Interpersonal Communication- A Mindful Approach to Relationships, 2020a

The fifth trait of a family deals with economic cooperation, or the general pooling of family resources for
the benefit of the entire family. Economic cooperation is typically thought of in the context of nuclear
families, but in commuter families both units typically pool their resources in order to keep both living
establishments operational. Even though the family is unable to live together, the funds from both parties
are used for the proper upkeep and maintenance of each location. In many instances, overseas military
men and women will send their paychecks to their families back in the States because they will not
need the money while they are out at sea or abroad, and their families still have bills that must get paid.
Economic cooperation allows families who have dual earners to establish a more egalitarian relationship
between the spouses since no one person is seen as the worker and the other as the non-worker.
Children
The sixth component of the definition of a family deals with children as a part of a family. Many
researchers (Burgess, 1926; Murdock, 1949; Bailey, 1988) have said that for a family to exist, it must have
offspring. 12 This would mean that a couple who is infertile and only wants to raise children if they are
biologically related would not be considered a family. This also prevents couples who do not desire to
have children from achieving a family status. There are many unions of people who are not able to have
children or do not desire to have children who are clearly families.
The seventh characteristic of a family deals with the need for the family to establish boundaries. Family
boundaries is a concept that stems from family systems theory. According to Janet Beavin Bavelas and
Lynn Segal, boundaries are those aspects of a family that prevent the family from venturing beyond the
family unit. 13 Boundaries function as a means for a family to determine the size and the scope of family
interactions with the greater system or society. The family can let information into the family or exclude it
from the family.
An example of this can be seen in religious parents/guardians who are coming to terms with the fact
that their son is gay. These parents/guardians often reject information from the family system that would
indicate that homosexuality is natural. In this example, the parents/guardians draw an informational
boundary and refuse to let information that could contradict their position into the family system. Also,
families do not function entirely in conjunction with the system of which they are a part. Families must
filter information or risk information overload. Families have naturally occurring and created boundaries
that decide how a family should and should not operate. Many families create boundaries that deal with
religious discussion, or they do not allow for any rejection of the family’s religious beliefs on any level.
This is an example of a boundary that a family can create. Conversely, there are boundaries that a family
must respect because of societal laws. Understanding these boundaries is necessary because it allows the
researcher a greater understanding of the context in which the family lives.
The eighth, and final, trait of a family, mutual affection, deals with the concept of love and trust that a
family tends to possess to help them journey through conflict situations. Mutual affection also means that
an individual must have a desire to be within the family or possess the freedom to leave the family system
when they are of age. Families are not coercive entities but entities in which all participants can freely
make personal decisions to belong. Leaving the family system does not guarantee that a member of a
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Interpersonal Communication