My Family Theory

When describing a family, one would suggest that there are several different types including nuclear, extended, stepfamily, cohabiting couples, and single - parent. I, for one, could describe my family type as several of these throughout my life. Now, my family is considered a stepfamily because my parents both have children from their previous marriages (McCornack 326). A communication scholar, Mark Knapp, created a theory that described the interpersonal development between two people. His theory consist of ten stages categorized in two sections, "coming together" and "coming apart." Because my family has just recently changed to a stepfamily, my parents’ development of their interpersonal relationship is centered with a focus around their

McCornack describes this stage as the period in which you “size up a person” to form an impression based on characteristics, such as physical attractiveness, clothing, and posture to determine the level of attractiveness you have towards him/her (294). My parents actually started as friends about seven years ago when my sister and now stepsister became friends. Therefore, their initial impression were not in regards to physical attractiveness, but rather whether their children should be trusted with the other parent. Because they were forming a trust bond for the purpose of their children, they enter Knapp’s next stage, the experimenting

A major area they differed in after they got married was how to parent their children. My father thought that hollering at us when we did something against their wishes was effective; whereas, my mother believed that there should be consequences to our actions but given in a calmly manner. After agreeing that there should be less hollering and more punishments, they entered the circumscribing stage, because they began to avoid conversations based on their different views on how to punish my siblings and I (McCornack 297). My father held a different standard for my older sisters compared to my younger siblings and I, but my mother believed we should all be punished equally. Therefore, they created safe zone on who would parent each of the children. My mother would restrict from trying to parent my three older sisters, because my father believed she was too harsh on them. It was harder for my older sisters to accept my stepmother as their new parent figure with new rules and guidelines so late in their life. Therefore, by creating these “safe zone,” it created less tension among their