BOOKS 

 

Schrodt, P., Scharp, K. M., & Braithwaite, D. O. (under contract) Engaging theories in interpersonal communication: Multiple perspectives (4th Ed.). Routledge 

 

Aldridge, A., Golsan, K. Scharp, K. M., & Spates, S. (2026). Reconciliation: The final step in achieving nonviolent social change. Cognella

 

Doerfel, M. L., Theiss, J. A., Venetis, M. K., & Scharp, K. M. (2026). Handbook of communication and resilience. Routledge

 

TEXTBOOKS 

 

Scharp, K. M., & Dorrance Hall, E. (2024). How to conduct communication research: Qualitative and quantitative methods. Cognella.

 

Floyd, K., Schrodt, P., Erbert, L. A., & Scharp, K. M. (2022/3rd edition under contract). Exploring communication theory: Making sense of us. Taylor & Francis.

 

Dorrance Hall, E., & Scharp, K. M. (2020/2nd edition under contract). Communication in family contexts: Applying theories and processes to family relationships. Wiley-Blackwell.

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PEER–REVIEWED RESEARCH ARTICLES 

 

*undergraduate student 

**graduate student

 

**Nolan-Cody, H., & Scharp, K. M. (in press). Theorizing the relationship between identity and uncertainty management. Communication Monographs (Advanced Online Publication).

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Ray, C. D., Scharp, K. M., **Parker, E., & **Donohoe, D. (2025). Withholding social support because those in need do not deserve it: A thematic narrative analysis Communication Research, 52(3), 316–345. https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502221146629

 

Scharp, K. M., **Alvarez, C. F., **Wolfe, B. H., Lannutti, P., & Bryant, L. (2024). Overcoming obstacles by enacting resilience: How queer adolescents respond to being estranged from their parents. Communication Research, 51(3), 335–361. https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502221142175

 

Hintz. E. A., & Scharp, K. M. (2024). Theory of communicative (dis)enfranchisement: Introduction, explication, and application. Journal of Communication, 74(2), 89–100. https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqae002

 

**Nolan Cody, H., & Scharp, K. M. (2024). Understanding individual and sibling communal communicative resilience enactments when parents have a substance abuse problem. Journal of Communication, 74(2), 145–159.https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqae001

 

**Wolfe, B. H., & Scharp, K. M. (2023). The (in)curable disease? Making meaning of addiction from the perspective of recovering opioid users. Health Communication, 38(13), 2936–2944. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2022.2128157

 

Hintz, E. A., & Scharp, K. M. (2023). “I hate all the children, especially mine”: Applying relational dialectics theory to examine the experiences of childfree regretful parents. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 40(11), 3781–3799.  https://doi.org/10.1177/02654075231194363

 

Scharp, K. M., **Alvarez, C. F., & Barker, B. (2023). Conceptualizing other-resilience: Exploring how hearing parents enact resilience for themselves and their children who use cochlear implants. Human Communication Research,49(4), 345–360.  https://doi.org/10.1093/hcr/hqad015

 

Dorrance Hall, E., **Campbell, N., **Carlisle, M., **Lance, E., **Ma, M., & Scharp, K. M. (2023). Development and validation of a family member marginalization measure (FM3): Difference, disapproval, and exclusion dimensions. Western Journal of Communication, 87(4), 509­–534. https://doi.org/10.1080/10570314.2022.2142917

 

Scharp, K. M., **Wolfe, B. H., & **Alvarez, C. F. (2022). Making meaning of women who have late-term abortions from the perspective of mothers who terminated wanted pregnancies. Journal of Family Communication, 22(2), 104–118. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15267431.2021.2019743

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Scharp, K. M., **Cooper, R., *Worwood, J., & Dorrance Hall, E. (2021). “There’s always going to be uncertainty.”: Exploring undergraduate student parents’ sources of uncertainty and related management practices. Communication Research, 48(7), 1059–1084. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650220903872

