A Dialectical Examination of Remarriage Dyadic Communication and Communication with Social Networks

Abstract

Nearly half of all marriages are remarriages, yet the remarital dyad is the least studied dyad in marital or stepfamily research. The focus of the author in the present study was on the communicative interactions and negotiations in remarriage dyads and the interactions with their external networks. The author performed an interpretive study grounded in relational dialectics theory and based on interviews with 16 remarried participants. Through a thematic analysis, six tensions unique to the remarriage dyad emerged. Three tensions are present for the remarried dyad: old–new, emotional closeness–distance, past and present; and three tensions are present for the remarried dyad and their networks: their time frame–our time frame, dyadic revelation–network revelation, and old–new. Participants also discussed ways they approach and manage the presence of the tensions. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Keywords:

• Network Communication
• Relational Dialectics
• Remarriage Dyads

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Dawn O. Braithwaite and Jordan Soliz for their assistance at different stages of this project. Thanks also to the editor and two anonymous reviewers for their comments to enhance this manuscript.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sarah E. Wilder

Sarah E. Wilder (PhD, University of Nebraska—Lincoln, 2012) is an Assistant Professor in the Communication Studies Department at Luther College, 700 College Drive, Decorah, IA 52101.