Kristen Norwood

Lay Conceptions of “Family”: A Replication and Extension

This study replicates and extends research initiated by Trost (1990). In particular, 181 university students provided perceptual data on the family status of each of 23 structural constellations. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four experimental groups that manipulated two independent variables: the linguistic term used to assess family status (“a family” vs. “family”) and the attributed quantity of communication among constellation members (low vs. high in frequency of interaction). Results indicated that the presence of children, intactness, co-residence of family members, marriage, heterosexuality (but only in the absence of children), and non-fictive union increased perceptions of family status. Across all structural features, the attributed presence of frequent communication increased the perception of family status.

Unbounded Motherhood: Embodying a Good Working Mother Identity

Organizational values demand that working mothers separate the maternal from the professional. Due to the nature of maternity leave in the United States, however, working mothers who are breastfeeding have little choice but to bring motherhood into the workplace. In investigating the ways women navigate this situation, we found that to maintain their reputations as good workers participants practiced bounded motherhood at work, constraining breastfeeding practices to preserve norms of professionalism. However, participants sometimes practiced unbounded motherhood wherein their inter/actions disrupted organizational orders by merging motherhood and work in material ways. This embodiment of a good working mother identity expands the repertoire or action for working mothers and contributes to a re-meaning of the relationship between work and motherhood. This study demonstrates one means for making breastfeeding while working more feasible as well as to how workers’ bodies can be sites of resistance and reinforcement of gendered symbolic orders in organizations.

Narrating Adoption: Resisting Adoption as “Second Best” in Online Stories of Domestic Adoption Told by Adoptive Parents

Framed in narrative theory and relational dialectics theory, one hundred online stories of domestic adoption told by adoptive parents were qualitatively analyzed, revealing four primary discourses of adoption that challenge the idea that adoption is a second-best way to parent. Narrative beginnings were dominated by a discourse of adoption as a valuable alternative to pregnancy. Narrative middles-and-ends featured two discourses of how the adoption process unfolds: adoption as a worthwhile struggle guided by destiny and adoption as a smooth and predictable process. Intertwined with these process-oriented constructions of adoption was a discourse of adoption as communal kinning, which emphasized a hybrid family form comprised of both biological and nonbiological ties.

“Dear Birth Mother”: Addressivity and Meaning-Making in Online Adoption-Seeking Letters

The current study, a qualitative investigation of online letters to domestic birth mothers from adoption-seeking parents, was framed in Relational Dialectics Theory and identified four discursive struggles that animate the meanings of domestic adoption, adoptive parenting, the identity of the birth mother, and the anticipated nature of the adoption triad among the birth mother, the child, and the adoptive parents: adoption as gain versus adoption as loss; adoption as desirable parenting versus parenting as last resort; the birth mother as a good parent versus bad parent; and birth mother autonomy versus interdependence in the adoption triad. The first three discursive struggles were constructed through the discursive practice of the hidden polemic, privileging positively valenced discourses over competing negative discourses. The last discursive struggle was constructed through a more direct interplay and privileged birth mother autonomy.

Narrative Coherence in Online Stories Told by Members of the Adoption Triad

Two hundred ninety-eight online narratives told by adoptive parents, adoptees, and birth mothers were rated for their narrative coherence, which consisted of five dimensions: sequential organization, orientation, causal explanation, congruence of affect with content, and sense-making. Overall, mean ratings across all adoption triad members suggested more incoherence than coherence, but relative differences were found among triad members. Adoptive parents scored the highest on sequential organization, orientation, and causal explanation. Birth mothers scored the highest on congruence of affect with content. Narrative coherence has been systematically correlated in the literature with psychological adjustment, and the implications of the study are discussed for their insights into how well adoption triad members have adjusted to the challenges associated with adoption.

