ABSTRACT
To determine which theories guide family communication research, 430 articles published in nine communication studies journals over a ten-year time frame were reviewed. There were 524 references to a theory or theoretical perspective with 14 theories used in five or more articles. The most prevalent theories were family communication patterns theory (n = 52), communication privacy management theory (n = 34), and relational dialectics theory (n = 33). The most common research perspective was the empiricist perspective (56.5%) followed by the interpretive perspective (36.5%) and the critical perspective (7%). The results demonstrated an increase in interpretive studies and a decline in empirical studies from the first to the third editions of the handbook. There has also been a decline in the number of theories only cited once or twice during the review time frame indicating less theory shopping among family communication researchers. Exemplar research articles were profiled to demonstrate and illustrate successful theory writing practices in family communication research including (a) the clear identification of theories in the manuscript, (b) theory as a meaningful foundation in the review of literature, and (c) theory connections/extensions in the findings and discussion.
