Family Communication Patterns and Relational Maintenance Behavior: Direct and Mediated Associations with Friendship Closeness

Abstract

In this study, both face-to-face and online relational maintenance behaviors were tested as mediators of family communication patterns and closeness with a same-sex friend. Participants included 417 young adults recruited from communication courses at a large university in the Midwestern United States. The obtained structural model demonstrated that family communication patterns are associated with friendship closeness though face-to-face and online maintenance behaviors fully mediate this association. Specifically, young adults from high–conversation-orientation families engage in more face-to-face maintenance behaviors, which are positively associated with friendship closeness. These findings inform understanding of how family communication patterns influence extrafamilial relationships, suggesting that parents’ cognitions and communication behaviors are associated with children’s social well-being.

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