Skip Navigation

University of Nebraska–Lincoln

Department of Communication Studies

Communication, Collaboration, Community

Seiler Photo

Dawn O. Braithwaite, Ph.D.

(click above for vita)

Willa Cather Professor and Professor of
Communication Studies
Director of Graduate Studies

424 Oldfather Hall
(402) 472-2239
dbraithwaite1@unl.edu

Education

Ph. D. @ University of Minnesota (1988)
M. A. @ California State University, Long Beach (1980)
B. A. @ California State University, Fullerton (1978)
A. A. @ Golden West College, Huntington Beach, California (1977)

Research Specialties

  • Communication in personal and family relationships
  • Communication in stepfamilies and chosen (fictive) families
  • Communication rituals
  • Dialectical approaches
  • Communication of people who are disabled

Current Projects

  • Stepchildren's communication and perceptions stepfamily formation
  • Communication of stepchildren in stepfamilies
  • Communication with chosen (fictive) kin

Projects/manuscripts in process:

  • Braithwaite, D. O., Bach B. W., Baxter, L. A., Willer, E., Hammonds, J., Nunziata, A., Wolff, B. Communication and chosen/fictive kin families.
  • McBride, M. C., & Braithwaite, D. O. Managing private information: Face issues in interacting with family about romantic relationships.

Manuscripts Under Review

  • Durham, W. T., & Braithwaite, D. O. (2006). Communication privacy management within the family planning trajectories of voluntarily child-free couples. Journal of Family Communication. (Revise & resubmit)
  • Schrodt, P., Soliz, J., & Braithwaite, D. O. A social relations model of everyday talk and relational satisfaction in stepfamilies. Under review, Communication Monographs.
  • Baxter, L. A., Braithwaite, D. O., Kellas, J., LeClair-Underberg, C., Lamb-Normand , E. Routsong, T., Thatcher, M.. Empty ritual: young-adult stepchildren's perceptions of the remarriage ceremony. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.
  • Toller, O., & Braithwaite, D. O. (2007) Grieving together and apart: Bereaved parents' contradictions of marital interaction. Under Review: Journal of Applied Communication Research.

Recent Activities

Seiler Photo
  • Elected National Communication Assocition (NCA) Second Vice President (President in 2010)
  • Received Bernard J. Brommel Award for Outstanding Scholarship/Service in Family Communication, National Communication Association, (2006)
  • Director, National Communication Association Research Board (2005-2007)
  • Member, National Communication Association Executive Committee (2005-2007)
  • Board of Directors, Consortium of Social Science Associations (COSSA) (2005-2007)

Dr. Braithwaite receiving
Brommel Award at NCA
2006 (with Dr. Bill Seiler)

Publications/in press

  • Schrodt, P. Braithwaite, D. O., Soliz, J., Tye-Williams, S., Miller, A., Lamb, E., & Marko M. (in press). An examination of everyday talk in stepfamily systems. Western Journal of Communication.
  • Braithwaite, D. O., Toller, P., Daas, K., Durham, W. & Jones, A. (in press). Centered, but not caught in the middle: Stepchildren's perceptions of contradictions of communication of co-parents. Journal of Applied Communication Research.
  • Schrodt, P., Baxter, L. A., McBride, C., Braithwaite, D. O., & Fine, M. A. (2006). The divorce decree, communication, and the structuration of co-parenting relationships in stepfamilies. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 23, 741-759.
  • Braithwaite, D. O., & Baxter, L. A. (2006). "You're my parent but you're not": Dialectical tensions in stepchildren's perceptions about communicating with the nonresidential parent. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 34, 30-48.
  • Baxter, L. A., Braithwaite, D. O., & Bryant, L. (2006). Types of communication triads perceived by young-adult stepchildren in established stepfamilies. Communication Studies, 57, 381-400.
  • Baxter, L. A, Braithwaite, D. O., Bryant, L., & Wagner, A. (2004). Stepchildren's perceptions of the contradictions in communication with stepparents. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 21, 447-467.
  • Olson, L. N., & Braithwaite, D. O. (2004). "If you hit me again, I'll hit you back": Verbal and nonverbal conflict management strategies of individuals experiencing aggression during conflicts. Communication Studies, 55, 271-285.
  • Braithwaite, D. O., McBride, M. C., & Schrodt, P. (2003). Parent teams and the everyday interactions of co-parenting children in stepfamilies. Communication Reports, 16, 93-111.
  • Braithwaite, D. O., & Eckstein, N. (2003). Reconceptualizing supportive interactions: How persons with disabilities communicatively manage assistance. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 31, 1-26.
  • Braithwaite, D. O. (2003). Renewal of wedding vows. In J. J. Ponzetti (Ed.), The international encyclopedia of marriage and the family relationships (2 nd. Ed.), pp. 1325-1327. New York: Macmillan Reference USA.
  • Baxter, L. A., Braithwaite, D. O., Golish, T .D., & Olson, L. N. (2002). Contradictions of interaction for wives of husbands with adult dementia. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 29, 221-247.
  • Braithwaite, D. O. (2002). "Married widowhood": Maintaining couplehood when one spouse is living in a nursing home. Southern Communication Journal, 67, 160-179.
  • Baxter L. A. & Braithwaite, D. O. (2002). Performing marriage: Marriage renewal rituals as cultural performance. Southern Communication Journal, 67, 94-109.
  • Braithwaite, D. O., Olson, L., Golish, T., Soukup, C., & Turman, P. (2001). "Becoming a family": Developmental processes represented in blended family discourse. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 29, 221-247.
  • Braithwaite, D. O. (2001). 2001 Presidential address: Do more with more. Western Journal of Communication, 65, 442-445.

