A Social Relations Model of Everyday Talk and Relational Satisfaction in Stepfamilies

Abstract

This study examined the intrapersonal and interpersonal mechanisms underlying reported frequencies of everyday talk and relational satisfaction in stepfamilies. Participants included a parent, stepparent, and child from 114 stepfamilies (N =342) from the Midwest and Southwest regions of the United States. Social relations model analyses revealed that everyday talk and relational satisfaction vary across stepfamily relationships as a function primarily of actor and relationship effects. Stepparents’ reports of everyday talk with the parent (i.e., their spouse) varied primarily as a function of actor effects, whereas reports of both children's and parents’ satisfaction with the stepparent varied primarily as a function of relationship effects. Dyadic reciprocity emerged in the stepparent/stepchild relationship for reports of both everyday talk and satisfaction. Finally, stepparents engaging in everyday talk more frequently with stepchildren were more likely to be satisfied with stepchildren, and were more likely to have stepchildren reporting satisfaction with them, than stepparents engaging less frequently in everyday talk.

Keywords:

• Everyday Talk
• Relational Satisfaction
• Stepfamilies
• Stepparents
• Social Relations Model
• Actor Effects
• Partner Effects
• Relationship Effects

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank current and former University of Nebraska–Lincoln graduate students Aimee Miller, Stacy Tye-Williams, Emily Lamb Normand, and Meredith Marko Harrigan for their assistance with data collection.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Paul Schrodt

Paul Schrodt (PhD, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, 2003) is an Assistant Professor of Communication Studies at Texas Christian University

Jordan Soliz

Jordan Soliz (PhD, University of Kansas, 2004) is an Assistant Professor of Communication Studies at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln

Dawn O. Braithwaite

Dawn O. Braithwaite (PhD, University of Minnesota, 1988) is a Willa Cather Professor and Professor of Communication Studies