Privacy Recalibration in Personal Relationships: Rule Usage Before and After an Incident of Privacy Turbulence

Abstract

Although privacy violations can be uncomfortable and disruptive, they have the potential for positive outcomes in relationships if addressed. Using Communication Privacy Management theory as a framework, this study surveyed a community sample of 273 adults to examine their retrospective accounts of privacy violations in personal relationships. Results showed that less than half of the sample offered explicit rules for information management, and the majority of participants blamed the confidant for the privacy turbulence. Findings indicated that people often do not share similar information with the violator in the future, but if they do, less than half offer explicit privacy rules during the privacy recalibration process. Confrontation efficacy was positively associated with initiating a conversation about the privacy turbulence and that people who engaged in privacy recalibration were more likely to report forgiveness and relational improvement and less likely to report relational damage than those individuals who did not.

Keywords:

• Interpersonal Communication
• Relationships
• Privacy Recalibration
• Privacy Turbulence

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Keli Ryan Steuber

Keli Ryan Steuber (Ph.D., The Pennsylvania State University, 2009) is an assistant professor of Communication Studies at The College of New Jersey.

Rachel M. McLaren

Rachel M. McLaren (Ph.D., The Pennsylvania State University, 2008) is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Iowa.