A Dialectical Analysis of Remarriage and Communication with Social Networks

• In Event: Understanding Marital Relationships in Context

Abstract

I examined the communicative interactions of remarriage dyads with their external networks. A thematic analysis revealed three tensions prevalent in the remarriage union: uniqueness-conventionality, revelation-concealment, and inclusion-seclusion. Each supra-theme had a sub-theme that was unique to being part of a remarriage: the tension of their time frame and our time, the tension of self and other’s desires of revelation, and the tension of old and new. Participants also discussed ways they manage the tensions.

Author

• Sarah E. Dirks, University of Nebraska, Lincoln