Books

  • Baxter, L. A., & Braithwaite, D. O. (forthcoming, 2008). Engaging theories in interpersonal communication: Multiple perspectives. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Braithwaite, D. O., & Baxter, L. A. (Eds.) (2006). Engaging theories in family communication: Multiple perspectives. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
  • Braithwaite, D. O. & Wood, J. T. (Eds). (2000) Case studies in interpersonal communication: Processes and problems. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing.
  • Braithwaite, D. O. & Thompson, T. L. (Eds). (2000) Handbook of communication and people with disabilities: Research and application. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.

Chapters in books/Proceedings

  • Braithwaite, D. O., & Baxter, L. A. (forthcoming). Commentary: Evolving caregiving roles and relationships. In Thomas J. Socha & Glen H. Stamp (Eds.), Parents and children communicating with society: Exploring communication in parents' and children's
  • Bergen, K. M., & Braithwaite, D. O. (forthcoming). Relational dynamics and identity. In W. F. Eadie (Ed.), 21st Century Communication. Thousand Oaks, Ca: Sage.
  • Baxter, L. A., & Braithwaite, D. O. (forthcoming). Centering the social in interpersonal communication. In S. W. Smith & S. R. Wilson (Eds.), New directions in interpersonal communication. Thousand Oaks CA. Sage.
  • Baxter, L. A., & Braithwaite, D. O. (forthcoming). A dialogic rethinking of (un)certainty, self-disclosure, and information regulation. In Tamara Afifi & Walid Afifi (Eds.), Handbook of uncertainty and information regulation. NY: Erlbaum/Routledge.
  • Metts, S., Braithwaite, D.O., Fine, M., (forthcoming) Feeling hurt in post-divorce relationships. In A. Vangelisti (Ed). Feeling hurt in close relationships. Cambridge University Press.
  • Braithwaite, D.O., & Baxter, L.A. (forthcoming). Introduction: Meta-theory and theory in interpersonal communication research. In. D.O. Braithwaite & L.A. Baxter (Eds.), Engaging theories in interpersonal communication: Multiple perspectives. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage.
  • Baxter, L.A., & Braithwaite, D.O. (forthcoming). Relational dialectics theory: Discursive things that go bump in the night. In D.O. Braithwaite & L.A. Baxter (Eds.), Engaging theories in interpersonal communication: Multiple perspectives. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
  • Braithwaite, D.O. & Braithwaite, C.A. (forthcoming). Cultural communication of people with disabilities. In L.A. Samovar & R. Porter, (Eds.), Intercultural communication: A reader, 12th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
  • Baxter, L. A., & Braithwaite, D. O. (in press). Social dialectics: The contradictions of relating. In B. Whaley & W. Samter (Eds.). Contemporary communication theories and exemplars Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
  • Braithwaite, D.O. & Baxter, L.A. (2006). Rituals as communication constituting families. In L. Turner & R. West (Eds.). Contemporary communcation theories and exemplars. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
  • Braithwaite, D.O., & Baxter, L.A. (2006). Introduction: Meta-theory and theory in interpersonal communication research. In. D.O. Braithwaite & L.A. Baxter (Eds.), Engaging theories in interpersonal communication: Multiple perspectives. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage
  • Braithwaite, D. O., Schrodt, P., & Baxter, L. A. (2006). Communication in stepfamily relationships: Understudied and misunderstood. In K. Floyd & M. T. Morman (Eds.), Widening the family circle: New research on family communication. (pp. 153-170) Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
  • Braithwaite, D. O., Schrodt, P. & Koenig Kellas, J. (2006). Symbolic convergence theory: Communication and symbolic convergence in families. In D. O. Braithwaite & L. A. Baxter (Eds.), Engaging theories in family communication: Multiple perspectives (pp. 146-161). Thousand Oaks CA: Sage.
  • Braithwaite, D. O. & Kellas, J. (2006). Shopping with friends: Everyday communication at the shopping mall. In J. T. Wood and S. Duck (Eds.). Composing relationships: Communication in everyday life (pp. 86-95). Belmont CA: Wadsworth.
  • Braithwaite, D. O., & Japp, P. (2005). "They make us miserable in the name of helping us": Communication between people with disabilities and nondisabled others. In E. B. Ray (Ed.), Health Communication in practice: A case study approach (pp. 171-179). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
  • Braithwaite, D. O. & Braithwaite, C. A. (2005). "Which is my good leg?": Cultural communication of people with disabilities. In L. A. Samovar & R. Porter, (Eds.), Intercultural communication: A reader, 11th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
  • Braithwaite, D. O. & Braithwaite, C. A. (2003). "Which is my good leg?": Cultural communication of people with disabilities. In L. A. Samovar & R. Porter, (Eds.), Intercultural communication: A reader, 10th ed. (pp. 165-176). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Service/Administrative Activities

  • Past President, Western States Communication Association (2000-01)
  • Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Communication Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
  • Research Board, National Communication Association

Editorial Boards

  • Personal Relationships
  • Review of Communication
  • Journal of Family Communication

Undergraduate Classes Taught at UNL

  • Interpersonal Communication
  • Family Communication
  • Small Group Communication
  • Communication Theory

Graduate Classes Taught at UNL