Difficult Dialogues: A Study on Difficult Conversations and Different Family Types in Rural and Urban Philippine Areas

Title: Difficult Dialogues: A Study on Difficult Conversations and Different Family Types in Rural and Urban Philippine Areas

Citation: Aranton, G.A., & Pagkatipunan, N.D. (2015). Difficult dialogues: A study on difficult conversations and different family types in rural and urban Philippine areas, Unpublished Undergraduate Thesis, University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication.

ABSTRACT: This study explored how different family types in rural and urban areas engage in difficult conversations. Families were classified and analyzed through the Circumplex Model of Family Systems by Olson (1999). Focused interviews were conducted to 20 parents from Davao City and Quezon Province. The FACES III instrument was also administered to know the cohesion and flexibility levels of the families. Specifically, the families considered were composed of five flexibly connected and five flexibly enmeshed family types for each of the two areas. Both types were further explained in terms of their engagement in difficult conversations through the following aspects: discussion, reason, response, result, short-term consequence, long-term consequence and resolution. By comparing the two family types, no major differences were identified as both of them have the same flexibility levels and resembling cohesion levels. But notably, the result of the study verified one of the main arguments of the model that flexibly connected families have relatively better ways of engaging in difficult conversations compared to flexibly enmeshed families. The differences between the communication dynamics of rural and urban families were mainly caused by their varying social conditions, which primarily influences their family functioning.

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