Lifespan Communication – serie

Demographers have repeatedly confirmed that the nuclear family is on the decline. Yet when Americans are asked about their ideal family, the nuclear family emerges as the most valued kind of family. Members of families that do not match this cultural ideal face a discursive burden to legitimate their identity as a «family.»This volume gathers together communication scholars who are working on the many kinds of alternative family forms, from, among others, grandfamilies, diasporic immigrant families, and military families to in (voluntarily) childless families and stepfamilies.The organizing question for the volume focuses on resistance, reconstruction, and resilience: how is it that alternatives to the traditional family are constructed and sustained through communicative practices? Several chapters adopt a global perspective, thereby framing the issue of legitimation of «family» in a broader cultural context.None of the family forms described in this volume meets the ideological «gold standard” of the nuclear family, and in this sense they all represent a remaking of the family in profound ways.

Demographers have repeatedly confirmed that the nuclear family is on the decline. Yet when Americans are asked about their ideal family, the nuclear family emerges as the most valued kind of family. Members of families that do not match this cultural ideal face a discursive burden to legitimate their identity as a «family.»This volume gathers together communication scholars who are working on the many kinds of alternative family forms, from, among others, grandfamilies, diasporic immigrant families, and military families to in (voluntarily) childless families and stepfamilies.The organizing question for the volume focuses on resistance, reconstruction, and resilience: how is it that alternatives to the traditional family are constructed and sustained through communicative practices? Several chapters adopt a global perspective, thereby framing the issue of legitimation of «family» in a broader cultural context.None of the family forms described in this volume meets the ideological «gold standard” of the nuclear family, and in this sense they all represent a remaking of the family in profound ways.

The Handbook of Lifespan Communication is the foundational scholarly text that offers readers a state of the art view of the varied and rich areas of lifespan communication research. The fundamental assumptions of lifespan communication are that the very nature of human communication is developmental, and, to truly understand communication, change across time must be incorporated into existing theory and research. Beginning with chapters on lifespan communication theory and methodologies, chapters are then organized into the various phases of life: early childhood, adolescence, emerging adulthood, middle adulthood, and older adulthood. Top scholars across several disciplines have contributed to chapters within their domains of expertise, highlighting significant horizons that will guide researchers for years to come.

The Handbook of Lifespan Communication is the foundational scholarly text that offers readers a state of the art view of the varied and rich areas of lifespan communication research. The fundamental assumptions of lifespan communication are that the very nature of human communication is developmental, and, to truly understand communication, change across time must be incorporated into existing theory and research. Beginning with chapters on lifespan communication theory and methodologies, chapters are then organized into the various phases of life: early childhood, adolescence, emerging adulthood, middle adulthood, and older adulthood. Top scholars across several disciplines have contributed to chapters within their domains of expertise, highlighting significant horizons that will guide researchers for years to come.

This book offers a novel analysis of communication in stepfather-stepson relationships and is one of the first to examine the ways stepfathers communicate and to integrate the perspectives of adolescents into research on stepfamily communication. In order to understand the complex dynamics of stepfamilies, Jonathan Pettigrew presents six case studies of different families. They are written as engaging narratives – including interviews – that offer flavorful accounts of family members and their relationships with each other. Pettigrew then looks across cases to identify, describe, and examine patterns of stepfather support. This book builds upon current understandings of stepfamily life by providing a descriptive and heuristic model of supportive stepfather-stepson communication, making it valuable for those who study and work with families.

