Family Conversations Research Articles

Intergenerational transmission and multilingual dynamics: exploring language policies in Chaoshan families through a contextual lens

ABSTRACT Amidst the rapid processes of industrialization and globalization, the interplay between minority and majority languages has garnered increasing attention, highlighting concerns surrounding linguistic diversity and the efficacious enactment of language policies. This study delves into the intricacies of language planning within the familial domain, specifically scrutinizing Chaoshan families in the Chaoshan region as pivotal arenas for nurturing the enduring vitality of Teochew. Employing a methodological approach integrating family visits, interaction recordings, and interviews, this study probes the dynamics of family language policies and individuals’ perceptions vis-à-vis the nexus between linguistic practices and identity formation, with particular emphasis on intergenerational transmission. The results highlight that although Teochew continues to be actively used in family conversations and is closely linked to local identity formation, it is gradually losing ground among younger generations. This decline in passing down the dialect from one generation to the next is noticeable and poses a challenge to its long-term continuity. These insights indicate potential challenges to the sustained perpetuation of Teochew, warranting concerted societal and individual endeavors to safeguard its status as a cherished linguistic asset. The study underscores the importance of societal and individual efforts in preserving Teochew as a valuable linguistic resource.

Exploring the moderating effect of family communication patterns on the family CEO characteristics – family firm internationalization relationship

This article explores the impact of family CEO characteristics on internationalization and how this relationship is moderated by family communication patterns. Drawing on family communication patterns theory, which states that family communication varies across two dimensions, i.e., family conversation orientation and family conformity orientation, we argue that early family communication shapes family CEOs’ behavior in later life and moderates the effect of family CEO characteristics on internationalization. Our results from a sample of 182 Belgian private family firms (FFs) show that family CEO education has a positive effect on the internationalization of FFs, but this effect decreases as the family conformity orientation increases. These findings make unprecedented and interesting contributions to upper echelon and family business research.

Parent–Child Mealtime Conversations Stimulated with Decorated Tableware

AbstractThis explorative qualitative study investigated how families engage in mealtime conversations supported with decorated plates that were specially designed to promote family conversations. Our aim was to examine the main thematic and discursive patterns that naturally occurred in these conversations. Six Norwegian families of pre-school children aged 3–6 years were provided with five decorated plates and asked to audio-record their conversations during a meal. Transcripts of the audio-recordings were analysed with manifest content-related analysis, followed by an abductive analysis and a mapping of the main discourse types and interactional patterns. We demonstrate that the conversations displayed great thematic heterogeneity and represented a continuum of extended and non-extended talk, ranging from basic labelling and vocabulary recall to narration, explanation and argumentation. Variable engagement levels among the participants were also noted. We argue that decorated tableware can serve as a valuable tool for studying linguistic input and the nature of adult–child conversations during mealtimes at home and beyond.

A Conditional Process Analysis of Siblings’ Religious Communication (Non)accommodation, Surface Acting, and Shared Family Identity

ABSTRACT This study tested the conditional direct and indirect associations between siblings’ religious (non)accommodation and shared family identity (SFI) vis-à-vis surface acting. Participants included 218 young adults who reported on a target sibling’s (non)accommodation of their religious beliefs, as well as their family’s conversation and conformity orientations. Results indicated that the sibling’s religious (non)accommodation was directly and indirectly associated with the participant’s SFI with the sibling via the participant’s surface acting during religious conversations. The associations varied in magnitude, however, as a function of family conversation and conformity orientations. For sibling accommodation, the positive indirect association with SFI grew in magnitude for families low to moderate in conversation orientation as conformity orientation increased. For sibling nonaccommodation, the negative direct association with SFI diminished in magnitude as both family orientations increased, whereas the negative indirect association increased in magnitude for families low to moderate in conversation orientation as conformity orientation increased.

