Intimacy as an interpersonal process: The importance of self-disclosure, partner disclosure, and perceived partner responsiveness in interpersonal exchanges

Two diary studies: intimacy in a single interaction is both people's disclosure, and whether the discloser felt received is what carries it.

Laurenceau, J.-P., Feldman Barrett, L. & Pietromonaco, P. R. (1998). Intimacy as an interpersonal process: The importance of self-disclosure, partner disclosure, and perceived partner responsiveness in interpersonal exchanges. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74(5), 1238–1251.

Type

Journal article

Find it

doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.74.5.1238

Checked

Against the abstract, 16 September 2026

Why it is on the list

Participants filled in a record immediately after each of their social interactions, over one week in Study 1 and two in Study 2 — an event-contingent diary, which is the method the Field Journal borrows. For every interaction they reported their own disclosure, their partner’s disclosure, how responsive their partner seemed, and how intimate the interaction felt. The findings supported intimacy as a combination of self-disclosure and partner disclosure at the level of the individual interaction, with perceived partner responsiveness as a partial mediator. In Study 2, disclosing emotion predicted intimacy better than disclosing facts and information.

Week 9’s depth scale does not record responsiveness. This paper is one reason to check how a disclosure was received as well as how private it was. A step up need not introduce a more private subject: it can add how you felt about the subject you were already discussing.