Beyond Jungle Fever: an Exploratory Study of Interracial Couples' Communication Patterns

This thesis is an exploratory study of African American/Anglo interracial couples and how they incorporate communication strategies to define themselves, interact with society, and manage relationships with family, peers, and strangers. As the bulk of interracial literature focuses on quantitative data, this research was conducted using a qualitative research design. Interracial couples were contacted and interviewed separately for this study. Analysis of the data reveals that interracial couples are not significantly different than same-race couples; however, several themes which emerged from the results suggest that these families do have several concerns which are unique to their union. The interracial familial system is a tight-knit group which relies on the familial system for support and specific communication strategies such as humor, anger, protection, and prepping to adjust to their environment.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts in Communication

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Communication

Year

1994

Author dc:creator

• Rebollo, Jean Michelle

Contributors dc:contributor

• Charlene Berquist

• Communication

Statement dc:rights

• © Jean Michelle Rebollo

Repository record dc:identifier

https://bearworks.missouristate.edu/theses/261

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:bearworks.missouristate.edu:theses-1262