Decades of research have demonstrated that the parent-child dyad and the environment of the familyâ€"which includes all primary caregiversâ€"are at the foundation of children's well- being and healthy development. From birth, children are learning and rely on parents and the other caregivers in their lives to protect and care for them. The impact of parents may never be greater than during the earliest years of life, when a child's brain is rapidly developing and when nearly all of her or his experiences are created and shaped by parents and the family environment. Parents help children build and refine their knowledge and skills, charting a trajectory for their health and well-being during childhood and beyond. The experience of parenting also impacts parents themselves. For instance, parenting can enrich and give focus to parents' lives; generate stress or calm; and create any number of emotions, including feelings of happiness, sadness, fulfillment, and anger. Parenting of young children today takes place in the context of significant ongoing developments. These include: a rapidly growing body of science on early childhood, increases in funding for programs and services for families, changing demographics of the U.S. population, and greater diversity of family structure. Additionally, parenting is increasingly being shaped by technology and increased access to information about parenting. Parenting Matters identifies parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices associated with positive developmental outcomes in children ages 0-8; universal/preventive and targeted strategies used in a variety of settings that have been effective with parents of young children and that support the identified knowledge, attitudes, and practices; and barriers to and facilitators for parents' use of practices that lead to healthy child outcomes as well as their participation in effective programs and services. This report makes recommendations directed at an array of stakeholders, for promoting the wide-scale adoption of effective programs and services for parents and on areas that warrant further research to inform policy and practice. It is meant to serve as a roadmap for the future of parenting policy, research, and practice in the United States.

The volume opens a new frontier in parent-child communication research as it brings together veteran researchers and newcomers to explore the communication of parents and children as they create relationships outside the family. The chapters herein examine communication processes and problems of parents and children as they interact with childcare, healthcare, education, and youth sports; investigate the unique challenges facing various types of families as they communicate outside the family (e.g., stepfamilies and gay/lesbian/bisexual families); and consider the role of media in family relationships outside of home. The primary audiences for the volume includes scholars, researchers and graduate students studying communication in families, children’s communication, communication in personal relationships, organizational communication, group communication, and health communication. It will also be of interest to psychologists who study families, children, and organizations; sociologists who study families, children, and organizations; education researchers; teachers; coaches; family physicians; and family therapists. graduate students It has the potential for use in courses in family communication, family studies, family sociology, and child development.

Family Communication carefully examines state-of-the-art research and theories of family communication and family relationships. In addition to presenting cutting-edge research, it focuses on classic theories and research findings that have influenced and revolutionized the way scholars conceptualize family interaction. This text offers a thorough and up-to-date presentation of scientific research in family communication for both teachers and students of family communication as well as professionals who work with families. This second edition features: Chapters updated with the latest research, including over 2000 references. Material on understudied family relationships, such as extended family relationships and gay and lesbian relationships Recent research on understudied topics in family communication, including the influence of technology on mate selection, negotiating work and family stress, single parenting, cohabitation, elder abuse, forgiveness in marriage, and the links among communication, culture, and mental health. A revised chapter on parent-child communication, taking a lifespan perspective that helps organize the large body of research in this area. A new chapter devoted to extended family relationships, with special focus on grandparent-grandchild relationships, in-law relationships, and adult children and their parents. An expanded review of family conflict processes, especially in relation to decision making and power. A companion website provides chapter outlines, exam questions, and PowerPoint slides for students and instructors. Undergraduate readers should find the information easy to understand, while advanced readers, such as graduate students and professionals, will find it a useful reference to classic and contemporary research on family communication and relationships.

Family Communication: Cohesion and Change encourages students to observe family interaction patterns analytically and relate communication theories to family interactions. Using a framework of family functions, first-person narratives, and current research, Family Communication: Cohesion and Change emphasizes the diversity of today's families in terms of structure, ethnic patterns, and developmental experiences.

A detailed review of current research and ideas concerning both communication processes and family functioning is provided in this valuable contribution to the literature. Divided into three parts the book focuses on: communication of family members over time; the role of interaction in various family relationships; and the association between family structure and communication. Readers are provided with a set of questions that they can use to examine their own and other's research and the chapters also illustrate a range of methodological and//or theoretical positions.

Family Communication organizes the study of family communication around the concepts of nurturing and control which allows the consideration of communication in all family relationships within all family forms. The concepts of nurturing and control allow us a unique frame by which to organize the traditional developmental factors of relationship development, marriage, adding children, and raising socio-emotionally competent children. In addition, the concepts of nurturing and control allow us to understand the uniquely communicative family features of intimacy and conflict and their relationship to marital and family satisfaction. Further, nurturing and control are evident in families which include violence, substance abuse, eating disorders and depression. Key Features: Inclusive treatment of ALL family forms: traditional nuclear; non-traditional nuclear (i.e., working moms); bi-nuclear families (families where children live in two homes with one biological parent and one non-biological parent); cohabitation, single-parent households; step-family and blended configurations; gay families; couples with no children; and extended families Explores the forces-governmental, religious, media influences, and social science research-that cause us to assume most families are traditional and nuclear, using biological, legal, and sociological definitions Organizing theme and theories: Roles theory, family systems theory, and rules theory are used throughout, using the organizing scheme of nurture/control so students can better understand, relate to, and apply the material Unique material: Development of parental attachment is fully discussed, showing how nurturing and controlling communication processes encourage socio-emotional competence in children Unique material: The explication of a new family communication theory called Inconsistent Nurturing as Control Theory, which explores the ways in which fam