ABSTRACT
The interactions within families are a dance-the movements of one eliciting the responses and actions of the other. Although communicative episodes can elicit emotions such as joy and encouragement, interactions gone awry may also create despair, discouragement, and in some scenarios, abusive situations. To survive within the dark side of family relationships, family members are forced to learn ways to respond to each other that protect themselves and others from abusive episodes. To “fully understand how people function effectively requires us to consider how individuals cope with social interaction that is difficult, problematic, challenging, distressing, and disruptive” (Cupach & Spitzberg, 1994, p. vii). This is especially true in families where adolescents verbally, physically, or emotionally abuse their parents.