From serious illness to natural disasters, humans turn to communication as a major source of strength to help us bounce back and to keep growing and thriving.Communicating Hope and Resilience Across the Lifespan addresses the various ways in which communication plays an important role in fostering hope and resilience. Adopting a lifespan approach and offering a new framework to expand our understanding of the concepts of «hope» and «resilience» from a communication perspective, contributors highlight the variety of «stressors» that people may encounter in their lives. They examine connections between the cognitive dimensions of hope such as self-worth, self-efficacy, and creative problem solving. They look at the variety of messages that can facilitate or inhibit experiencing hope in relationships, groups, and organizations. Other contributors look at how communication that can build strengths, enhance preparation, and model successful adaptation to change has the potential to lessen the negative impact of stress, demonstrating resilience.As an important counterpoint to recent work focusing on what goes wrong in interpersonal relationships, communication that has the potential to uplift and facilitate responses to stressful circumstances is emphasized throughout this volume. By offering a detailed examination of how to communicate hope and resilience, this book presents practical lessons for individuals, marriages, families, relationship experts, as well as a variety of other practitioners.

From serious illness to natural disasters, humans turn to communication as a major source of strength to help us bounce back and to keep growing and thriving.Communicating Hope and Resilience Across the Lifespan addresses the various ways in which communication plays an important role in fostering hope and resilience. Adopting a lifespan approach and offering a new framework to expand our understanding of the concepts of «hope» and «resilience» from a communication perspective, contributors highlight the variety of «stressors» that people may encounter in their lives. They examine connections between the cognitive dimensions of hope such as self-worth, self-efficacy, and creative problem solving. They look at the variety of messages that can facilitate or inhibit experiencing hope in relationships, groups, and organizations. Other contributors look at how communication that can build strengths, enhance preparation, and model successful adaptation to change has the potential to lessen the negative impact of stress, demonstrating resilience.As an important counterpoint to recent work focusing on what goes wrong in interpersonal relationships, communication that has the potential to uplift and facilitate responses to stressful circumstances is emphasized throughout this volume. By offering a detailed examination of how to communicate hope and resilience, this book presents practical lessons for individuals, marriages, families, relationship experts, as well as a variety of other practitioners.

This volume advances theory and research by presenting original, empirical studies as well as theoretical and methodological overviews on dark family communication processes.Taking an interdisciplinary and international approach, the volume includes contributions from the most respected scholars in their specialty areas. It is the first published work on the dark side of family communication scholarship to include critical theorizing. This makes it an important contribution to family communication research in general and dark side work more specifically. Such chapters examine how gender, race, class, and sexual orientation impact and are impacted by dark family communication. In addition to a micro, interaction-based exploration of how social location and dark family communication processes intersect, some chapters offer more social critiques of dark family communication (and how it is socially constructed) at a macro-level.The volume is intended for scholars, researchers, and graduate students interested in the dark side of family communication and family dynamics. It is also well suited for advanced undergraduate or graduate courses in family communication, dark side of family communication, family processes, family dynamics, family conflict, and family stress and coping.

This volume advances theory and research by presenting original, empirical studies as well as theoretical and methodological overviews on dark family communication processes.Taking an interdisciplinary and international approach, the volume includes contributions from the most respected scholars in their specialty areas. It is the first published work on the dark side of family communication scholarship to include critical theorizing. This makes it an important contribution to family communication research in general and dark side work more specifically. Such chapters examine how gender, race, class, and sexual orientation impact and are impacted by dark family communication. In addition to a micro, interaction-based exploration of how social location and dark family communication processes intersect, some chapters offer more social critiques of dark family communication (and how it is socially constructed) at a macro-level.The volume is intended for scholars, researchers, and graduate students interested in the dark side of family communication and family dynamics. It is also well suited for advanced undergraduate or graduate courses in family communication, dark side of family communication, family processes, family dynamics, family conflict, and family stress and coping.

Communication is at the heart of any complete understanding of the end of life. While it is true that individuals physically die as a single entity, the process of ending an individual life is located within a complex system of relationships and roles connected and constructed through communicative processes. In this volume, top scholars from numerous disciplines showcase the latest empirical investigations and theoretical advances that focus on communication at the end of life. This multi-contextual approach serves to integrate current findings, expand our theoretical understanding of the end of life, prioritize the significance of competent communication for scholars and practitioners, and provide a solid foundation upon which to build pragmatic interventions to assist individuals at the end of life as well as those who care for and grieve for those who are dying. This book is suitable for undergraduate and graduate courses in Death and Dying, Communication and Aging, Health Communication, Life Span Development, Life Span Communication, Long term care, Palliative care and Social Work.

