Support Expectations and Strategic Ambiguity in Parents’ Divorce-Related Communication

• In Event: Interpersonal Communication Processes in the Family Context

Abstract

To better understand divorce-related disclosures, a social cognitive framework and Communication Privacy Management were employed. Forty parent-emerging adult child dyads discussed divorce-related stressors. Parents’ support expectations were related and emerging adult children’s supported expectations were related. Dyads discussed numerous stressors. Further, children’s expectations predicted perceptions of parents’ strategic ambiguity. The effects of expectations on strategic ambiguity extend knowledge about the role of support expectations within a social cognitive framework and Communication Privacy Management.

Authors

• Tara McManus, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

• Jon Nussbaum, Penn State University