relives his childhood with us. I wasn’t aware of this until I started asking questions regarding his emotions and experiences being a father.…

    • 1674 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The more and more intimate our human relationships get, the more complex this formula becomes. One component, which is vital to complete each formula, is communication. Roughly 50% of marriages that end in divorce, end due to lack of communication, it has been proven that women are more likely to divorce due to lack of communication than infidelity. A common cause of poor communication is prevention, and when these avoided issues build up it behaves as a clamp on the lungs of the relationship. If we consider the concept of a human relationship to be a living entity, its easy to understand the importance of a continuous flow of exchanging energy.…

    • 1069 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I decided to write about my relationship with my dad in this post because Father’s Day just passed and because I’ve already made a post about the incredible bond I have with my dad. In that post I mentioned that he was away in Korea when I was born and I didn’t get to see him until I was 7 months old. My mother, who was only 22 at the time, had a lot of responsibility taking care of the three of us who were all under 3 years old. When my dad came home he took over the caregiving duties for me completely because he wanted to make sure he bonded with me. There was a solid attachment built between the two of us at that time that has been tested over time but never frayed.…

    • 869 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Communication can be considered a cornerstone of a person’s ability to function in society, their standing in the family and ultimately their overall performance in life’s roller coaster-like journey. Effective communication is a crucial characteristic of a strong and healthy family, enabling the family to be more capable of conflict resolution, subsequently becoming more satisfied with their relationships. Families must build strong communication skills, utilize active listening and seize opportunities presented in their daily activities and interactions to have the best chance at meaningful marital, parent-child and sibling relationships. If families are able to commit to these ideas they could very well see an improvement in their family and societal relationships as well as mental health. A child’s verbal and non-verbal skills must be developed at an early age in order to lay the foundation for learning and parents must continue to remain involved, even after the start of formal education.…

    • 781 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    2.8.1. Family and cultural conflicts Effective communication is an essential skill in general practice of family communication. Cultural conflict makes family members strangers among themselves relatives and family. Some times because of cultural differences it is difficult for family members to feel us one family or unit within their own society.…

    • 924 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    One theory that I have developed by participating in and observing my everyday family life is that good communication equals a healthy harmonic relationship. My family always demonstrated good communication amongst one another. Whenever we have a disagreement about something, we talk about it with another. We are a very close knit family and we all have tight relationship with each other. The concept of this theory is if you have good communication between family members, then you will have a healthy relationship.…

    • 756 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    21. My estrangement from my father stems from him not liking me very much. This is sad, really, considering that Dad and I got along when I was a kid. Well, okay, Dad and I got along most of the time when I was a kid. Sometimes kids are kids, and parents are parents, and there are inevitably going to be conflict of interest.…

    • 820 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays

Related Topics