To Tell or Not to Tell? Interracial Romantic Couples’ Management of Social Network Influence

Abstract

Despite the plethora of research on social network influence on close relationships, not much is known about how partners in marginalized relationships mutually negotiate the competing demands to share information about their relationship with their close social network. Consequently, the area of disclosing the relationship status to the close social network presents an interesting dilemma that could mark a turning point for any marginalized relationship. Using the communication privacy management theory, this paper investigates the decision-making process of interracial couples in South Africa about negotiating rules for disclosing and/or concealing their relationship status to family and friends. Findings from retrospective in depth interviews (n = 12) reveal that interracial couples are perceptive communicators who use privacy rules to safeguard their relationship from unwarranted social network influence.

Keywords:

• Communication privacy management
• social network influence
• interracial couples
• disclosure
• negotiation

Ethical approval

Study approved by the Human Research Ethics committee of the University of Johannesburg

Additional information

Funding

The present research was financially supported by National Research Foundation.