 

Scharp, K. M. (2021). Thematic co-occurrence analysis: Advancing a theory and qualitative method to illuminate ambivalent experiences. Journal of Communication, 71(4), 545–571. https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqab015

 

Scharp, K. M., & Barker, B. A. (2021). “I have to social norm this”: Making meaning of hearing loss from the perspective of adults who use hearing aids. Health Communication, 36(6), 774–781.https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2020.1712523

 

Scharp, K. M., **Hansen, R., **Kubler, K., & Wang, T. R. (2021). Making meaning of parental alienation using relational dialectics theory. Personal Relationships, 28(1), 169–189. https://doi.org/10.1111/pere.12356 Top Cited Article of 2021-2022

 

Scharp, K. M., & Thomas, L. J. (2020). A child for every family?: Characterizations of “adoptable” foster children in online permanency advocacy publications. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 37(7), 2098–2117. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407520918668

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*Worwood, J. V., Scharp, K. M., & Phillips, K. E. (2020). “I don’t want to have a weird relationship with you, so I’m trying”: Relational turning points and trajectories of ex-LDS children and their active LDS parents. Journal of Family Communication, 20(4), 327–344. https://doi.org/10.1080/15267431.2020.1825087

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Thomas, L. J., & Scharp, K. M. (2020). Voicing the system: How formerly fostered adults make meaning of the U.S. Foster Care System. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 37(6), 1806–1824. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407520911104

 

Scharp, K. M., **Kubler, K. F., & Wang, T. R. (2020). Individual and community practices for constructing communicative resilience: Exploring the communicative processes of coping with parental alienation. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 48(2), 207–226. https://doi.org/10.1080/00909882.2020.1734225

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Scharp, K. M. (2020). Taking sides and feeling caught: Communicative complications for immediate family members of estranged parent-child dyads. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 37(4), 1053–1072. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407519886360

 

Scharp, K. M. (2019). “You’re not welcome here:” A grounded theory of family distancing. Communication Research,46(4), 427–455. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650217715542

 

Scharp, K. M., & Dorrance Hall, E. (2019). Reconsidering family closeness: A review and call for research on family distancing. Journal of Family Communication, 19(1), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/15267431.2018.1544563 Sixth most downloaded article in 2019

 

Scharp, K. M., & Dorrance Hall, E. (2019). Examining the relationship between undergraduate student parent social support-seeking factors, stress, and somatic symptoms: A two model comparison of direct and indirect effects. Health Communication, 34(1), 54–64. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2017.1384427

 

Scharp, K. M., & Thomas, L. J. (2018). Making meaning of the parent-child relationship: A dialogic analysis of parent–initiated estrangement narratives. Journal of Family Communication, 18(4), 302–316. https://doi.org/10.1080/15267431.2018.1484747

 

Scharp, K. M., & McLaren, R. M. (2018). Uncertainty issues and management in adult children’s stories of their estrangement with their parents. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 35(6), 811–830.https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407517699097

 

Scharp, K. M., & Curran, T. (2018). Family estrangement and conflict in relationship to caregiving expectations in later life. Generations - Journal of the American Society on Aging, 42(3), 51–56.

 

Scharp, K. M., & *Beck, A. L. (2017). “Losing my religion”: Identity (re)constructions in Mormon exit narratives. Narrative Inquiry, 27(1), 132–148. https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.27.1.07sch

 

Scharp, K. M., & Dorrance Hall, E. (2017). Family marginalization, alienation, and estrangement: A review of and call for research that questions the nonvoluntary status of family relationships. Annals of the International Communication Association, 41(1), 28–45. https://doi.org/10.1080/23808985.2017.1285680. Top ten most read article in journal history

 