"Chat and Chatter": Capturing Family Conversation

"Chat and Chatter": Capturing Family Conversation

Youth participation in substance use prevention: A national profile, 2011–2019

PurposePrevention efforts are critical to avoid the negative consequences of substance use in adolescents. This study aimed to examine national trends and sociodemographic differences in adolescents' participation in school-based substance use prevention (SUP) education, community-based SUP programs, as well as family conversations about substance use. MethodsPublicly available data for adolescents aged 12–17 from the annual cross-sectional surveys of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health 2011–2019 were analyzed. ResultsAcross the survey years, up to 74.9%, 12.2%, and 58.1% of adolescents reported having participated in school-based SUP education, community-based SUP programs, and family conversations about the danger of substance use in the past-year, respectively. From 2011 to 2019, statistically significant decreases were observed in adolescents' participation in school-based SUP education (OR = 0.97, 95% CI: 0.96, 0.98, p < 0.001) and community-based SUP programs (OR = 0.98, 95% CI: 0.97, 0.99, p < 0.001). Meanwhile, no significant changes were observed in adolescents' participation in family conversations about the dangers of substance use. Overall, lower levels of participation in school-based and community-based SUP programs were found in adolescents aged 16–17. Adolescents living in rural areas showed lower levels of participation in school-based SUP programs and family conversations about SUP. Racial/ethnic minority adolescents overall were less likely to participate in conversations with parents about SUP than Whites. ConclusionsFurther development and implementation of developmentally appropriate, gender-specific, culturally sensitive, and contextually informed SUP programs at school, community, and family levels are needed.

Creating Spaces of Engagement: Exploring High School Youth’s Voices in Reshaping the Social Justice Curriculum

The current structure of formal education makes it difficult for teachers and students to hold meaningful conversations to support high-school youth’s meaning-making of critical social-justice issues. This paper presents data on three high-school youth’s knowledge and experiences with social justice issues during the pandemic. Specifically, the paper aims to explore how youth construct knowledge and counter dominant discourses through utilizing informal learning spaces, such as social media platforms, peer and family conversations, as well as personal encounters. In addition, and more importantly, an exploration of how formal education can incorporate social-justice issues into the curriculum is considered. The analysis of these high school youth’s interview conversations presents their diverging needs to learn about social-justice topics in both formal and informal learning contexts. The data also illustrates the power of their voices in a way that could inform future curriculum development. Discussions and implications highlight the possibility of creating such ethical spaces in formal education to engage in social-justice topics.

Family interactions and conversations in the museum: the impacts of the immersive exhibition “Natural Variations: a journey through the landscapes of Portugal” for learning about science and connecting with nature

In this qualitative study, we analyze family conversations and interactions during a visit to the exhibition “Natural Variations: a journey through the landscapes of Portugal” at the National Museum of Natural History and Science, in Lisbon (Portugal). We seek to understand through conversations and interactions how an interactive exhibition, with an immersive nature, impacts learning experiences, the emotional connection with nature, and other behavioral aspects of visitors' experiences. Four groups, totaling 16 people (eight adults and eight children) participated in the study, having their visits recorded with a subjective camera. The audiovisual material was later encoded with a research protocol centered on interactions and types of conversations, with the support of the Dedoose software. The results indicate that the most frequent conversations were about the design and functioning of the exhibition, highlighting views on the museum experience as a whole; followed by conversations about scientific topics, often triggered by the relationship that visitors established with the animals on display. Furthermore, it was possible to observe that the immersive experience enabled family groups to become involved, interested, curious and emotionally connected with the exhibition contents.

The mechanism of adolescent environmental passion influencing parent pro-environmental behavior

As environmental education within schools is vigorously pursued, the phenomenon of adolescents influencing their parent pro-environmental behaviors (PEB) is becoming a matter of importance. In order to further understand this phenomenon, utilizing the perspective of reverse socialization, this study constructed a model of the mechanisms underlying adolescent environmental passion (EP) influencing parent PEB. The longitudinal study collected 824 valid paired data points from 154 families, and Multilevel Structural Equation Modeling (MSEM) was employed to verify the model. The results show that adolescent EP positively influences parent PEB, and that adolescent PEB and knowledge transfer play a mediating role. Furthermore, concerning the influence of adolescent EP on adolescent PEB and knowledge transfer, the family conversation pattern plays an amplifying role, while the family conformity pattern has a diminishing effect.

Parental sensitivity and family conversation: A naturalistic longitudinal study with both mothers and fathers across three time-points in early infancy.

