ABSTRACT
Self-disclosure in close relationships can deepen them and contribute to their maintenance, as well as create chaos, discord, and decline. This chapter explores the reasons for disclosure decisions and the concomitant relational outcomes in the case studies. Researchers have studied reciprocity of disclosure, liking, and sex differences as important components influencing self-disclosure decisions, yet sex differences in self-disclosure are relatively small. Culture is an important part of the disclosure process, because it highlights important reasons people disclose or do not disclose private information. One theory that is useful for framing disclosure decisions is Communication Privacy Management (CPM) because of the emphasis on the co-owned nature of private information. CPM supposes the formation of disclosure rules, some based on gendered and cultured suppositions. Relational uncertainty also contributes to rules people make about disclosure, though it inhibits their ability to communicate directly with a relational partner and interpret messages effectively.
