Private disclosure in a family membership transition: In -laws' disclosures to newlyweds.

摘要

This dissertation sought to describe the nature of private disclosures newlyweds have received from their spouse's family members. Furthermore, the effects of disclosure from in-laws, as well as the in-laws' orientation toward privacy, on outcomes for the family and marital relationships were investigated. Using Communication Privacy Management (CPM) theory as a framework, two studies were conducted. In the first, exploratory study, 14 recently married individuals participated in focus groups that discussed the private disclosures they have received from their in-laws. Thematic analysis of the discussion transcripts revealed topics, motives, rules, and relational timing that characterize disclosures signaling the new spouse's membership in the family. In addition, participants in the focus groups described the ways in which their in-laws' orientation toward privacy was similar to, or different from, their own family's privacy orientation. A second study applied the results from the focus groups to develop a survey measuring these themes. In completing an online survey, 107 recently married individuals described a particular disclosure incident as well as the overall amount of information disclosed by their spouse's family members, privacy orientations of their own family and their spouse's family, their acceptance as a member of their spouse's family, and satisfaction with the family and their marriage. Analysis of the data found no relationship between topics, rules, motives, and timing of particular disclosure incidents. In-laws' orientation toward privacy affected the amount of information disclosed. Participants' own family's privacy orientation moderated the effect of amount of information on acceptance and family satisfaction and the effect of the in-laws' privacy orientation on family satisfaction. Acceptance and family satisfaction accounted for a substantial proportion of the variance in marital satisfaction. These results indicate that management of the privacy-disclosure contradiction is related to relational outcomes. Moreover, family privacy orientation and acceptance are significant variables in adjustment to membership in one's spouse's family, and the quality of in-law relationships is related to marital quality. The implications of the results for CPM and family communication research, limitations of the studies, and directions for future research were also discussed.