Parental verbal sensitivity is known to promote child language skills, but few studies have considered: (a) links between global (i.e., verbal, behavioral, and affective) measures of parental sensitivity and infant-initiated conversations, an important precursor to language development; (b) whether maternal and paternal sensitivity show similar links with infant-initiated conversation; or (c) the transactional role of infant conversation for later parental sensitivity. Addressing these gaps, this study of 186 British first-time parents (93 families) examines the developmental dynamics between parental sensitivity and infant communication across the first year of life. We explore; (i) the role of maternal and paternal sensitivity (assessed during structured home observations at 4 months post-partum) for parent-infant conversational interactions at 7 months (indexed by day-long naturalistic recordings), and (ii) whether these mother-infant and father-infant conversations at 7 months shape maternal and paternal sensitivity at 14 months (also assessed via structured home observations). For both male and female infants, maternal (but not paternal) sensitivity at 4 months predicted infant vocalisations and conversational initiation at 7-months. By contrast, neither index of infant talk predicted maternal or paternal sensitivity at 14 months. Together these findings refine understanding of theoretical models of social development and suggest new possibilities for future research.

“I am in favour of organ donation, but I feel you should opt-in”—qualitative analysis of the #options 2020 survey free-text responses from NHS staff toward opt-out organ donation legislation in England

BackgroundIn May 2020, England moved to an opt-out organ donation system, meaning adults are presumed to be an organ donor unless within an excluded group or have opted-out. This change aims to improve organ donation rates following brain or circulatory death. Healthcare staff in the UK are supportive of organ donation, however, both healthcare staff and the public have raised concerns and ethical issues regarding the change. The #options survey was completed by NHS organisations with the aim of understanding awareness and support of the change. This paper analyses the free-text responses from the survey.MethodsThe #options survey was registered as a National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) portfolio trial [IRAS 275992] 14 February 2020, and was completed between July and December 2020 across NHS organisations in the North-East and North Cumbria, and North Thames. The survey contained 16 questions of which three were free-text, covering reasons against, additional information required and family discussions. The responses to these questions were thematically analysed.ResultsThe #options survey received 5789 responses from NHS staff with 1404 individuals leaving 1657 free-text responses for analysis. The family discussion question elicited the largest number of responses (66%), followed by those against the legislation (19%), and those requiring more information (15%). Analysis revealed six main themes with 22 sub-themes.ConclusionsThe overall #options survey indicated NHS staff are supportive of the legislative change. Analysis of the free-text responses indicates that the views of the NHS staff who are against the change reflect the reasons, misconceptions, and misunderstandings of the public. Additional concerns included the rationale for the change, informed decision making, easy access to information and information regarding organ donation processes. Educational materials and interventions need to be developed for NHS staff to address the concepts of autonomy and consent, organ donation processes, and promote family conversations. Wider public awareness campaigns should continue to promote the positives and refute the negatives thus reducing misconceptions and misunderstandings.Trial registrationNational Institute of Health Research (NIHR) [IRAS 275992].

A Shifting Paradigm Toward Family-Centered Care in Neuro-Oncology: A Longitudinal Quasi-Experimental Mixed-Methods Feasibility Study.

Family-centered intervention can help families facing illness-related issues. We investigated the feasibility of Family and Network Conversations (FNCs) in high-grade glioma patients and their families. Quasi-experimental feasibility study with longitudinal mixed-methods design. Patients and families were invited to three FNCs over 1 year. They completed questionnaires at four time points and expressed their perspectives on the intervention through telephone interviews. Nurses' perspectives were collected in a focus group. Twenty-one patients and 47 family members were included. On average, patients were 66 years old, mainly male, married, living with caregivers, with unifocal cancer. On average, caregivers were 47 years old, mainly female, being spouses or children of the patient. Quantitative and qualitative data did not always match and expanded each other. Nurse-delivered FNCs holistically addressed families' needs while strengthening family's dialogue and union. Nurses felt empowered, underling that advanced competencies were required. Nurse-delivered FNCs are feasible to provide family-centered care, but they should be tailored to each family's needs.

Our business, not the robot's: family conversations about privacy with social robots in the home.