Grounded in path-breaking research but written in an accessible, engaging style Moral Talk Across the Lifespan explores how our most fundamental moral commitments are shaped by crucial conversations with family members, romantic partners, and friends. Taking a lifespan approach, the authors demonstrate that moral growth is a continual process, one stimulated by transitions (e.g., leaving home for university) and disruptive events (serious illness). With chapters penned by leading relationship scholars, the volume contributes original thinking, data, and innovative theoretical pathways for researchers. For instructors it explores pressing moral questions encountered by students in their own relationships with romantic partners, friends, parents, and other family members. When is revealing a secret the right thing to do? Is revenge ever a worthy response to an insult or sleight? Why are young adults persuaded to accept some of their parents’ values but not others? Is there a right (or wrong) way to support a parent facing a terminal illness? Moral Talk Across the Lifespan offers a stimulating blend of social science research and moral reflection. It is a key text for courses in Relational Communication, Family Communication, Interpersonal Communication, and Communication Ethics.

Grounded in path-breaking research but written in an accessible, engaging style Moral Talk Across the Lifespan explores how our most fundamental moral commitments are shaped by crucial conversations with family members, romantic partners, and friends. Taking a lifespan approach, the authors demonstrate that moral growth is a continual process, one stimulated by transitions (e.g., leaving home for university) and disruptive events (serious illness). With chapters penned by leading relationship scholars, the volume contributes original thinking, data, and innovative theoretical pathways for researchers. For instructors it explores pressing moral questions encountered by students in their own relationships with romantic partners, friends, parents, and other family members. When is revealing a secret the right thing to do? Is revenge ever a worthy response to an insult or sleight? Why are young adults persuaded to accept some of their parents’ values but not others? Is there a right (or wrong) way to support a parent facing a terminal illness? Moral Talk Across the Lifespan offers a stimulating blend of social science research and moral reflection. It is a key text for courses in Relational Communication, Family Communication, Interpersonal Communication, and Communication Ethics.

Family Communication in the Age of Digital and Social Media is an innovative collection of contemporary data-driven research and theorizing about how digital and social media are affecting and changing nearly every aspect of family interaction over the lifespan. The research and thinking featured in the book reflects the intense growth of interest in families in the digital age. Chapters explore communication among couples, families, parents, adolescents, and emerging adults as their realities are created, impacted, changed, structured, improved, influenced and/or inhibited by cell phones, smartphones, personal desktop and laptop computers, MP3 players, e-tablets, e-readers, email, Facebook, photo sharing, Skype, Twitter, SnapChat, blogs, Instagram, and other emerging technologies. Each chapter significantly advances thinking about how digital media have become deeply embedded in the lives of families and couples, as well as how they are affecting the very ways we as twenty-first-century communicators see ourselves and, by extension, conceive of and behave in our most intimate and longest-lasting relationships.

Family Communication in the Age of Digital and Social Media is an innovative collection of contemporary data-driven research and theorizing about how digital and social media are affecting and changing nearly every aspect of family interaction over the lifespan. The research and thinking featured in the book reflects the intense growth of interest in families in the digital age. Chapters explore communication among couples, families, parents, adolescents, and emerging adults as their realities are created, impacted, changed, structured, improved, influenced and/or inhibited by cell phones, smartphones, personal desktop and laptop computers, MP3 players, e-tablets, e-readers, email, Facebook, photo sharing, Skype, Twitter, SnapChat, blogs, Instagram, and other emerging technologies. Each chapter significantly advances thinking about how digital media have become deeply embedded in the lives of families and couples, as well as how they are affecting the very ways we as twenty-first-century communicators see ourselves and, by extension, conceive of and behave in our most intimate and longest-lasting relationships.

