1. When I Was Your Age Research on Family Communication using Parental Narratives to Instruct Children By: Darci Adams

2. Importance Discipline is a crucial aspect in family communication Parent-child relationship is vital to enhance in families Learning to effectively discipline and build a relationship with children will heighten communication

3. Study How the use of narratives can be used to instruct children 3 hypothesis: –the more parental narratives are shared, the better the relationship between parent and child will be during childhood –The parental narratives remembered will have common instructional themes, even if details are different. –Parents telling their personal narratives will have a positive impact on their children.

4. Narratives A narrative or story is a written or oral composition that reveals and describes someone’s experiences Walter Fisher –Proposed term “narrative paradigm” –Believed: All of communication is narrative Humans are essentially storytellers

5. Narratives “Narrative is the best way to understand the human experience because it is the way humans understand their lives” –Laurel Richardson “Narrative and Sociology” “The narrative paradigm does not deny reason and rationality; it reconstitutes them, making them amendable to all forms of human communication” –Walter Fisher “Narration as a Human Communication Paradigm: The Case of Public Moral Argument.

6. Narratives in Other Research Sociology: how history was written for cultures –Laurel Richardson “Narrative and Sociology” Self-Concept –Donald Polkinghorne “Narratives and Self- Concept” Self-Confrontation –William Kirkwood “Storytelling and Self- Confrontation: Parables as Communication Strategies”

7. Research Questions Is telling narratives/stories a good way to instruct? Will college students remember those stories their parents told? How did the stories help the students? Is there a correlation with having a good relationship with parents and parents telling stories?

8. Hypothesis 1.The more parental narratives are shared, the better the relationship between parent and child will be during childhood 2.The parental narratives remembered will have common instructional themes, even if details are different. 3.Parents telling their personal narratives will have a positive impact on their children.

9. Method Questionnaire –College students 17-22 years old males and females 180 available / 84 completed –2 Likert scale categorical questions Growing up, I had a good relationship with my parents – strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, strongly disagree My parents told me their personal stories to instruct or discipline me – always, usually, sometimes, never –2 open-ended questions Describe, in detail, a narrative/story that you remember your parents using to instruct or discipline you. What type of impact did your parent’s personal stories have on you?

10. Results The more parental narratives are shared, the better the relationship between parent and child will be during childhood –Supported –4 reported to not hearing stories Only one of the four reported having a good relationship with parents

11. Results The parental narratives remembered will have common instructional themes, even if details are different. –Supported –Themes: Dating College life Responsibility Work ethic Punishment forms

12. Results Parents telling their personal narratives will have a positive impact on their children. –Supported –Only a few had a negative response

13. Example of Impact “When my parents would tell me stories it made them easier to relate to as people and not just authority figures. It made me think as a child and a teenager, okay, maybe there is a reason they are telling me to do or not to do something. I think the stories they tell gives rational behind their rules and ideas. While I know parents are authority figures and should be treated with respect we also need to see them as people. I actually think I am able to respect to respect better to them because of the stories they have told me and I know where they come from. It’s like when you are reading a story, it’s comprehendible and you can draw things from it but when you know the background of the author that is when you can truly understand the story as a whole. It’s easier to understand your parents when you see their life experiences – it makes them credible.” L.S.

14. Example of Impact “They helped me to see my parents in a different light. I realized that they were once a teenager like me, and I was able to see how the choices they made affected their future, and this really helped me to trust their advice. For instance, if my Dad had simply warned me not to hang around the wrong crowd, I probably would have thought that he didn’t know what he was talking about, and I would have not listened to him. But, since he told me about his experiences as a teen, it really helped me to see that there was a reason behind his instructions…. It made a big difference in how I related to my parents and it made a big difference in my decision-making as a child.” B.F.

15. Future Considerations Culture Respondents –Voluntary/involuntary Initial Reactions to Parental Narratives