Family communication patterns, parental modeling, and the intergenerational transmission of confirmation to romantic relationships

Abstract

Using Koerner and Fitzpatrick's (2002a) family communication patterns (FCPs) theory and Bandura's (1973) social learning theory, this study explored FCPs (i.e., conversation and conformity orientations) and (inter)parental confirmation as predictors of young adults' confirmation (i.e., acceptance and challenge) in their romantic relationships. Participants included 181 young adults from intact families who completed online questionnaires concerning their perceptions of their family and romantic relationships, including family conversation and conformity, interparental confirmation, parental challenge and acceptance, and romantic partner challenge and acceptance. Results indicated that family conformity orientation was negatively associated with communicating acceptance to a romantic partner, while family conversation orientation was positively associated with both accepting and challenging one's romantic partner. A Hotelling's t-test and partial correlations for (inter)parental confirmation and enacted romantic partner confirmation revealed that young adults' parents may, in fact, serve as influential examples of how to validate and acknowledge a romantic partner's perspective during interpersonal conversations. Furthermore, the results offer evidence that sex differences may exist when considering which parent is more influential in modeling confirming behavior for sons and daughters. Among the more important implications of this study is the finding that FCPs and (inter)parental confirmation were predictive of self-to-partner confirmation even after controlling for the reciprocity effect that may already exist within the romantic relationship.