The Development and Initial Validation of the Self-Disclosure Strategies Questionnaire

• In Event: Should I Share This With You or Not? Disclosure and Avoidance Decisions, Strategies, and Responses

Abstract

This study developed an original instrument, the Self-Disclosure Strategies Questionnaire (SDSQ), to assess self-disclosure strategies. Based on Relational Dialectics, the SDSQ highlights the openness and closedness dialectic, suggesting variations in the way that people disclose and withhold private and personal information that may jeopardize a relationship (Baxter & Montgomery, 1996). Five self-disclosure dimensions are evaluated in the SDSQ: (a) selection, (b) separation (i.e., segmentation and cyclic alteration), (c) disqualification, (e) moderation, and (f) reframing.

Author

• Sonia Gomez, Univ of New Mexico