USU’s Family Communication and Relationship Labs study ‘black sheep’ family members
Elizabeth Hall and Kristina Scharp, directors of the Family Communication and Relationships labs (FCR labs), conducted psychological research on the dark side of family communications this year at Utah State University.
FCR labs explore how families communicate, and how communication affects the relationships of the family dynamic. One lab is the FCR Black Sheep Studies. The lab defines black sheep as the singled out, the rejected, the misunderstood. From a cultural perspective black sheep are the weak links of family unity. They are torn between the foundational beliefs of their families and their developed personal opinions.
“I had no idea how interesting it would actually be to go out and talk to black sheep. People are marginalized by their families for all types of reasons, leaving the family religion, maybe not following their gender roles the way their parents believe they should,” Hall said.
She interviewed black sheep and studied the chronically uncomfortable positions their family members placed them in.
In another project, Elizabeth interviewed women in S.T.E.M careers who were also considered black sheep.
“Some of my participants were women that had gone on to higher education such as engineering, astrophysics, and other male dominated careers,” Hall said. “They told me they were marginalized by their families for this, the parents would tell them to pick a career such as teaching so they could have time off to stay home and raise a family, they’d complain that they never got to see them because they chose education instead.”
These women would feel pressured by family to change their dreams and choose ideas that resided more in the realm of their family’s beliefs.
“When children grow up in a home where they are expected to have certain beliefs and act to a certain standard, those children have been found to have lower resilience in college,” Hall said. This information was conducted in a similar FCR study.
Kristina Scharp works with a closely related project called family estrangement, which is the conscious effort a child makes to be away from his parents.
“I look at the communicative behaviors of people that engage into distance themselves from a relationship that most people think will last forever,” Kristina said. “We call this family estrangement. How do you break up with a family member when, culturally, families are forever? We may call this a dark process, however estrangement can be a healthy solution to an unhealthy relationship, trying to disconnect from a family member that is abusive, for example.”
So they concluded that separation from a family member can be a healthy change because it removes that child from a negative atmosphere.
For questions about these labs, check out the FCR website at http://www.familycommlab.com/.
—lexibrockbankwork@gmail.com