Research on the dark side of communication has typically been studied from a single standpoint confined to a specific context. As an intradisciplinary project, this volume transcends the traditional unilateral perspective and focuses on a wide range of communication topics across a variety of contexts. From interpersonal communication, organizational communication, computer-mediated communication, and health communication, the book presents a collection of essays that merges theory with practical application. Chapter contributors write candidly and unapologetically about how they and various populations under investigation mitigate a wealth of dark side behaviors spanning sexualization, cyberstalking, bereavement, and various illnesses. The different perspectives offer a lens through which students and academics can enhance their understanding of how dark side behaviors are experienced and communicated. They enlighten our understanding of the dark side of human communication, initiate thought-provoking conversations, and inspire future studies that will advance the limitless inquisitions of contextual dark side research.

Every great scholar begins as a student. But what does it take to get there? And what is the journey like? This book explores the lifespan development of some of the best-known communication scholars in the United States. Grounded in 30 in-depth interviews, personal stories, and communication theory, the book reveals the nature of human development, the curvature of disciplinary thinking, and the values that drive communication professionals. With powerful examples from great thinkers and teachers such as Robert Craig, Valerie Manusov, and Gerry Philipsen, the book shows that communicating well is a slow, gradual awakening toward others. How Communication Scholars Think and Act is designed to inspire students and faculty alike to persevere in the face of setbacks, to learn about communication more deeply, and to improve human relationships across contexts. This is an ideal text for courses in communication theory, interpersonal communication, and introductory courses to the field. It is a must-read for anyone who wants to become a communication professional.

Every great scholar begins as a student. But what does it take to get there? And what is the journey like? This book explores the lifespan development of some of the best-known communication scholars in the United States. Grounded in 30 in-depth interviews, personal stories, and communication theory, the book reveals the nature of human development, the curvature of disciplinary thinking, and the values that drive communication professionals. With powerful examples from great thinkers and teachers such as Robert Craig, Valerie Manusov, and Gerry Philipsen, the book shows that communicating well is a slow, gradual awakening toward others. How Communication Scholars Think and Act is designed to inspire students and faculty alike to persevere in the face of setbacks, to learn about communication more deeply, and to improve human relationships across contexts. This is an ideal text for courses in communication theory, interpersonal communication, and introductory courses to the field. It is a must-read for anyone who wants to become a communication professional.

Communication Begins with Children: A Lifespan Communication Sourcebook seeks to transform the field of communication, arguing that the field must stop neglecting and segregating children and instead adopt an age-inclusive lifespan approach that fully includes and fully considers children in all communication theorizing, research, and education from infancy and throughout the human lifespan. One-size-fits-all, adult-centric communication theorizing, researching, and educating is inadequate and harms the communication field’s potential as a social force for positive change for all communicators. The volume contains four sections (Foundations, Relational Communication Development, Digital Communication Development, and Navigating Developmental Communication Challenges) that showcase state-of-the-art chapters about the history of children’s relational and digital communication studies, methods used to study children’s communication, media literacy development, communication and children’s health, and much more. A must read for all communication researchers, educators, and students and an important addition to advanced and graduate level human and digital communication courses.

Midlife can be a time of great change for individuals and a "make or break" period for marriages. Couples navigate a relationship landscape defined by such lifecourse landmarks as "the empty nest," changing roles at home and at work, aging bodies, and the need to care for family elders. Some partnerships are resilient through this period, adopting practices that help them cope, bounce back, and even thrive in the face of adversity. Others sputter, wither, and burn out. What makes a midlife marriage resilient? Drawing from hundreds of interviews with couples, The Middle Years of Marriage answers this question.

