Family Communication Patterns and the Development of Reticence Lynne Kelly, James A. Keaten, Cynthia Finch, Ilze B. Duarte, Patrizia Hoffman, and Margaret M. Michels The primary goal of this investigation was to explore the relationship between family communication patterns and reticence. Students of the Penn State University Reticence Program were asked to complete the Revised Family Communication Patterns instrument (Ritchie & Fitzpatrick, 1990). Results revealed that reticent individuals reported a significantly lower level of conversation orientation within their families than members of a comparison group. Keywords: reticence, family communication patterns, etiology of reticence Introduction As Huang (1999) points out, research has shown that family communication patterns and styles influence children’s attitudes and behaviors in a number of areas. Some recent research, in fact, has begun to demonstrate a connection between family communication patterns and communication problems such as communication apprehension (Elwood & Schrader, 1998; Hsu, 1998), shyness (Huang, 1999) and unwillingness to communicate (Avtgis, 1999). Research in this area is quite limited, however, and no such research has been done for the problem of reticence (Keaten & Kelly, 2000; Phillips, 1997). The present study was done to examine the relationship between reticence and family communication patterns. Research in this area is warranted for two reasons. First, since some research has found an association between family communication and communication anxiety problems (e.g., Avtgis, 1999; Hsu, 1998; Huang, 1999), it appears that this is a fruitful avenue to pursue for the related problem known as reticence. If similar results are obtained, it would be appropriate at that point to design studies able to test for causal relationships to begin to understand the etiology of reticence. Thus far, discussion of etiology of communication anxiety problems in general, and reticence in particular, has been principally speculative (e.g., McCros- key, 1997; Phillips, 1997; Phillips & Metzger, 1973) as others have noted (McCros- key, 1997). Second, as Dwyer (2000) argues, treatment of communication problems is as- sumed to be most effective when it addresses the underlying cause or source of the communication anxiety. Thus, to best serve those who seek help for their communi- cation problems, researchers need to try to better understand the causal factors associated with such problems. Although the present study is not designed to establish causality, it may open the door to further etiological research. Lynne Kelly (Ph.D, Pennsylvania State University, 1982) is a Professor of Communication at University of Hartford, West Hartford, CT 06117. James A. Keaten (Ph.D. Pennsylvania State University, 1991) is an Associate Professor of Speech Communication at University of Northern Colorado. Cynthia Finch (Ph.D. Pennsylvania State University, 1985), Ilze B. Duarte (Ph.D. Pennsylvania State University, 1998), Patrizia Hoffman (Ph.D. Pennsylvania State University, 2000), & Margaret M. Michels ( JD, University of Wiscon- sin, Madison, 1986) are Instructors of Speech Communication Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16801. Communication Education, Vol. 51, No. 2, April 2002, pp. 202–209 Copyright 2002, National Communication Association