ABSTRACT
In today's world, families deal persistently with questions about private information. Parents face the task of telling children about genetic diseases discovered in their family, and adult children are often afraid to tell their parents about their HIV status. CPM theory highlights the multifaceted nature of privacy management in a parsimonious fashion. To date, CPM theory has broadened understanding of how people manage information they treat as private. CPM theory has developed a "privacy language" that helps people talk about how they regulate privacy disclosure choices and the outcomes when there are breakdowns. Communication privacy management is a practical theory that helps explain how people manage private information. This chapter focuses specifically on how CPM theory applies to privacy management in families. CPM argues that families represent a clear example of collectivities that use privacy rules repeatedly to form basic orientations to privacy choices.