Midlife can be a time of great change for individuals and a "make or break" period for marriages. Couples navigate a relationship landscape defined by such lifecourse landmarks as "the empty nest," changing roles at home and at work, aging bodies, and the need to care for family elders. Some partnerships are resilient through this period, adopting practices that help them cope, bounce back, and even thrive in the face of adversity. Others sputter, wither, and burn out. What makes a midlife marriage resilient? Drawing from hundreds of interviews with couples, The Middle Years of Marriage answers this question.

Despite growing recognition of the diversity of family forms and structures, discourses among family scholars and practitioners as well as in popular culture continue to operate from the assumption that families are fairly homogeneous in terms of the values and beliefs, social positions, and identities of individual family members. Navigating Relationships in the Modern Family provides a unique and important perspective on how communication within and about families related to issues of identity and difference can ameliorate negative processes and, at times, potentially amplify positive outcomes such as well-being and relational solidarity. Chapters in this edited volume focus on divergent social identities in the family (e.g., interfaith families, multiethnic-racial families, acculturation and immigration) as well as differences emerging from family formative processes (e.g., stepfamilies, in-law relationships, foster care). In addition to synthesizing the current state of the scholarship in these particular family contexts, each chapter discusses the interplay between families and the larger social and cultural context. For instance, how does grandparent-grandchild communication influence attitudes toward older adults and aging? Can we improve interfaith dialogue in larger societal interactions by understanding communication in interfaith families? How do ideologies of social class and social discourses about adoption and foster care influence family functioning? Chapters conclude with a discussion on implications for scholars and family practitioners. The edited volume would make an ideal primary or secondary required text for upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses on families as well as specialized family courses on understudied family relationships and forms. The volume also serves as an important resource for family scholars and practitioners.

Despite growing recognition of the diversity of family forms and structures, discourses among family scholars and practitioners as well as in popular culture continue to operate from the assumption that families are fairly homogeneous in terms of the values and beliefs, social positions, and identities of individual family members. Navigating Relationships in the Modern Family provides a unique and important perspective on how communication within and about families related to issues of identity and difference can ameliorate negative processes and, at times, potentially amplify positive outcomes such as well-being and relational solidarity. Chapters in this edited volume focus on divergent social identities in the family (e.g., interfaith families, multiethnic-racial families, acculturation and immigration) as well as differences emerging from family formative processes (e.g., stepfamilies, in-law relationships, foster care). In addition to synthesizing the current state of the scholarship in these particular family contexts, each chapter discusses the interplay between families and the larger social and cultural context. For instance, how does grandparent-grandchild communication influence attitudes toward older adults and aging? Can we improve interfaith dialogue in larger societal interactions by understanding communication in interfaith families? How do ideologies of social class and social discourses about adoption and foster care influence family functioning? Chapters conclude with a discussion on implications for scholars and family practitioners. The edited volume would make an ideal primary or secondary required text for upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses on families as well as specialized family courses on understudied family relationships and forms. The volume also serves as an important resource for family scholars and practitioners.

Constructing Motherhood and Daughterhood Across the Lifespan explores the complex dynamics between mother and daughter over the lifespan. The editors believe that these vital family roles are socially and communicatively constructed, shaped, and molded as mothers and daughters navigate, respond to, and negotiate cultural and familial discourses. Aimed at undergraduate students, this timely book includes course activities and discussion questions in every chapter and a complete term syllabus to enhance a professor’s teaching, providing a smooth route for adoption as a course text. The book also builds on and contributes to the critical and theoretical research in family communication, media studies, and gender studies, delving into the nuanced communication surrounding motherhood and daughterhood in the United States.