The targeted use of social robots for the family demands a better understanding of multiple stakeholders' privacy concerns, including those of parents and children. Through a co-learning workshop which introduced families to the functions and hypothetical use of social robots in the home, we present preliminary evidence from 6 families that exhibits how parents and children have different comfort levels with robots collecting and sharing information across different use contexts. Conversations and booklet answers reveal that parents adopted their child's decision in scenarios where they expect children to have more agency, such as in cases of homework completion or cleaning up toys, and when children proposed what their parents found to be acceptable reasoning for their decisions. Families expressed relief when they shared the same reasoning when coming to conclusive decisions, signifying an agreement of boundary management between the robot and the family. In cases where parents and children did not agree, they rejected a binary, either-or decision and opted for a third type of response, reflecting skepticism, uncertainty and/or compromise. Our work highlights the benefits of involving parents and children in child- and family-centered research, including parental abilities to provide cognitive scaffolding and personalize hypothetical scenarios for their children.

Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Regarding Organ Donation Among Medical Students in India: A Mixed Methods Study.

Deceased organ donation rates are extremely low in India. As future physicians, medical students can advocate organ donation in society. However, their knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding organ donation remain understudied in India. Therefore, the present study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to deceased organ donation among undergraduate medical students in India using a mixed methods approach. This is a mixed-method study with a cross-sectional survey conducted among 400 randomly selected medical students at a medical college in India using a pretested questionnaire. Additionally, 20 in-depth interviews were conducted to gain qualitative insights. Knowledge was high regarding organ donation (90%) but lower for brain death (27.5%). Most had positive attitudes, but only 11% were registered donors, and 10% had discussed organ donation with family. Multivariate regression revealed that having third- and fourth-year-old students, urban upbringing, good knowledge, and positive attitudes were associated with increased willingness to donate. Qualitative findings revealed gaps in brain death understanding, religious myths, lack of conviction, and family disapproval as barriers. Despite good awareness, gaps in the comprehension of brain death persist among students. However, the registration and family discussion rates are very low. Targeted strategies such as integrating ethical issues into medical curricula, public awareness campaigns busting myths, simplifying donor registration, and promoting family conversations are strongly recommended. This can empower students to become physician advocates driving organ donation uptake in India.

Gate-Cane: (Un)tying the knots between climate, cane, and early marriage in rural India

ABSTRACT In this article, I examine the multiple tensions and interactions between social reproduction and the trajectories of accumulation amidst climate change in India’s historically drought-prone Marathwada region. By linking everyday experiences to broader socioecological transformations, I draw on the local practice of Gate-Cane weddings in Marathwada, and situate it within the context of climate change, capitalist agriculture, and gendered labour relations. Specifically, I document the ways in which cyclical drought and peculiar labour arrangements in the sugarcane industry have multiplied the drivers and compounded the problem of early marriage in the region. I combine a feminist political ecology framework with social reproduction and girlhood theories to make a twofold argument: first, recurring dry spells, loss of local livelihoods and the urgency to migrate and survive, are aggravating the drivers of early marriage in Marathwada. Second, by absorbing the marital unit into the labour unit – marked by territorial dislocation, patriarchal control, and devaluation of young women’s and girls’ work – the sugar industry sustains and reproduces early marriage. The article is based on a multi-sited feminist ethnography, including intergenerational family conversations, group discussions, stakeholder interviews, and thick field notes documented in village households and cane fields between October 2020 and August 2021.

Role of family communication patterns as predictors of behavioral health among students of public universities in north of Iran.

Communication is one of the oldest and greatest human achievements and the basis of social life. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of family communication patterns as predictors of behavioral health among students of public universities in the north of Iran. In this cross-sectional study, a total of 461 students from all the public universities of Babol, Iran, were selected in 2019. A stratified sampling random method was used to select the samples. The demographic characteristics, Depression Anxiety Stress Scale, Acceptance and Action Questionnaire, Rosenberg self-esteem questionnaire, and Communication Skills Interpersonal Test were used to collect data. Simple and multi-variate linear regressions as well as Pearson's correlation coefficient were utilized for data analysis. The mean and standard deviation scores of conversation orientation and conformity orientation were 35.61 ± 0.55 and 19.31 ± 0.41, respectively. Family conversation orientation was a significant predictor of behavioral health scales of students (except for acceptance and action), predicting negatively and significantly depression, anxiety, stress, and positively self-esteem and inter-personal communication skills of students. Family conformity orientation was also a significant predictor of behavioral health scales (except for inter-personal communication skills) of students, which predicted positively and significantly depression, anxiety, stress, and negatively acceptance, action, and students' self-esteem. To prevent behavioral health problems, it is necessary to observe conformity orientation and rely on conversation orientation.

