The Darker Side of Family Communication ― The Harmful, the Morally Suspect, and the Socially Inappropriate

This volume advances theory and research by presenting original, empirical studies as well as theoretical and methodological overviews on dark family communication processes.
Taking an interdisciplinary and international approach, the volume includes contributions from the most respected scholars in their specialty areas. It is the first published work on the dark side of family communication scholarship to include critical theorizing. This makes it an important contribution to family communication research in general and dark side work more specifically. Such chapters examine how gender, race, class, and sexual orientation impact and are impacted by dark family communication. In addition to a micro, interaction-based exploration of how social location and dark family communication processes intersect, some chapters offer more social critiques of dark family communication (and how it is socially constructed) at a macro-level.
The volume is intended for scholars, researchers, and graduate students interested in the dark side of family communication and family dynamics. It is also well suited for advanced undergraduate or graduate courses in family communication, dark side of family communication, family processes, family dynamics, family conflict, and family stress and coping.

Loreen N. Olson (PhD, University of Nebraska) is Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She is the lead author of The Dark Side of Family Communication and was previously the editor of the Journal of Family Communication.
Mark A. Fine (PhD, The Ohio State University) is Professor and Chair in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He was previously the editor of Family Relations and the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, and he is the author or editor of numerous books on families, family diversity, divorce, and family theories.