Beyond words: rethinking conversation and conformity in the family communication of deaf adolescents

Family communication is central to relational closeness, yet limited research has examined how it operates in families raising deaf adolescents. Guided by the Family Communication Patterns (FCP) framework, this study draws on in-depth interviews with 17 deaf adolescents to explore how conversation and conformity orientations are experienced and enacted in family life. Findings indicate that these orientations function as coordinated rather than oppositional processes. Conversation orientation emerged as multisensory relational openness, expressed through shared activities, emotional attunement, and participatory meaning-making enacted primarily through visual and embodied interaction. Conformity orientation was experienced as moral and protective structuring, communicated through explanation, modeling, encouragement, and shared responsibility. Empathy and communicative adaptation operated as integrative processes that sustained both openness and guidance within everyday interaction. By centering deaf adolescents’ perspectives, this study contextualizes FCP within sensory diversity and highlights adaptive, affective communication as foundational to family harmony.