Thomas, L. J., & Scharp, K. M. (2017). “A family for every child”: Discursive constructions of “ideal” adoptive families in online foster–adoption photolistings that promote adoption of children from foster care. Adoption Quarterly,20(1), 44–64. https://doi.org/10.1080/10926755.2016.1263261 (Special Issue entitled Finding, Supporting, and Maintaining Adoptive Families for Children in Foster Care)

 

Scharp, K. M. (2016). Parent–child estrangement: Conditions for disclosure and perceived social network member reactions. Family Relations, 65(5), 688–700. https://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12219

 

Scharp, K. M., Paxman, C. G., & Thomas, L. J. (2016). “I want to go home”: Homesickness experiences and social support–seeking practices. Environment and Behavior, 48(9), 1175–1197. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013916515590475 

 

Scharp, K. M., & Thomas, L. J. (2016). Family “bonds”: Making meaning of parent–child relationships in estrangement narratives. Journal of Family Communication, 16(1), 32–50. https://doi.org/10.1080/15267431.2015.1111215 (Special Issue entitled Critical Approaches to Family Communication Research: Representation, Critique, and Praxis). Top 15 most cited article of all time

 

Colaner, C. W., & Scharp, K. M. (2016). Maintaining open adoption relationships: Practitioner insights on adoptive parents’ regulation of adoption kinship networks. Communication Studies, 67(3), 359–378.https://doi.org/10.1080/10510974.2016.1164208

 

High, A. C., & Scharp, K. M. (2015). Examining family communication patterns and seeking social support: Direct and indirect effects through ability and motivation. Human Communication Research, 41(4), 459–479. https://doi.org/10.1111/hcre.12061

 

Scharp, K. M., Thomas, L. J., & Paxman, C. G. (2015). “It was the straw that broke the camel’s back”: Exploring the distancing processes communicatively constructed in parent-child estrangement backstories. Journal of Family Communication, 15(4), 330–348. https://doi.org/10.1080/15267431.2015.1076422.

 

Scharp, K. M., & Steuber, K. R. (2014). Perceived information ownership and control: Negotiating communication preferences in potential adoption reunions. Personal Relationships, 21(4), 515–529. https://doi.org/10.1111/pere.12046

 

Baxter, L. A., Norwood, K. M, Asbury, B., & Scharp, K. M. (2014). Narrating adoption: Resisting adoption as “second best” in online stories of domestic adoption told by adoptive parents. Journal of Family Communication, 14(3),253–269. https://doi.org/10.1080/15267431.2014.908199

 

Scharp, K. M. (2013). Making meaning of domestic adoption reunion in online narratives: A dialogic perspective. Departures in Critical Qualitative Research, 2(3), 301–325. https://doi.org/10.1525/qcr.2013.2.3.301

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Baxter, L. A., Scharp, K. M., Asbury, B., Jannusch, A., & Norwood, K. M. (2012). “Birthmothers are not bad people”: A dialogic perspective of online birth mother narratives. Qualitative Communication Research, 1(1), 53–82. https://doi.org/10.1525/qcr.2012.1.1.53

 

Baxter, L. A., Norwood, K. M., Asbury, B., Jannusch, A., & Scharp, K. M. (2012). Narrative coherence in online stories told by members of the adoption triad. Journal of Family Communication, 12(4), 265–283.https://doi.org/10.1080/15267431.2012.686944

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BOOK CHAPTERS 

 

Thomas, L. J., & Scharp, K. M., (in progress). Family estrangement. In A. Miller-Ott, A. Thorson, C. Alvarez, & J, Bowman (Eds). Routledge handbook of the dark side of human communication. Routledge.

 

Scharp, K. M., & Nolan-Cody, H. (in progress). Maladaptive resilience in family relationships. In A. Miller-Ott, A. Thorson, C. Alvarez, & J, Bowman (Eds). Routledge handbook of the dark side of human communication. Routledge.

 

Scharp, K. M., & Bryant, L. E. (in progress). Estrangement. In S. L. Faulkner & P. J. Lannutti (Eds.). Handbook of Communication and Personal Relationships. Edward Elgar.

