Affirming communication and its association with family functioning

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Affirming or positive family communication is an important aspect in helping families andindividuals protect themselves against various life challenges (Greeff & Du Toit, 2009; Greeff &Van der Merwe, 2004; Norman, 2000). According to Barnes and Olson (1985), affirming familycommunication plays an important role in an adolescent's development. The present study aimedto determine the relationship between affirming family communication and family functioning.The relationships between family functioning and the quality of communication between theadolescent and the father and mother respectively were also investigated. Then, as the mainfocus of the present study, affirming family communication was explored qualitatively from theperspective of the adolescents.A quantitative survey research design was combined with an exploratory, qualitative design. Thequantitative data was collected with self-report questionnaires, while the qualitative data wasgathered by recording a discussion of affirming family communication in focus groups. Theparticipants were first-year Psychology students of the University of Stellenbosch in SouthAfrica. A total of 83 females and 17 males took part in the quantitative component of the presentstudy (N = 100). Fourteen of these 100 students also took part in the focus group discussions.Pearson correlation coefficients revealed a significant positive correlation between affirmingfamily communication and family functioning. Furthermore, a significant positive correlationwas found between family functioning and openness in communication between the adolescentand the mother and father respectively. The results of the multiple regression analysis revealedthat openness in communication with the mother, affirming family communication and problems in communication with the father were important predictors of family functioning. Three corecategories (with sub-categories) emerged from the content analysis of the focus groupdiscussions on affirming family communication. These core categories were verbal affirming communication, non-verbal affirming communication and functional affirming communication.The findings of the present study highlight the importance of affirming family communication,especially in families with adolescent children, while also providing a description of affirmingfamily communication from the adolescents' perspectives.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University