“You're My Parent but You're Not”: Dialectical Tensions in Stepchildren's Perceptions About Communicating with the Nonresidential Parent

Abstract

The nonresidential parent plays a role in the lives of stepchildren and in stepfamily households. The focus of the present study was on the interaction between the nonresidential parent and his/her child who resides as part of a stepfamily household. Grounded in relational dialectics theory, the researchers performed an interpretive analysis of 50 transcribed interviews with college-aged stepchildren. Stepchildren's perceptions of communication with the nonresidential parent were animated by two contradictions: parenting/nonparenting and openness/closedness. These two contradictions form a totality, interwoven with one another. The parenting/nonparenting contradiction reflected stepchildren's ambivalence over parenting attempts of nonresidential parents. Stepchildren wanted nonresidential parent involvement and parenting, and at the same time they resisted it, often finding communication to be awkward and challenging. In addition, stepchildren wanted open and intimate communication with their nonresidential parents, yet they found openness to be problematic and managed these contradictory demands via segmentation. Implications of these findings are discussed, along with insights to guide professionals working with stepfamilies and adults co-parenting children to better understand and interact in ways that promote healthy stepfamilies.

Keywords:

• Family Communication
• Nonresidential Parent
• Dialectical Tensions

The authors gratefully acknowledge the substantial assistance of Leah Bryant and Amy Wagner with the data collection phase of this project. We also thank Alissa Johnson, Elisabeth Woods, and Andrea Masoner Flowers for work on this project. We express gratitude to all of the stepchildren who generously shared their family experiences with us.

Notes

An earlier version of this manuscript was presented at the annual meeting of the Western States Communication Association, Long Beach, CA, in February 2002.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Dawn O. Braithwaite

Dawn O. Braithwaite is a Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Leslie A. Baxter

Leslie A. Baxter is F. Wendell Miller Distinguished Professor of Communication Studies at the University of Iowa, Iowa City