Abstract

At the close of the 20th century, organizational development specialist Peter Vaill (1996) asserted that living in a world of “permanent white water,” a complex, turbulent, competitive environment, necessitates lifelong learning. Fourteen years later he re-emphasized the ongoing need to manage surprising, novel, and obtrusive events (Vaill, Bunker & Santana, 2010). Twenty-first century family communication scholarship represents a shift from an early, extensive focus on marital interaction to a broad range of research questions. The rapidly evolving nature of families and their environments challenge communication scholars to continually explore new directions.