Communication Begins with Children: A Lifespan Communication Sourcebook seeks to transform the field of communication, arguing that the field must stop neglecting and segregating children and instead adopt an age-inclusive lifespan approach that fully includes and fully considers children in all communication theorizing, research, and education from infancy and throughout the human lifespan. One-size-fits-all, adult-centric communication theorizing, researching, and educating is inadequate and harms the communication field’s potential as a social force for positive change for all communicators. The volume contains four sections (Foundations, Relational Communication Development, Digital Communication Development, and Navigating Developmental Communication Challenges) that showcase state-of-the-art chapters about the history of children’s relational and digital communication studies, methods used to study children’s communication, media literacy development, communication and children’s health, and much more. A must read for all communication researchers, educators, and students and an important addition to advanced and graduate level human and digital communication courses.

Interpersonal Sexual Communication across the Lifespan traces curious children, eager adolescents, exploring adults, committed partners, and vibrant elderly in their negotiation of sexual development and changes in relationships. Sex and sexuality have been examined at least since the inaugural works of Kinsey and Masters and Johnson. These early and subsequent works have been marked by the emphasis on sexual performance, biological, physiological, or psychological processes that impact sexual activity and interaction. This book emphasizes communication research dispersed across several disciplines and would be of value to students in sexual communication or human sexuality courses.

Interpersonal Sexual Communication across the Lifespan traces curious children, eager adolescents, exploring adults, committed partners, and vibrant elderly in their negotiation of sexual development and changes in relationships. Sex and sexuality have been examined at least since the inaugural works of Kinsey and Masters and Johnson. These early and subsequent works have been marked by the emphasis on sexual performance, biological, physiological, or psychological processes that impact sexual activity and interaction. This book emphasizes communication research dispersed across several disciplines and would be of value to students in sexual communication or human sexuality courses.

Communicating Fatherhood is the first text to focus squarely on communication by and about fathers. This highly readable collection features an engaging mix of research chapters, personal reflections, and rich qualitative explorations of fatherhood as it is depicted in media, cultural traditions, father support programs, and the often-poignant reports of daughters, sons, spouses, and other family members. The amazing diversity of fatherhood is on display, with chapters exploring the experiences of Native American, African American, and Latino dads and their families. The reader will also hear from stay-at-home dads, nonresidential fathers, dads who are sperm donors, adoptive dads, and fathers who have been challenged by addiction, disability, and toxic versions of masculinity.Although grounded in communication research and theory, Communicating Fatherhood strikes personal and emotional chords that will resonate with student readers and researchers alike. Authors share personal experiences of fatherhood – some heartwarming, and others painful – all of which emphasize the powerful and lifelong influence of "father-speak". The text generates deep insights for readers hoping to be fathers, family members seeking to understand fathers, and researchers studying the role communication has in shaping the many and varied roles played by fathers in families. Committed to tracing the development of fatherhood across the lifespan, Communicating Fatherhood is the perfect text for undergraduate and graduate courses in family communication, personal relationships, lifespan communication, and gender studies."In this pioneering book Communicating Fatherhood, the editors have assembled an impressive range of scholarly and practitioner voices. The focus on communication and fathers is unparalleled in the current market and makes an outstanding companion to books focusing on maternal communication. Chapters cover essential topics, such as how father ideals have evolved over time, father-offspring bonds, and influences of traditional and emerging media on fatherhood. The book provides an eclectic and multivocal view of fatherhood, examining the experiences of dads who are Black, Latino, Native American, adoptive, working and stay-at-home, nonresidential, gay, recent immigrants, and dads with disabilities."—Michelle Miller-Day, Professor, Chapman University Author: Constructing Motherhood and Fatherhood Across the Lifespan "Editors Vince Waldron and Tom Socha bring together authors who share research and personal experiences focused on the doing of fatherhood via communication and media, how fathers challenge and change roles and relationships as the lifespan unfolds. Readers will find this book very useful in in their own families and communities."—Dawn O. Braithwaite, Willa Cather Professor of Communication Studies (Emerita), University of Nebraska-Lincoln Author: "Communication Matters" blog, Psychology Today "Waldron and Socha have compiled an impressive collection of essays exploring fatherhood from scientific, historical, educational, and experiential perspectives. Communicating Fatherhood is a must read for anyone seeking to more fully understand the changing landscape of American families."—Douglas L. Kelley, Professor of Communication (Emeritus), Arizona State University

