Family Influence on Communication Patterns

Family communication lays the foundation for future interpersonal communication with others. How we learn from our parents and family network is what we will carry with us, the style, tone and many other factors pertaining to communication follows us. Family influence on communication will always be present in our day to day interaction with others, how we convey those messages of communication determines the pattern most dominated by our family unit.

The communication styles we use today influence how we communicate with others.

My communication style with my family today does not reflect how we use it when I was growing up. Today the way my family communicates is described as a conversation orientation. Conversation orientation can be described as a family who can freely speak their mind and talk about many different things. (DeVito, 2016). I was raised to be seen and not heard, therefore I feel this lead me to have a closed mind about many different things not to mention unable to verbally express myself effectively.

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Living in a communication pattern known as Monopoly Pattern there was one person who controlled the opinions of the family and the other members would conform to that. Once I was old enough to have my own opinion I found it hard to decide on what I truly liked and felt my opinion was not valid. Today my family consists of a Balance Split Pattern and we recognize our responsibilities from one another. (DeVito, 2016).

My husband and I take control of different aspects of our duties as a couple.

I do my best in teaching my kids to follow the rules but letting them have the freedom makes their own decisions (within reason). 'A family is best defined as a group of people with defined roles, responsibilities toward others in the group, a shared history and future, shared living space (usually), and rules for communicating.' (DeVito, 2016).