Self‐disclosure flexibility, neuroticism, and effective interpersonal communication

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Abstract
This study examines the relationship between disclosure flexibility and a measure of psychological adjustment. In the first phase, a sex adjusted normative profile of appropriate disclosure in 20 social situations was generated based on the responses from a criterion group. Experimental subjects were then divided into high and low flexibility deviation groups across low, medium, and high levels of dispositional disclosure on the basis of how well their patterns of responses to the situations matched the normative profile. Results indicated a significant difference in neuroticism among the medium disclosers: subjects with low deviations from disclosure flexibility norms were significantly less neurotic than those with high deviations. The results are then discussed in terms of disclosure flexibility and the contextual determinants of the appropriateness of self‐disclosure. Disclosure flexibility was hypothesized to be an important mediator in the theoretical curvilinear relationship between self‐disclosure and mental health.

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