FAMILY COMMUNICATION PATTERNS AND PROCESSES
Family communication is conceptualized as one of the four structural dimension of the family system, along with the power, decision making, and role structure and the family norms and values (Figure 10-1). These dimensions are intimately interrelated and interdependent. Because the family is a social system, there is continual interaction and feedback between its internal and external environments. A change in one part of the family system in generally followed by a compensatory change in the other internal structural dimensions. Although these dimension are not separable in real life, they will be dealt with individually in the text for heuristic purposes.