Communicating Fatherhood is the first text to focus squarely on communication by and about fathers. This highly readable collection features an engaging mix of research chapters, personal reflections, and rich qualitative explorations of fatherhood as it is depicted in media, cultural traditions, father support programs, and the often-poignant reports of daughters, sons, spouses, and other family members. The amazing diversity of fatherhood is on display, with chapters exploring the experiences of Native American, African American, and Latino dads and their families. The reader will also hear from stay-at-home dads, nonresidential fathers, dads who are sperm donors, adoptive dads, and fathers who have been challenged by addiction, disability, and toxic versions of masculinity.Although grounded in communication research and theory, Communicating Fatherhood strikes personal and emotional chords that will resonate with student readers and researchers alike. Authors share personal experiences of fatherhood – some heartwarming, and others painful – all of which emphasize the powerful and lifelong influence of "father-speak". The text generates deep insights for readers hoping to be fathers, family members seeking to understand fathers, and researchers studying the role communication has in shaping the many and varied roles played by fathers in families. Committed to tracing the development of fatherhood across the lifespan, Communicating Fatherhood is the perfect text for undergraduate and graduate courses in family communication, personal relationships, lifespan communication, and gender studies."In this pioneering book Communicating Fatherhood, the editors have assembled an impressive range of scholarly and practitioner voices. The focus on communication and fathers is unparalleled in the current market and makes an outstanding companion to books focusing on maternal communication. Chapters cover essential topics, such as how father ideals have evolved over time, father-offspring bonds, and influences of traditional and emerging media on fatherhood. The book provides an eclectic and multivocal view of fatherhood, examining the experiences of dads who are Black, Latino, Native American, adoptive, working and stay-at-home, nonresidential, gay, recent immigrants, and dads with disabilities."—Michelle Miller-Day, Professor, Chapman University Author: Constructing Motherhood and Fatherhood Across the Lifespan "Editors Vince Waldron and Tom Socha bring together authors who share research and personal experiences focused on the doing of fatherhood via communication and media, how fathers challenge and change roles and relationships as the lifespan unfolds. Readers will find this book very useful in in their own families and communities."—Dawn O. Braithwaite, Willa Cather Professor of Communication Studies (Emerita), University of Nebraska-Lincoln Author: "Communication Matters" blog, Psychology Today "Waldron and Socha have compiled an impressive collection of essays exploring fatherhood from scientific, historical, educational, and experiential perspectives. Communicating Fatherhood is a must read for anyone seeking to more fully understand the changing landscape of American families."—Douglas L. Kelley, Professor of Communication (Emeritus), Arizona State University

Living in a post-truth world during an era of information wars, making sense of events is increasingly challenging for everyone. The fact that today’s politics has found many retreating to ideologically “safe” spaces online where their world view is not contested makes the need for news and information literacy more significant. A contemporary world where disinformation and propaganda lead to a distrust of news sources calls for a new way to approach information and news literacy. Digital technology has seemingly made information and news easier to access, but it has also made sorting quality from nonsense a challenge.This book presents a different approach to news and information literacy which uses a flipped classroom method to create a student-centered learning experience. The course is guided by the educational philosophy of Paulo Freire and draws on theory and research from psychology, education and news and information literacy. The course begins with an exercise which reveals the role confirmation bias plays in how students judge the adequacy of news and information they retrieve through online search. The course engenders greater confidence in mastering the pitfalls of the Internet as students emerge empowered with self-knowledge as well as a better understanding of the Internet. The book is relevant for news, information and media literacy teachers, especially at the secondary and collegiate levels, curriculum specialists, continuing and adult education specialists and anyone who wants to better understand how we process news and information in the digital age.