“We didn’t tell everybody because everybody didn’t need to know”: an examination of parental disability-disclosure of Spina Bifida

Abstract

This qualitative study sheds light on the process that parents go through as they learn of a spina bifida diagnosis and the communication strategies that are used to discuss an expected disability diagnosis with others. Interviews with 30 participants discovered that there were immediate disclosures made with family and close friends. Additionally, circumstantial disclosures took place when returning to routine behaviors. Participants described five distinctive criteria that developed a privacy boundary: self-blame, grief, helping others cope, maintaining privacy of child, and stigma. Implications for parents, medical professionals, and communication scholars are discussed.     

Value of Self-Disclosure to Parents and Peers During Adolescence

Self-disclosure is a crucial part of developing close interpersonal relationships during adolescence. In particular, sharing information with a greater depth of intimacy is thought to strengthen social bonds and thus support mental health. The current study investigated the value for different depths of self-disclosures to close others (mothers and best friends) during adolescence and its association with mental health and well-being. Fifty-four girls (11.0–15.9 years) completed a forced-choice monetary paradigm to assess value for self-disclosures and questionnaires on mental health. Participants significantly valued (i.e., forfeited monetary reward) for disclosures to both mothers and best friends, although intimate disclosures were more “costly” than superficial disclosures. Greater value for intimate self-disclosures to mothers was also associated with better mental health and well-being.