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Disclosure and Secrecy in Marriage: Do Both Contribute to Marital Satisfaction?

University of Utrecht, C.Finkenauer{at}fss.uu.nl

Hana Hazam

Parent-Child Center, Department of Social Services, City of Lod, Israel

This article proposes that not only disclosure but also secrecy should have a beneficial effect on satisfaction in close relationships. Disclosure and secrecy are determined by dispositional characteristics of relationship partners and by the unique relationship context in which they occur. Dispositional and contextual measures of disclosure and secrecy were included in a correlational study among married participants to answer the following questions: (1) do dispositional measures of disclosure and secrecy predict marital satisfaction? and (2) do contextual measures of disclosure and secrecy predict marital satisfaction? In addition, it examined to what extent dispositional measures of disclosure and secrecy predict communicative behavior between partners. Results showed that dispositional measures contributed only marginally to marital satisfaction, while contextual measures strongly contributed to marital satisfaction. Contextual disclosure and secrecy independently contributed to marital satisfaction. Dispositional measures failed to predict communicative behavior between partners. These findings suggest that both disclosure and secrecy are powerful mechanisms in marital relationships and that it is the process that occurs when partners interact with each other, rather than the characteristics of either or both, that affects marital satisfaction.

Key Words: disclosure • marital satisfaction • marriage • secrecy

Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, Vol. 17, No. 2, 245-263 (2000)
DOI: 10.1177/0265407500172005


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