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Abstract

Data from interviews with 475 parents (and 84 nonparent controls) of students attending a multiracial/ethnic high school in a major southwestern city were used to test hypotheses about parental school communication. Grunig's situational involvement theory of communication was supported. Passive and active forms of communication were largely explained by the extent to which parents recognized problems at the school, were involved with the problems, and felt constrained from acting effectivety in relation to the problems regardless of racial-ethnic background. Still, the major groups differed in anticipated ways concerning amount of communication, doubtlessly based on historical-cultural experiences.

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Patterns of Communication in a Racial/Ethnic Context

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