Larry R Nelson
Biographic Data
| ID | 656230 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Larry R Nelson |
| GIVEN NAMES | Larry R |
| FAMILY NAME | Nelson |
| SIGNATURE | NELSON L R |
| AFFILIATIONS | California Polytechnic State University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4478-2975 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 21 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 76 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 21 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1993 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Memorable Messages About Racism in Black Families
“Damage control”
Guided by the communicated sense-making (CSM) theoretical model (Koenig Kellas, J., & Kranstuber Horstman, H. (2015). Communicated narrative sense-making: Understanding family narratives, storytelling, and the construction of meaning through a communicative lens. In L. H. Turner, & R. West (Eds.), The sage handbook of family communication (2nd ed, pp. 76–90). Sage), the current study explored foster parent–child sense-making within conversations …
“Look at them… wasting that good, White skin”
Grounded in social constructionism, the present study explored messages Black adults received about White folx and White privilege from family members in childhood and beyond. We conducted retrospective interviews with 19 self-identifying Black adults. Four primary themes emerged from participants’ accounts: (1) Black folx must work harder than White folx, (2) Black folx must be respectful to White folx, (3) Black folx must be cautious when datin…
Introduction to the Special Issue on Communication in Black Families
This special issue is comprised of six peer-reviewed, empirical articles focused on communication and socialization in Black families. These articles collectively explore how Black families: (a) navigate experiences of police brutality, (b) manage grief after loss, (c) engage in racial, gender, and sexual socialization of children, and (d) make sense of Black motherhood. Each article is theoretically driven and methodologically robust, offering i…
The relationship between Black racial identity, military identity, and postdeployment reintegration of Black male veterans
Given the increasing rate of military service members who experience mental health issues during reintegration into civilian culture, the need for counselors who specialize in postdeployment reintegration practices for Black men persists. Moreover, a nuanced approach to understanding how best to provide culturally competent support in therapeutic contexts for Black male veterans, a psychologically vulnerable population due to historical experienc…
Communication Privacy Management in Open Adoption Relationships
Open adoption relationships are rife with privacy dilemmas and fuzzy boundaries, which require ongoing coordination of private disclosures as a result. The present study employed communication privacy management (CPM) theory to examine adoptive parents’ ( N = 354) private disclosures with the birth family across in-person and mediated (i.e., texting and social media) contexts. SEM analysis revealed that adoptive families who were more private and…
Communicatively Constructing Godparenthood
Although the godparent-godchild relationship is a centuries-old practice that creates a meaningful intergenerational bond, research on godparenthood is in its infancy. The current study examined godparent relational maintenance behaviors to provide an introductory glimpse into this relationship. Godchildren (N= 151) reported on their godparents’ relational maintenance behaviors. Assurances, social networks, and self-disclosure emerged as the most…
Setting the Agenda
Despite decades of research and multiple calls to diversify family communication scholarship, scant attention has been devoted to exploring communication in Black families. Recent events of civil unrest and racial injustice signify a continued need to address systemic racism in U.S. Black Americans’ lives today, threatening their physical, mental, social, and economic well-being. We contend that family communication scholars can play an essential…
Discourses and Themes in Adoption and Child Welfare Policies and Practices in the U.S. throughout the 19th and 20th Centuries
The current paper uncovered the pertinent discourses and themes of and about adoption in the United States throughout the following time periods: 1850-1919, 1920-1959, 1960-1979, and 1980-present. Emergent discourses were placed in their historical context(s) and served to illuminate the conversations and movements that informed prominent adoption discourses, policies, and best practices throughout history. Through illuminating salient discourse …
Communicatively Constructing Birth Family Relationships in Open Adoptive Families
Open adoption (i.e., involving ongoing communication between birth and adoptive families) has become the predominant form of private domestic adoption. As such, an understanding of the communicative structures that create and sustain these families is needed. Grounded in discourse dependent family theorizing, we explored open adoptive parents’ (n = 298) construction of the birth family relationship through naming and connecting. Thematic analysis…
The Evolving Nature and Process of Foster Family Communication
In the current article I call for a better understanding of the process and evolution of foster family communication across the life span. First, I expose the communicative complexities of foster families. Second, I illuminate the importance of communication openness and birth family contact in both adoptive and foster family contexts. Third, through an application of the family adoption communication (FAC) model, I propose a framework for unders…
Becoming a Transracial Family
Guided by intergroup and discourse dependence theorizing, the present study explored how divergent identities are communicatively negotiated in transracial adoptive families. Specifically, we examined how adoptive parents’ understandings of their child’s race and culture changed after adopting transracially and how adoptive parents navigated racial and cultural differences through talk. Results from 21 interviews revealed that adoptive parents re…
Sex in College Relationships
The purpose of this study was to determine whether emerging adults use relationship television to form their expectations for sexual interaction in romantic relationships. Considering emerging adulthood is a unique period of development providing opportunities to experiment with adult identities, and relationship television contains multiple consistent messages about gender roles in sexual relationships, we questioned whether emerging adults’ rel…
Accent, Gender, and Perceived Competence
Those who use non-indigenous accented speech often experience prejudice and discrimination, and in the United States, those speaking with Spanish accents are likely to be impacted. In research on speaker perceptions by type of accent, however, the gender of the speaker or of the perceiver has received less attention. In the present study, the impact of accent (North American- vs. Spanish-accented English), gender of speaker, and gender of rater o…
She chose us to be your parents
Guided by narrative theorizing, the current study investigated the content and process of telling adoption entrance narratives (AENs)-or the story of how the child was born, placed for adoption, and integrated into their family-in open adoptive families. Thematic analysis of 165 adoptive parents' (mostly mothers) AENs revealed six emergent themes: birth parents as family, chosen parents, forever, rescue, fate, and adoption makes us family. Struct…
Unfolding narrative meaning over time
Recent narrative theorizing suggests that humans process their difficult experiences by not only creating stories—called individual narrative sense-making (NSM)—but also by telling those stories with others—called communicated narrative sense-making (CNSM). The present study investigated the relationship between individual and communicated NSM to understand the effects of interpersonal communication on intrapersonal meaning-making and well-being.…
Communicatively Managing Religious Identity Difference in Parent-Child Relationships
Guided by Communication Accommodation Theory, we examine the communicative management of religious difference in parent-child relationships. Using survey data from emerging adults (N = 409), we found that religious difference is associated with decreases in relational satisfaction and shared family identity. Further, parents’ religious communication has the potential to promote relational well-being. Accommodative communication (religious-specifi…
A History of Jonathan Alder
Speaking under gum trees with palmtops
Late in 1989 an article in Australian Personal Computer magazine detailed the imminent release of an all solid-state laptop computer which would run for hours on ordinary pen-light cells (AA batteries). The computer, a PSION MC-400, was to support digital audio, and, to this end, came with a microphone and speaker built in. The digital audio unit itself was to be made available at a later date, and would be designed to install in the MC-400 much …
Developing and distributing audio applications with Visual Basic and ToolBook
Visual Basic and ToolBook are powerful environments for developing software, and both support multimedia applications. This paper compares the capabilities of these systems for developing interactive audio applications, and finds that, as always, there are trade-offs to consider. ToolBook provides an environment more akin to that of an authoring system, but is not as parsimonious as Visual Basic when it comes to preparing executable files for dis…
Creating and using digital audio files under the Windows operating environment
Macintosh and Amiga users have had good sound playback facilities for years; recent models of the Mac have recording capabilities as well. While sound boards for MS DOS PCs have been around for quite some time, audio formatting standards have been nonexistent, and memory restrictions have placed severe limits on the amount of sound which can be recorded. The advent of Windows has changed things. This paper suggests that PCs with Windows are capab…
Setting the Agenda
Despite decades of research and multiple calls to diversify family communication scholarship, scant attention has been devoted to exploring communication in Black families. Recent events of civil unrest and racial injustice signify a continued need to address systemic racism in U.S. Black Americans’ lives today, threatening their physical, mental, social, and economic well-being. We contend that family communication scholars can play an essential…
She chose us to be your parents
Guided by narrative theorizing, the current study investigated the content and process of telling adoption entrance narratives (AENs)-or the story of how the child was born, placed for adoption, and integrated into their family-in open adoptive families. Thematic analysis of 165 adoptive parents' (mostly mothers) AENs revealed six emergent themes: birth parents as family, chosen parents, forever, rescue, fate, and adoption makes us family. Struct…
Accent, Gender, and Perceived Competence
Those who use non-indigenous accented speech often experience prejudice and discrimination, and in the United States, those speaking with Spanish accents are likely to be impacted. In research on speaker perceptions by type of accent, however, the gender of the speaker or of the perceiver has received less attention. In the present study, the impact of accent (North American- vs. Spanish-accented English), gender of speaker, and gender of rater o…
Communicatively Managing Religious Identity Difference in Parent-Child Relationships
Guided by Communication Accommodation Theory, we examine the communicative management of religious difference in parent-child relationships. Using survey data from emerging adults (N = 409), we found that religious difference is associated with decreases in relational satisfaction and shared family identity. Further, parents’ religious communication has the potential to promote relational well-being. Accommodative communication (religious-specifi…
Unfolding narrative meaning over time
Recent narrative theorizing suggests that humans process their difficult experiences by not only creating stories—called individual narrative sense-making (NSM)—but also by telling those stories with others—called communicated narrative sense-making (CNSM). The present study investigated the relationship between individual and communicated NSM to understand the effects of interpersonal communication on intrapersonal meaning-making and well-being.…
Becoming a Transracial Family
Guided by intergroup and discourse dependence theorizing, the present study explored how divergent identities are communicatively negotiated in transracial adoptive families. Specifically, we examined how adoptive parents’ understandings of their child’s race and culture changed after adopting transracially and how adoptive parents navigated racial and cultural differences through talk. Results from 21 interviews revealed that adoptive parents re…
Communicatively Constructing Birth Family Relationships in Open Adoptive Families
Open adoption (i.e., involving ongoing communication between birth and adoptive families) has become the predominant form of private domestic adoption. As such, an understanding of the communicative structures that create and sustain these families is needed. Grounded in discourse dependent family theorizing, we explored open adoptive parents’ (n = 298) construction of the birth family relationship through naming and connecting. Thematic analysis…
Sex in College Relationships
The purpose of this study was to determine whether emerging adults use relationship television to form their expectations for sexual interaction in romantic relationships. Considering emerging adulthood is a unique period of development providing opportunities to experiment with adult identities, and relationship television contains multiple consistent messages about gender roles in sexual relationships, we questioned whether emerging adults’ rel…
Memorable Messages About Racism in Black Families
Introduction to the Special Issue on Communication in Black Families
This special issue is comprised of six peer-reviewed, empirical articles focused on communication and socialization in Black families. These articles collectively explore how Black families: (a) navigate experiences of police brutality, (b) manage grief after loss, (c) engage in racial, gender, and sexual socialization of children, and (d) make sense of Black motherhood. Each article is theoretically driven and methodologically robust, offering i…
The relationship between Black racial identity, military identity, and postdeployment reintegration of Black male veterans
Given the increasing rate of military service members who experience mental health issues during reintegration into civilian culture, the need for counselors who specialize in postdeployment reintegration practices for Black men persists. Moreover, a nuanced approach to understanding how best to provide culturally competent support in therapeutic contexts for Black male veterans, a psychologically vulnerable population due to historical experienc…
Communicatively Constructing Godparenthood
Although the godparent-godchild relationship is a centuries-old practice that creates a meaningful intergenerational bond, research on godparenthood is in its infancy. The current study examined godparent relational maintenance behaviors to provide an introductory glimpse into this relationship. Godchildren (N= 151) reported on their godparents’ relational maintenance behaviors. Assurances, social networks, and self-disclosure emerged as the most…
Creating and using digital audio files under the Windows operating environment
Macintosh and Amiga users have had good sound playback facilities for years; recent models of the Mac have recording capabilities as well. While sound boards for MS DOS PCs have been around for quite some time, audio formatting standards have been nonexistent, and memory restrictions have placed severe limits on the amount of sound which can be recorded. The advent of Windows has changed things. This paper suggests that PCs with Windows are capab…
Developing and distributing audio applications with Visual Basic and ToolBook
Visual Basic and ToolBook are powerful environments for developing software, and both support multimedia applications. This paper compares the capabilities of these systems for developing interactive audio applications, and finds that, as always, there are trade-offs to consider. ToolBook provides an environment more akin to that of an authoring system, but is not as parsimonious as Visual Basic when it comes to preparing executable files for dis…
Speaking under gum trees with palmtops
Late in 1989 an article in Australian Personal Computer magazine detailed the imminent release of an all solid-state laptop computer which would run for hours on ordinary pen-light cells (AA batteries). The computer, a PSION MC-400, was to support digital audio, and, to this end, came with a microphone and speaker built in. The digital audio unit itself was to be made available at a later date, and would be designed to install in the MC-400 much …
A History of Jonathan Alder
Communicatively Managing Religious Identity Difference in Parent-Child Relationships
Guided by Communication Accommodation Theory, we examine the communicative management of religious difference in parent-child relationships. Using survey data from emerging adults (N = 409), we found that religious difference is associated with decreases in relational satisfaction and shared family identity. Further, parents’ religious communication has the potential to promote relational well-being. Accommodative communication (religious-specifi…
Unfolding narrative meaning over time
Recent narrative theorizing suggests that humans process their difficult experiences by not only creating stories—called individual narrative sense-making (NSM)—but also by telling those stories with others—called communicated narrative sense-making (CNSM). The present study investigated the relationship between individual and communicated NSM to understand the effects of interpersonal communication on intrapersonal meaning-making and well-being.…
Sex in College Relationships
The purpose of this study was to determine whether emerging adults use relationship television to form their expectations for sexual interaction in romantic relationships. Considering emerging adulthood is a unique period of development providing opportunities to experiment with adult identities, and relationship television contains multiple consistent messages about gender roles in sexual relationships, we questioned whether emerging adults’ rel…
Accent, Gender, and Perceived Competence
Those who use non-indigenous accented speech often experience prejudice and discrimination, and in the United States, those speaking with Spanish accents are likely to be impacted. In research on speaker perceptions by type of accent, however, the gender of the speaker or of the perceiver has received less attention. In the present study, the impact of accent (North American- vs. Spanish-accented English), gender of speaker, and gender of rater o…
She chose us to be your parents
Guided by narrative theorizing, the current study investigated the content and process of telling adoption entrance narratives (AENs)-or the story of how the child was born, placed for adoption, and integrated into their family-in open adoptive families. Thematic analysis of 165 adoptive parents' (mostly mothers) AENs revealed six emergent themes: birth parents as family, chosen parents, forever, rescue, fate, and adoption makes us family. Struct…
The Evolving Nature and Process of Foster Family Communication
In the current article I call for a better understanding of the process and evolution of foster family communication across the life span. First, I expose the communicative complexities of foster families. Second, I illuminate the importance of communication openness and birth family contact in both adoptive and foster family contexts. Third, through an application of the family adoption communication (FAC) model, I propose a framework for unders…
Becoming a Transracial Family
Guided by intergroup and discourse dependence theorizing, the present study explored how divergent identities are communicatively negotiated in transracial adoptive families. Specifically, we examined how adoptive parents’ understandings of their child’s race and culture changed after adopting transracially and how adoptive parents navigated racial and cultural differences through talk. Results from 21 interviews revealed that adoptive parents re…
