“Panicked responsibility”: confidant perspectives of disclosure and information management in university student affairs

In higher education, student mental health and well-being are a primary concern. Thus, it is crucial to study those who provide students with essential support, as well as how they manage these challenging interpersonal interactions. Utilizing communication privacy management theory (CPM), we explore the experiences of student affairs professionals (SAPros) who receive disclosures of personal information from students, serving as confidants. Through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with current SAPros, we examine the types of information these confidants receive, their information-management practices, and the emotions they attribute to disclosure reception. Findings reveal that students share an array of information with SAPros, including sensitive issues and active crises. As such, confidants carefully balance relational and organizational obligations for information management while performing triage and navigating challenges of disclosure response. The study highlights the role of disclosure context in privacy rule negotiation, advances proactive dilemma avoidance as a new discursive strategy for confidants, and builds a case for confidant classification reconceptualization. Practically, findings underscore the crucial role SAPros play in student well-being, opportunities for greater preparation of SAPros for their confidant role, and interpersonal stressors that may underlie wellness and attrition issues in student affairs.