Parents’ Nonaccommodation and Sexual Minorities’ Topic Avoidance and Surface Acting as Mediators of Family Communication Patterns and Shared Family Identity

ABSTRACT

This study tested parents’ nonaccommodation of their young adult child’s sexual identity and the child’s topic avoidance and surface acting as mediators of family communication patterns (FCPs, i.e., conversation and conformity orientations) and shared family identity (SFI). Participants included 205 sexual minorities who reported on their parents’ nonaccommodation in conversations about LGBTQ+ issues. Both FCP orientations were indirectly associated with SFI with each parent through different explanatory pathways. Notably, conformity orientation was indirectly associated with SFI with father through mother’s nonaccommodation to topic avoidance with mother. Conversely, it was indirectly associated with SFI with mother through father’s nonaccommodation to topic avoidance with father. The results extend FCP theory by illuminating a relational dynamic among identity-divergent family members that may create (un)healthy alliances within families.

KEYWORDS:

• conversation orientation
• conformity orientation
• communication nonaccommodation
• topic avoidance
• surface acting
• shared family identity
• sexual minorities

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Paul Schrodt

Paul Schrodt (Ph.D., University of Nebraska – Lincoln) is the Philip J. and Cheryl C. Burguières Professor and Graduate Director in the Department of Communication Studies at Texas Christian University.

Haley Decker

Haley Decker (M.S., Texas Christian University, 2021) is a doctoral student in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln.