Interpersonal Communication in Family Relationships

The Levels of Self-Disclosure in Relationships

Self-disclosure is the personal quality, which evicts itself with relation to human temperament and character. The concept determines the extent, to which one is capable of sharing some personal emotions and feelings with the surrounding society. It is acknowledged

that a high level of self-disclosure is peculiar for extroverts and choleric individuals, who are proactive and sociable. Introverts, in contrast, tend to hide their real feelings so that to stay somewhat detached from the life of the community.

Nevertheless, the concept of self-disclosure acquires somewhat altered meaning when it is applied to family building or relationships. Thus, the quality regards an inseparable precondition of becoming a union since family life has to be built on total trust. Therefore, it may be said that there are two types of self-disclosure. While the first one is connected with some personal traits, the second one dwells on the issue of relationship characteristics.

According to the practical assessment, there is no sex-related discrepancy between the levels of self-disclosure in relationships. In other words, both men and women are equally inclined to attend to each other’s personal feelings under certain conditions (Sprecher & Hendrick, 2004).

The process of self-disclosing, therefore, may be estimated, according to the ratio, which correlates personal traits and parameters of relationships. For instance, if a person is restrained and does not experience a full commitment to the other person, the level of self-disclosure is low. In such cases, the individuals tend to hide the information, which refers to their private life, occupation or even family. The trust-directed level of self-disclosure is revealed when a person is shy and

introversive by nature, but he/she strives to include the other personal into personal life and opens some feelings about the surrounding world to him/her. Finally, the full trust self-disclosure might be identified in the couples, which are open-minded and practice total commitment and devotion to each other. In this context, my general recommendation for you is to conduct the so-called explanatory type of self-disclosure. In other words, it would be great if you could provide some arguments for disclosing or hiding some specific information from your beloved one. For instance, if you feel that the issue of childhood should not be recounted to your future spouse since it imposes some traumatic reminiscence on you, then you must explain your opinion so that not to create a feeling of secrecy, which might damage the relationships.