Family “Bonds”: Making Meaning of Parent–Child Relationships in Estrangement Narratives

Abstract

Framed by relational dialectics theory, the present study takes a critical approach to the discursive navigation of the parent–child relationship. Specifically, this study explores the ways in which the parent–child relationship is constructed in 52 narrative interviews with adult children who are estranged from their parent(s). Contrapuntal analysis revealed that two discourses compete to illuminate meanings of the parent–child relationship. Three interrelated themes that emphasize biological connection, familial webs, and shared history constitute the Discourse of Relationship Endurance (DRE). Four interrelated themes that emphasize the need for relational maintenance, care/support, love, and individualism constitute the Discourse of Temporal Contingency and resist the DRE. The competition of these discourses, in the form of diachronic separation, synchronic interplay, and a discursive hybrid coalesce to making meaning of the parent–child relationship and hold implications for both theory and practice.

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