Quality Interactions and Family Storytelling

Abstract

This study examined how individuals’ satisfaction with their family, as well as the ways they negotiated the telling of a family story, combined to predict their perceived quality of the storytelling interaction. Drawing from family members’ (150 individuals, 50 families) joint telling of an often told family story, multilevel modeling analyses revealed significant variance within and between families’ perceived quality of their storytelling interaction. These variances were explained by family satisfaction and family-level ratings of engagement during storytelling. These findings drive our suggestions for future assessment of multiple members’ perspectives of joint family storytelling interactions.

Keywords:

• Family Communication
• Interactional Sense-Making
• Multilevel Modeling
• Narrative
• Storytelling

Acknowledgments

A previous version of this article was presented on the Top Four Paper Panel of the Family Communication Division at the National Communication Association annual convention, November 2007, Chicago, IL.

Notes

**Correlation is significant at the <.01 level (2-tailed).

**p < .01. †p approaching <.05 (i.e., .07).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Allison R. Thorson

Allison R. Thorson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of San Francisco.

Christine E. Rittenour

Christine E. Rittenour is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at West Virginia University.

Jody Koenig Kellas

Jody Koenig Kellas is an Associate Professor in the Communication Studies Department at the University of Nebraska Lincoln.

April R. Trees

April R. Trees is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at Saint Louis University.