THE COMMUNICATIVE ECOLOGY OF THE SOCIAL NETWORKS OF SEPARATED WOMEN

CHERYL LEE STORM, Purdue University

Abstract

In this study, patterns of communication were identified which connect women and their social networks. Forty women who were separated between 2 and 12 months were interviewed about their communication with their social network--family members, friends, clergy, attorneys, and therapists. In turn, 230 members of their social network were surveyed about their communication with the separated women. Responses by women and their social network members were used to describe their frequency of communication, their length of conversations, the reactions of social network members, and the topics discussed before and after separation. Results indicated women established ways of communicating with their social network members before separation which continued after separation. Communication with all social network members increased in length after from before separation. Women's informal social network members, family and friends, played a different role from women's formal social network members, clergy, attorneys, and therapists. Although women talked with informal social network members first and more in-depth than with formal social network members before and after separation, communication with informal social network members changed after separation in two ways. First, women's mothers, sisters, and married friends began to fulfill specific communication needs. Second, men began to be included as individuals women communicated with about their separations. In contrast, women's formal social network members played a peripheral role before separation, but increased in importance after separation. Additionally, women's and social network members' responses were compared to assess differences in how women and their social network members process their communication with each other. Results indicated women and their informal social network members process communication similarly, but women and their formal social network members do not.

Degree

Ph.D.

Subject Area

Families & family life|Personal relationships|Sociology

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