Self-Disclosure and Satisfaction in Marriage: The Relation Examined

Although family life educators and marriage and family clinicians often emphasize the importance of self-disclosure skills for establishing and maintaining satisfying marital relationships, the research literature in this area is scant and has yet to establish a direct empirical linkage between the variables of marital disclosure (self and other) and marital satisfaction. Moreover, competing theoretical frameworks exist that make quite different predictions about the nature of the self-disclosuremarital satisfaction relation. Drawing upon survey data from a sample of 240 spouses (120 couples), three competing models of marital disclosure and satisfaction are presented and tested: the linear, curvilinear, and social desirability models. Only the linear model is supported by this investigation. Implications of the findings for educators and counselors in the marriage and family area are stated, and suggestions are made for expanding knowledge about the nature of the self-disclosuremarital satisfaction relation in future investigations.