Šeimos kalbų politikos ir ankstyvosios dvikalbystės sankirta: atvejo analizė

The article discusses family language policy in a family of ethnic Russians in Estonia where the father speaks Russian, and the mother speaks Estonian. This is the case of internalization of Estonian among ethnic Russians, a novel phenomenon in the post-Soviet countries. The data come from family conversations (6 h) and the semi-structured interview with the parents (1.5 h). There are discrepancies between the declared ideologies, management, and practices. The declared policy is OPOL and, as the father rendered it, purism because of the concern that the children will be confused otherwise. During the interview the father switched between Estonian, Russian, and English. In family conversations the mother’s speech (539 turns, of which 50 % are directed to the child) contained code-switching (7% in Russian and 8% switches within one turn in speech directed to the child). The parents claimed to speak Russian to each other, yet the mother occasionally switched to Estonian while talking to the father. In general, both family conversations and the interview proved to be linguistically more diverse than expected.

Talking about “bioluminescence” and “puppies of the ocean”: An anti‐deficit exploration of how families create and use digital artifacts for informal science learning during and after an aquarium visit

AbstractFamilies commonly document their outings by capturing their experiences through digital photographs and videos. However, little is known about the ways in which families engage their personal mobile devices to document educational family outings and how they subsequently talk about the digital artifacts that captured their informal learning experiences. This paper presents new evidence on family digital artifact creation during an informal science institution (ISI) visit, the expected and actual uses of their digital artifacts after the visit, and family conversations reminiscing about the ISI visit with the digital artifacts. Using a concurrent triangulation mixed‐methods design, data on family digital artifact creation during an aquarium visit (N = 204) and digital artifact use after the visit (n = 67) were collected using parent surveys. Audio‐recorded parent‐child conversations with a subset of families (n = 25) document whether and how families use their digital artifacts to reminisce about the aquarium visit. Quantitative findings detail family digital technology practices during informal learning experiences, and qualitative findings suggest evidence of informal science learning in the everyday interactions of the families who elected to continue the study. The study indicates that family storytelling and digital technology practices may help to bridge informal science learning from ISI to home and frames family non‐participation within an anti‐deficit perspective.

Analyzing a Speech Act in Family Conversation

This article aimed to investigate request of directive speech at family conversation. This study had formulated a research question concerning the types of directive speech acts mostly used in Family conversation and how a request was expressed by the subject research. The method of this study used qualitative method. This study carried out for 5 days and there were 25 types of requests. The result of this research, the biggest percentage was ranked by imperative expressions which were 88% of all the directive forms. From this result, it could be interpreted that the subject research used imperative to express the directive forms based on some situational contexts that were provided in appendixes. For interrogative 8% and statement only 4%.

Early mixing in a Spanish-English simultaneous bilingual in a Japanese context at age 2;4

Early language mixing has often been interpreted as bilinguals’ inability to separate languages, although more recent research suggests that young bilingual children have the ability in production. This study analyzes the mixing patterns of Jun, a Spanish-English simultaneous bilingual being raised in a Japanese societal context. Spontaneous speech data have been analyzed from two hours of video recordings, of four family conversations at age 2;4 [years;months], a period at which syntax should be emerging. The investigation found that Jun, prior to acquiring verb inflection, consistently speaks in the context-appropriate language and rarely engages in mixing, suggesting clear language separation and pragmatic sensitivity. Mixing rates, MLU, UB, and monoglossic production in both home languages confirm Jun’s balanced performance, and also language separation. Moreover, the scarcity of inter- and intra-sentential mixing, as well as 1-word mixing, reveals the child’s accommodation to his interlocutors’ language choice, as well as this 2-year-old’s strong control over his own language choice