Secrecy in committed relationships due to career: a communication perspective

Abstract

"Professional secrecy, which is mandated in certain careers, seems to affect partners in their committed relationships. Partners of those with work-mandated secrecy may perceive that they enact certain behaviors based upon how they communicate around the imposed secrecy. The communication privacy management theory (CPM) aids in understanding how partners make decisions about how they communicate around secrecy within their relational culture and how they manage dialectical tensions due to work-mandated secrecy. This Human Science study is grounded in constructionism, informed by the theory of social construction of reality, guided by narrative inquiry, and used conversational interviewing and thematic analysis to gain an understanding of the lived experiences of those whose partners are constrained by work-mandated secrecy. The following five themes emerged: (a) Protection against adverse consequences: Do I need to know?, (b) We have our system: Coded language, similes, and so on, (c) It's different when my partner is not at home, (d) I try not to bury my head but I try not to probe either, sometimes curiosity just gets the best of me, and (e) Do I measure up?. These themes allow for a discussion that demonstrates how partners in committed relationships may be affected by work-mandated secrecy"--Leaf iii