The Role of Privacy in Families Created Through Assisted Reproductive Technology: Examining Existing Literature Using Communication Privacy Management Theory

Abstract

The number of families created through the use of assisted reproductive technology (ART) has grown throughout the past decade. Families created through ART face many unique communication challenges both within the immediate family and with others outside the family, such as issues with privacy and disclosure. Whether parents choose to disclose genetic information to the child, to other immediate family members, or to others outside the family are issues that parents who use ART commonly face. This article applies communication privacy management theory to analyze the existing literature on families created through assisted reproductive technology. In doing so, the article highlights the communication and privacy issues these families face.

Theory and Research From the Communication Field: Discourses That Constitute and Reflect Families

“…Today family communication scholars have broadened their areas of interest while collaborating actively across disciplines, including family science. Recent publications represent important areas of scholarship developing in the field: an expansion on the understanding of children in family communication (Socha & Yingling, ), the role of family communication in forgiveness (Waldron & Kelley, ), how families negotiate crisis and stress (Dickson & Webb, ; Maguire, ), family communication about genetics (Galvin & Grill, 2010), and family communication surrounding assisted reproductive technologies (Rauscher & Fine, ). Finally, scholars are focusing increased attention on translating scholarship to practice (e.g., Kelley, ).…”

To Reveal or Conceal? Managers' Disclosures of Private Information During Emotional Intelligence Training

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