‘I had the luxury . . .’: Organizational breastfeeding support as privatized privilege

To make the combination of breastfeeding and work feasible, women who return to work full time in the USA need some measure of organizational breastfeeding support. Yet, many organizations do not have lactation policies in place, co-worker and supervisor communication can be discouraging, and predominant cultural Discourses in the US position breastfeeding at odds with organizational values, often requiring women to define and negotiate support themselves. Drawing upon Structuration Theory, we analyzed interviews conducted with US women who breastfed and worked to illuminate the meanings they held for breastfeeding and organizational breastfeeding support and how those meanings challenge and reproduce social systems that make breastfeeding and working a potentially difficult combination. We argue that their construction of breastfeeding support as a privatized privilege re/produces cultural Discourses that marginalize women’s bodies in organizations. In order to engender support for all bodies that challenge the borders between public/private, feminine/masculine and personal/professional, meanings must be changed at both macro and micro levels of communication.

Meaning Matters: Framing Trans Identity in the Context of Family Relationships

Disclosure of trans identities has been shown to bring about change in family relationships, yet little is known about how trans identities function as family stressors. The meanings we make for family stressors determine how we experience them and thus are consequential to our well-being (Boss, 1992) as well as to relational outcomes. In this study, I conducted telephone interviews with 37 family members of someone who is trans-identified. Using qualitative, dialogic analysis, I examined the meanings they assigned to trans identity, the complex processes by which they arrived at those meanings, and how meanings fostered or hindered support for their trans relative or partner. Participants constructed trans identity as a medical condition, a natural nuance of gender identity, or a lifestyle choice in light of their allegiance to their trans-identified family members, the possibility of criticism from outsiders, and their own global meaning systems.

Body of Research Impetus, Instrument, and Impediment

The ways our physicality matters as we move through the world in our own bodies of research is often veiled in the body of qualitative research. In this article, we lift the veil, striving to flesh out the body of research on reflexivity by examining how our own researcher bodies have figured into our work. Specifically, we narrate and reflect on ways we have experienced our bodies as (presumed) impetus for, instrument of, and impediment to qualitative research concerning birthing, breastfeeding, and transgender identities. We explore how our insider/outsider bodies made for particularized yet parallel experiences, which together illustrate the complexity of the relationships between researcher, participant, and the creation of knowledge. From this, we suggest that qualitative researchers examine how their bodies/selves might muddy traditional research roles and rules. Finally, we propose Mixed bodies triangulation, as a way to bring together different ways of knowing in embodied, reflexive research.

The Breast Is (Always) for Sex: Breastfeeding Discourse in Response to May 21, 2012 TIME Magazine Cover

Controversial media representations of the female body can reflect, reproduce, and even challenge ideological systems or Discourses (Jones, 2003; Louw, 2001). This article interrogates the discourse surrounding TIME Magazines recent cover regarding attachment parenting, which featured a mother breastfeeding her toddler. The analysis of 1 online comment board shows that, although multiple meanings were present, the talk regarding the cover was overwhelmingly informed by the Discourse of (Hetero)Sexuality, which defines breastfeeding as a sexualized act only appropriate in private and for children of a certain age. This backdrop of sexuality for breastfeeding is significant not only for mothers’ choices and practices regarding nursing, but also for policymakers who seek to support breastfeeding. In addition, the findings reinforce the importance of attending to the interrelations within and between macro- and microlevels of discourse in investigating symbolic systems through which meanings are constructed.

A Woman With a Plan: Recognizing Competencies for Ascent to Administration in Higher Education

Despite progress, women are still disproportionally underrepresented in leadership positions in higher education. Women must contend with a glass ceiling, which we argue is constituted by discourses of impossibility and femininity. These discourses discourage women from recognizing their qualifications, continuing to develop skills, and making a plan that would position them to obtain leadership positions in colleges and universities. Although the problem has been articulated before, little practical information is offered to help women navigate it. To rectify this, we identify and outline competencies needed for advancement in higher education and suggest strategies for recognizing, tracking, and developing relevant skills. Aspiring women leaders need an understanding of the problems that keep them from advancing, an awareness of the competencies needed for administration, practical tactics for acquiring such proficiencies, and a sense that their goals are attainable. In sum, they need a plan