First-Generation Students’ Privacy Management Rules with Parents

First generation (FG) students constitute a large and growing population in higher education. This chapter explores FG students' communicative practices as it relates to their college experiences. It examines the ways that FG students communicate with their parents about their college experiences. The chapter utilizes Communication Privacy Management (CPM) to explore the ways FG students manage their private information with their parents. It highlights the reasons why FG students conceal/reveal information from their parents and provides instructors insights into how to best support FG students who may need to reveal sensitive information. Another component of participants' rules/criteria for concealing/revealing information with their parents concerned gender scripts. As a result, FG students may desire outlets beyond their parents for divulging private information. The chapter concludes by drawing upon Critical Communication Pedagogy (CCP) to propose a relational ethic of listening as a way for instructors to interact with FG students in socially just ways.