Communicatively Constructing Birth Family Relationships in Open Adoptive Families
Open adoption (i.e., involving ongoing communication between birth and adoptive families) has become the predominant form of private domestic adoption. As such, an understanding of the communicative structures that create and sustain these families is needed. Grounded in discourse dependent family theorizing, we explored open adoptive parents’ (n = 298) construction of the birth family relationship through naming and connecting. Thematic analysis…
Discourses and Themes in Adoption and Child Welfare Policies and Practices in the U.S. throughout the 19th and 20th Centuries
The current paper uncovered the pertinent discourses and themes of and about adoption in the United States throughout the following time periods: 1850-1919, 1920-1959, 1960-1979, and 1980-present. Emergent discourses were placed in their historical context(s) and served to illuminate the conversations and movements that informed prominent adoption discourses, policies, and best practices throughout history. Through illuminating salient discourse …
Communicatively Constructing Godparenthood
Although the godparent-godchild relationship is a centuries-old practice that creates a meaningful intergenerational bond, research on godparenthood is in its infancy. The current study examined godparent relational maintenance behaviors to provide an introductory glimpse into this relationship. Godchildren (N= 151) reported on their godparents’ relational maintenance behaviors. Assurances, social networks, and self-disclosure emerged as the most…
Setting the Agenda
Despite decades of research and multiple calls to diversify family communication scholarship, scant attention has been devoted to exploring communication in Black families. Recent events of civil unrest and racial injustice signify a continued need to address systemic racism in U.S. Black Americans’ lives today, threatening their physical, mental, social, and economic well-being. We contend that family communication scholars can play an essential…
Communication Privacy Management in Open Adoption Relationships
Open adoption relationships are rife with privacy dilemmas and fuzzy boundaries, which require ongoing coordination of private disclosures as a result. The present study employed communication privacy management (CPM) theory to examine adoptive parents’ ( N = 354) private disclosures with the birth family across in-person and mediated (i.e., texting and social media) contexts. SEM analysis revealed that adoptive families who were more private and…
“Look at them… wasting that good, White skin”
Grounded in social constructionism, the present study explored messages Black adults received about White folx and White privilege from family members in childhood and beyond. We conducted retrospective interviews with 19 self-identifying Black adults. Four primary themes emerged from participants’ accounts: (1) Black folx must work harder than White folx, (2) Black folx must be respectful to White folx, (3) Black folx must be cautious when datin…
Introduction to the Special Issue on Communication in Black Families
This special issue is comprised of six peer-reviewed, empirical articles focused on communication and socialization in Black families. These articles collectively explore how Black families: (a) navigate experiences of police brutality, (b) manage grief after loss, (c) engage in racial, gender, and sexual socialization of children, and (d) make sense of Black motherhood. Each article is theoretically driven and methodologically robust, offering i…
The relationship between Black racial identity, military identity, and postdeployment reintegration of Black male veterans
Given the increasing rate of military service members who experience mental health issues during reintegration into civilian culture, the need for counselors who specialize in postdeployment reintegration practices for Black men persists. Moreover, a nuanced approach to understanding how best to provide culturally competent support in therapeutic contexts for Black male veterans, a psychologically vulnerable population due to historical experienc…
“Damage control”
Guided by the communicated sense-making (CSM) theoretical model (Koenig Kellas, J., & Kranstuber Horstman, H. (2015). Communicated narrative sense-making: Understanding family narratives, storytelling, and the construction of meaning through a communicative lens. In L. H. Turner, & R. West (Eds.), The sage handbook of family communication (2nd ed, pp. 76–90). Sage), the current study explored foster parent–child sense-making within conversations …
Memorable Messages About Racism in Black Families
Psychology (16 works) · Social Psychology (16 works) · Social Psychology (12 works) · Sociology (12 works) · Attachment and Relationship Dynamics (11 works) · Gender Studies (8 works) · Child Welfare and Adoption (7 works) · Developmental psychology (7 works) · Gender Studies (7 works) · Computer Science (6 works)