Research on the acquisition of Mayan languages has shown child-directed communication (CDC) to be low in frequency. Nevertheless, long-term linguistic-anthropological research with the Tsotsil Mayan in Southern Mexico has documented episodes in family life when children engage in interactional routines or interactional formats (IFs) with their…

This paper explores one way that participants use inscribed objects in their immediate environment as resources for interaction. In particular, it identifies and analyzes a type of embodied response turn found in information request sequences. The data come from a video recording of family members engaged in a joint cooking activity, where they…

In this article the notion of "community" is examined through a lens which focuses on the way people interact and communicate in and around a Panjabi complementary school. Analysis of linguistic ethnographic data contributes to understandings of how identities are produced and reproduced, and how belonging becomes naturalised. The…

This article explores the interactional processes of a binational stepfamily in Denmark. Following Bourdieu (1977), it is argued that in stepfamily interaction, negotiations of legitimacy precede, overlap and become intertwined with negotiations of control and connection. In previous studies conducted in interactional linguistics and linguistic…

We report a randomized trial of a revised Behavioral Family Systems Therapy for Diabetes (BFST-D) intervention. Families of 104 adolescents with diabetes were randomized to standard care (SC) or to 6 months of an educational support group (ES) or BFST-D. Family communication and problem-solving skills were assessed at 0, 6, 12, and 18 months by…

This study examined the effects of aid from mother and older sibling on the problem-solving behaviors of 120 first graders. Children with older sisters showed more advanced problem solving after aid, while those with older brothers did not. Interpretations in terms of family interaction patterns are offered. (JMB)

Persons (N=78) between the ages of 18 and 30 completed a questionnaire on how intra-familial conflict was resolved in their family between: mother and father; mother and self; father and self; and self; and self and each sibling. Verbal aggression was utilized as a conflict resolution mode in nearly all familites. (Author)

Investigates whether a variation in task content (focusing on instrumental/external family issues v emotional expressive/internal issues) influences family interaction when task structure is held constant. The responses of 64 well-adjusted family triads were scored for differences in conflict, dominance, and affect. (Author/SS)

Four basic determinants of parental authority are suggested. Hypotheses are tested using questionnaire data from 3,641 sixth, eighth, tenth, and twelfth grade students. Acceptance of parental authority is associated most strongly with offspring's perceptions of parental expertise and benefits received from parents. (Author)

Results suggested that preschool age siblings may facilitate mastery of the object environment by infants. (Author/JMB)

Attempts to extend and to synthesize interactional, psychoanalytic, and learning theories as they might apply to the family. Highlights complexities of family interaction as they relate to parent child differences, to mate selection, and to marriage. Both affective and cognitive dimensions of human interaction are incorporated into the framework.…

Bytheway discusses the problems of representation and sampling methodology found in the Three Generation Family Study directed by Hill at the University of Minnesota. Hill responds to this criticism and challenges Bytheway to provide a better sampling design. (Author/HLM)

The contradiction between the family's lowly position in Soviet social science and the great popular and governmental interest in the family is likely to continue to exist for some time to come. (Author)