Research

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RESEARCH INTERESTS

family communication, conflict transformation, interpersonal communication, resilience, sibling relationships, parent-child relationships, divorce, stepfamilies, forgiveness

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GRANT FUNDING

Hanover Grant Academy Fellow
Competitively selected to participate in the Hanover Grant Academy
Grant Topic: Co-Parenting across Complex Stepfamilies during the COVID-19 Pandemic
University of Arkansas at Little Rock
2021-2022

Competitive Research Grant provided by the College of Social Sciences & Communication
“Mother-daughter disclosure after marriage: A diary study”
Funding for Research Assistance
Grant Amount: $3,052
University of Arkansas at Little Rock
2019

Competitive Research Grant provided by the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication
“Blended family resilience: Communication practices in positive adult half sibling relationships” (Dissertation)
Solo Project
Grant Amount: $2,986
Arizona State University
2017

Conflict Research Grant provided by the Transformation Project
“Blended family resilience: Communication practices in positive adult half sibling relationships” (Dissertation)
Solo Project
Grant Amount: $500
Arizona State University
2017

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RESEARCH AWARDS & RECOGNITION

Rising Faculty Award for Excellence
Competitively chosen by UA Little Rock faculty, staff, & administration as the “full-time faculty member who demonstrates the most exceptional promise in teaching, research or creative endeavors, and public service during their first five years at UA Little Rock”. Departmental & college-level winner.
2023

   Sandra Petronio Dissertation Excellence Award
Awarded by the Family Communication Division at the
National Communication Association Conference
Baltimore, MD
Award Amount: $350
2019

   Top Four Paper in the Interpersonal Communication Division
Western States Communication Association Conference
Santa Clara, CA
2018

CLAS Graduate Excellence Award, competitive university-wide recognition for receiving funding for research awarded by the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, Arizona State University.
2017

Top Student Paper in the Interpersonal Communication Division
Western States Communication Association Conference
Salt Lake City, UT
2017

Top Four Paper in the Family Communication Division
National Communication Association Conference
Philadelphia, PA
2016

Jeanne Lind Herberger Fellowship in Communication, Relational Conflict Research Fellow
Hugh Downs School of Human Communication
Arizona State University
2015 – 2016
Award Amount: $3,000

University Graduate Fellowship, Hugh Downs School of Human Communication Fellow
Arizona State University
Award Amount: $2,000
2014 – 2015

Outstanding Masters Thesis Award, College of Communication and Information Sciences
The University of Alabama
2014

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PUBLICATIONS – In Press

Oliver-Blackburn, B. M. (accepted in March 2024, in press). “Half-Sibling Relationships and Family Communication.” In Matthew Powers (Ed.), Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.013.ORE_COM-01458.R1

Mirivel, J. C. & Oliver-Blackburn, B. M. (accepted in May 2023, in press). How Positive Communication Creates Peak Communicative Moments. In C. L. Fisher, C. Fowler, J. Krieger, M. J. Pitts, A. K. Worthington, & J. F. NussBaum (Eds.), Health Communication, Language, and Social Action Across the Lifespan.

Oliver-Blackburn, B. M., Chatham-Carpenter, A., & Thompson, C. (accepted in September 2022, in press). Community Listening: The Nexus of & Listening within Civic Communities. Community Listening.

PUBLICATIONS

Braithwaite, D. O., & Oliver-Blackburn, B. M. (2024). Intimacy in Blended Families: Close Relationships with Parents, Siblings, and Family Members into Being. In Modern Relationships: The Evolution of Romance, Friendship, and Family (pp. 291-308). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197655504.003.0017

Oliver-Blackburn, B. M. (2023). “Stepping in & Stepping Beyond:  Negotiating Fatherhood in Discourse Dependent Families”. In Communicating Fatherhood: New Direction in Theory, Research, and Education. Peter Lang International. DOI: 10.3726/b18244

Oliver-Blackburn, B. M. (2023). Stepchild-Stepparent Relationships and Resilience. In Matthew Powers (Ed.), Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.013.1453

Oliver-Blackburn, B. M. (2023). Developmental stages in stepfamilies. Marriage and Divorce in America: Issues, Trends, & Controversies. ABC-CLIO: Santa Barbara, CA.

Oliver-Blackburn, B. M. (2023). Half siblings, stepsiblings, & divorce. Marriage and Divorce in America: Issues, Trends, & Controversies. ABC-CLIO: Santa Barbara, CA.

Braithwaite, D. O., Schrodt, P., & Oliver-Blackburn, B. M. (2022). Becoming a Real Family: Turning Points and Competing Discourses in Stepfamilies. In Casing Interpersonal Communication: Case Studies in Personal and Social Relationships, 3rd edition. Kendall-Hunt. https://he.kendallhunt.com/product/casing-interpersonal-communication-case-studies-personal-and-social-relationships

Oliver-Blackburn, B. M. & Chatham-Carpenter, A. (2022). “But I Don’t Know if I Want to Talk to You”: Strategies to Foster Conversational Receptiveness across the United States’ Political Divide. Journal of Applied Communication Research. https://doi.org/10.1080/00909882.2022.2093122

Oliver-Blackburn, B. M. & Chatham-Carpenter, A. (2022).“Locating & Dispelling Inaccurate Attributions amongst the Political Divide: A Case Study of Braver Angels’ Activities”. In Casing Conflict Communication.Kendall Hunt Publishing. https://he.kendallhunt.com/product/casing-conflict-communication

Oliver-Blackburn, B. M., Braithwaite, D. O., Waldron, V. R., Hall, R., Hackenburg, L., Worman, B. (2022). Protector and friend: Turning points and discursive construction of the stepparent role. Family Relations.https://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12642

Waldron, V. R., Braithwaite, D. O., Oliver-Blackburn, B. M., Avalos, B. L. (2021). Paths to Positivity: Relational Trajectories and Interaction in Positive Stepparent-Stepchild Dyads. Journal of Family Communication, 21(1), 33-54. https://doi.org/10.1080/15267431.2021.1999243

Braithwaite, D. O., Schrodt, P., & Oliver-Blackburn, B. M. (2021). Stepfamilies as developed and enacted in communication. In Routledge Handbook of Family Communication, 3rd edition. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003043423

Mongeau, P. A., Henningsen, M. L. M., & Oliver-Blackburn, B. M. (2021). Uncertainty, Stage Model, and Turning Point Approaches to Relationships’ Lifespan. In D. O. Braithwaite & P. Schrodt (Eds.), Engaging Theories in Interpersonal Communication: Multiple Perspectives (pp. 328-341). Taylor & Francis. DOI: 10.4324/9781003195511-29

Waldron, V. R., Braithwaite, D. O., Oliver, B. M., Kloeber, D. N., Marsh, J. (2018). Discourses of Forgiveness and Resilience in Stepchild-Stepparent Relationships. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 46(5), 561-582.https://doi.org/10.1080/00909882.2018.1530447

Braithwaite, D. O., Waldron, V. R., Allen, J., Oliver, B. M., Berquist, G., Brockhage, K., Marsh, J., Swords, N., Tschampl-Diesing, C. (2018). “Feeling warmth and close to her”: Communication and resilience reflected in turning points in positive adult stepchild-stepparent relationships. Journal of Family Communication, 18(2), 92-109. https://doi.org/10.1080/15267431.2017.1415902

Oliver, B. M. (2013). Professional presentations & technology. In Bennett, B. (Eds.), Public Speaking. Online Access. Dubuque, IA: Great River Technologies.

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