Practice

Practicing CPM in everyday life

Family Privacy Practices: Case of Adult Adoptee-Birth Parent Reunions

1. There are many adoptees who wonder about their birth parents—questions about health issues, why they were put up for adoption, and whether they have siblings. These questions often motivate adoptees to find their birth parents. Yet, in contemplating a reunion, often there are a host of issues surrounding disclosure of certain information considered private. These are delicate interactions that can be touchy because the adoptee may have preferences to know certain information while not wishing to know other types of information.
2. 

   Researchers Kristina M. Scharp, Ph.D., and Keli Steuber, Ph.D., examine this issue and provide a practical guidepost for navigating reunions between adoptees and birth mothers, in particular.
3. Knowing more about the preferences adoptees have concerning the kind of information they wish to know cannot only inform their decisions about seeking this private information, but also help birth parents prepare for reunions they may be contemplating.

Scharp, K. M., & Steuber, K. R. (2014). Perceived information ownership and control: Negotiating communication preferences in potential adoption reunions. Personal Relationships, 21(3), 515-529.

Health Privacy Practices: Case of Non-Disclosure of Same-Sex Behavior by Behaviorally-Bi-Sexual Men in Heterosexual Relationships

1. For men who have both same-sex and heterosexual relationships, privacy plays an important role in simultaneously sustaining these relationships. One of the strategies they use is non-disclosure to protect themselves from compromising either one or both relationships. It is not clear why they feel justified in using a thick privacy boundary wall around the information and setting up "fire-walls" between each relationship.
2. 

   Researchers Eric Schrimshaw, Ph.D., Martin Downing, Ph.D., Daniel Cohn, & Karolyn Siegel, Ph.D., examine privacy rules that participants used to justify non-disclosure.
3. These researchers found that bisexual men engaged in simultaneous same-sex and heterosexual relationships develop a privacy rule of non-disclosure to protect themselves and compartmentalize their relationships. They justified non-disclosure because they viewed revealing their same-sex relationships as restricted, highly private information. They considered being bisexual as their business only. Thereby, they had no reason to tell. The researchers note that knowing there is an effort to silo information about same-sex behavior among bisexual men is important for many reasons, in particular regarding ways to design health services for this population.

Scharp, K. M., & Steuber, K. R. (2014). Perceived information ownership and control: Negotiating communication preferences in potential adoption reunions. Personal Relationships, 21(3), 515-529.