Profiling Family Communication Standards

Abstract

The current research undertook a U.S.-Japan cross-cultural comparison to explore the underlying structure of family communication standards (FCS), or beliefs about the “ideal” ways of family interactions. The main study (U.S. n = 311, Japanese n = 192), utilizing latent profile analysis, revealed that (a) there are three “FCS profiles” (laissezfaire, high-context, and open-affectionate), each of which represents distinct FCS endorsement patterns; (b) individuals with different FCS profiles have different levels of subjective well-being and family satisfaction, and moreover, such profile-level dynamics operate independently of the effects of individual FCS dimensions; and (c) FCS profile endorsement is undergirded by individualism-collectivism and horizontal-vertical orientation. A follow-up study found that FCS profiles entail unique family conflict strategies. These findings are discussed in terms of the hierarchical structure of human cognition and impact of standards on psychological, relational, and communicative phenomena. Limitations and future directions for the research on FCS are also discussed.