| The overall goal of this dissertation was to understand the processes at work as marital partners attempt to jointly manage private information within their marriage and with respect to their social networks. One theoretical foundation was communication privacy management theory, which discusses the process by which people negotiate privacy boundaries and coordinate information management. The revelation risk model identified factors that contribute to the sharing of sensitive information. Finally, mechanisms specified within the relational turbulence model were used to predict situations in which boundary turbulence might be particularly prominent. Hypotheses specified that stigma (H1), communication efficacy (H2), and perceived closeness (H3) are associated with the amount of disclosure to social network members, and that facets of relational uncertainty (H4) and partner interference (H5) would have a negative association with boundary turbulence between spouses.;To test these hypotheses, a study of married couples coping with infertility was conducted. Using a systematic process, couples selected five social convoy members and partners each reported characteristics of their relationships with those people, as well as details about their infertility-related disclosures to them. Each partner also completed questionnaires about their infertility experience and characteristics of their marriage. In total, 100 individuals (50 husbands and 50 wives) reported on a total of 500 social convoy relationships.;Results from hierarchical linear modeling documented a negative association between facets of stigma and disclosure, as well as positive associations between both communication efficacy and perceived closeness and disclosures to social convoy members. Furthermore, as predicted, facets of relational uncertainty and partner interference were positively associated with boundary turbulence; which was operationalized as relative discomfort with partner disclosure, individuals' perceptions that their spouses think their disclosures are acceptable, and discrepancies between husbands' and wives' disclosures. This discussion highlights the theoretical advances promoted by considering individual, marital, and social network member characteristics when examining disclosure, and considering how characteristics of the marriage and the social network contribute to boundary turbulence between spouses. |
