“The Conversations Were Ready and Available for When They Were Ready and Available to Have Them”: Privacy Management in Parental Disclosure of Cumulative Adverse Childhood Experiences

Parent’s disclosure of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) to their children involves complex communication decisions shaped by relational and developmental considerations. Guided by Communication Privacy Management (CPM) theory, this qualitative study examines how parents navigate decisions about whether, when, and how to disclose their own cumulative adverse childhood experiences to their children. Zoom interview data were collected and analyzed from 19 parents reporting two or more ACEs. Findings indicate that parental disclosure of cumulative ACEs is best understood as an ongoing process of privacy management in which parents (re)negotiate privacy boundaries according to changing family dynamics, events, children’s developmental readiness, and the parent–child relationship quality. These findings demonstrate the utility of CPM for understanding parental disclosure of cumulative ACEs and provide practical implications for family communication scholars, family practitioners, and clinicians supporting conversations surrounding childhood adversity.