Family Communication Patterns Model

A variety of studies suggest that family communication norms can help explain media-specific discussions and effects. The family communication patterns (FCP) model, developed by Jack McLeod and Steve Chaffee, has provided one valuable way to look at the effect of the family communication environment on children's attitudes and behaviors. It has been especially important for scholars studying routes to parental influence on media effects.

The model addresses the gap left by the unfortunate fact that many parents do little intentionally to affect the media's influence on their children, perhaps not realizing how influential they can be. They may be especially unaware of how important they are as an indirect influence. According to McLeod and Chaffee, parents teach children how to manage and interpret information in general through their own family communication patterns. This, then, affects the way children approach and internalize media messages.

The FCP model conceptualizes parent-child communication as taking place along two relatively independent dimensions. The first, called socio orientation, reflects the parent's desire for harmonious interpersonal relationships in the family through the emphasis of conformity and control. The second dimension, called concept orientation, reflects the parent's emphasis on sharing and challenging ideas. Some scholars have suggested that socio orientation reflects a desire to maintain the status quo and is internally focused. Concept orientation reflects a more external focus. Parents can emphasize one dimension, both dimensions, or neither.

When McLeod and Chaffee conceptualized two dimensions of communication style, it represented an [Page 320]important parsing of the prevailing unidimensional views of parenting style, such as those of Diana Baumrind, Brant Burleson, and others, which combined behavior management orientations with communication characteristics. McLeod and Chaffee's typology attempts to explain the importance of considering management style and communication style separately. This has made the FCP model particularly useful for the study of media-related parenting strategies, such as rule making and discussion of content.

In the FCP model, parents low on both socio and concept orientation are called laissez faire because they do not emphasize any orientation. Parents high on socio orientation but low on concept orientation are considered protective because they emphasize control and shy away from the discussion of ideas. Parents with the opposite orientation—low on socio orientation and high on concept orientation—are called pluralistic because they welcome ideas and de-emphasize conformity. Ironically, some research has indicated that children of pluralistic parents tend to model their parents more than do children of protective parents. Finally, parents emphasizing both orientations are known as consensual because they think open discussion is important but nonetheless want to maintain family harmony and control.

The model was designed from the parent's perspective rather than the child's, inspiring debate among scholars regarding the extent to which the message parents think they send is the message children receive. A variety of studies have found that parents' reports correlate only modestly with children's reports. Some have found that children's reports provide better predictive validity, whereas others have suggested that the constructs are too abstract for preadolescent children to appraise. Other research suggests that children can respond to the questions but interpret them differently from adults.

...