Joint family storytelling as a mediator of family communication patterns and family strengths

Abstract

Using family communication patterns theory (Koerner & Fitzpatrick, 2002a), this study tested the degree to which joint family storytelling mediates the relationship between family communication patterns (i.e., conversation and conformity orientations) and family strength. Participants consisted of 267 young adults from first-marriage families. The results indicated that conversation orientation is positively associated with both joint family storytelling behaviors (i.e., engagement, polite turn-taking, perspective-taking and coherence) and family strength, while conformity orientation is negatively associated with various joint family storytelling behaviors and family strength. The results also indicated that joint family storytelling partially mediates the relationship between family conversation and conformity orientations and family strength. Specifically, the level of engagement and politeness of turn-taking mediate the relationship between conversation orientation and family strengths, while perspective-taking and the politeness of turn-taking mediate the relationship between conformity orientation and family strength.