Loreen N. Olson is an Associate Professor of Communication Studies at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. Elizabeth A. Baiocchi-Wagner is Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Missouri-ColumbiaJessica M. W. Kratzer is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Speech and Theatre at Middle Tennessee State UniversitySarah E. Symonds is a doctoral candidate at the University of Missouri-Columbia

• List of Tables and FiguresPrologueChapter 1: Conceptualizing the "Dark Side" of Family CommunicationChapter 2: Individual Influence on the Darkness of Family CommunicationChapter 3: The Dark Side of Dyadic Family LifeChapter 4: Familial Interaction Structure and the Dark SideChapter 5: Dark Family Communication in a Context of Darkness's Sociocultural Influences on Family LifeChapter 6: Concluding ThoughtsBibliographyIndex

"In this volume Loreen N. Olson, Elizabeth A. Baiocchi-Wagner, Jessica M. W. Kratzer, and Sarah E. Symonds shed much needed light on the dark side of family communication. By unearthing the layers of familial relating to reveal numerous caverns of darkness, they generate new landscapes for students and scholars of the dark side and family communication."Erin Willer, University of Denver "Much has been written on the ‘dark side' of communication. This is the first book actually to define what dark communication is, explain how it forms, identify what effect it has, recommend how to ‘brighten it,' and tie all this together in a Darkness Model of Family Communication."Dudley Cahn, SUNY at New Paltz