 

Hintz, E. A., & Scharp, K. M. (in progress). Theory of communicative (dis)enfranchisement: Resistance, reification, and consequence. In E. A. Suter, K. Floyd, E. A. Hintz, & D. O. Braithwaite (Eds.). Engaging theories in family communication. Routledge. 

 

Scharp, K. M., & Dorrance Hall, E. (2026). Communicative relational distancing theory: Navigating interpersonal separation. In E. A. Suter, K. Floyd, E. A. Hintz, & D. O. Braithwaite (Eds.). Engaging theories in family communication. Routledge. 

 

Scharp, K. M. (2026). Resilience, power, and privilege. In M. Doerfel, J. A. Theiss, M. K. Venetis, & K. M. Scharp (Eds.), Handbook of Communication and Resilience. Routledge.

 

Theiss, J., Doerfel, M., Venetis, M. K., & Scharp, K. M. (2026). Resilience as a multi-layered communication process. In M. Doerfel, J. Theiss, M. Venetis, & K. M. Scharp (Eds.), Handbook of Communication and Resilience. Routledge.

 

Scharp, K. M., **Alvarez, C. F., **Guzman, S., & **Nolan-Cody, H. (2023). Understanding family distancing: Taking a closer look at parent-child estrangement. In A. Goodboy & K. Schultz (Eds.), Introduction to communication studies: Translating scholarship into meaningful practice (2nd Ed). Kendall Hunt.

 

Scharp, K. M., & **Nolan-Cody, H. (2023). Holidays are the worst: Negotiating complicated family relationships and estrangement. In S. S. LeBlanc & S. O’Shay (Eds.), Casing the family: Theoretical and applied approaches to understanding family communication. Kendall Hunt.

 

Scharp, K. M. (2022). Interpersonal communication. In C. S. Beck (Ed.), Communication in the 2020s. Routledge.

 

Scharp, K. M., & Dorrance Hall, E. (2022). Family communication as … deviance. In J. Manning, K. Denker, & J. Allen (Eds.), Metaphors for family communication. Wiley–Blackwell.

 

Thomas, L. J., & Scharp, K. M. (2020). Communication about adoption in families. In G. Wrobel, E. Helder, & E. Marr (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of adoption. Routledge.

 

Scharp, K. M. (2019). “I won’t be home for Christmas”: Accomplishing and maintaining family estrangement. In S. S. LeBlanc (Ed.), Casing the family: Theoretical and applied approaches to understanding family communication. Kendall Hunt.

 

Curran, T. & Scharp, K. M. (2019). Conflict communication in families and mental health outcomes for parents: Examining mother and father reports of depressive and anxiety symptoms, verbal aggression, and constructive conflict. In L. Lippert, R. Hall, A. Miller-Ott, & D. C. Davis (Eds.), Communicating mental health: History, concepts, & perspectives. Lexington Books.

 

ENCYCLOPEDIA ENTRIES 

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Scharp, K. M. (2023). Estrangement and the impact on family communication. In J. Nussbaum & N. Punyanunt-Carter (Eds.), Oxford research encyclopedia of communication. Oxford University Press.

 

Pett, R., Scharp, K. M., & *Fan, Y. (2023). Communicative decisions in families. In J. Nussbaum & N. Punyanunt-Carter (Eds.), Oxford research encyclopedia of communication. Oxford University Press.

 

**Alvarez, C. F., & Scharp, K. M. (2021). Queer people’s communication with families of origin. In I. N. West (Ed.), Encyclopedia of queer studies and communication. Oxford University Press.

 

Scharp, K. M. (2016). Family estrangement. In C. Shehan (Ed.), Encyclopedia of family studies. Wiley-Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119085621.wbefs458

 

Scharp, K. M. (2016). Parent-child alienation. In C. Shehan (Ed.), Encyclopedia of family studies. Wiley-Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119085621.wbefs457