Examined was the way in which self-disclosure develops, focusing upon the family structure and communication system. It was hypothesized that affection in the family would affect the amount of self-disclosure of subjects to parents and people outside the family, and that there would be a curvilinear relationship between the degree of parental control and self-disclosure, with families in which parents and adolescents make decisions together (democratic) more conducive to self-disclosure than families in which decisions are made by parents alone (autocratic) or adolescents alone (permissive). Subjects were recruited from two groups: 13 male and 44 female high school students and 41 college students participated in the study. Subjects were interviewed individually using a modified Jourard Self-Disclosure Questionnaire and a Likert format questionnaire. Results revealed that parental affection significantly affected self-disclosure, and that degree of participation in the family has an important effect upon self-disclosure. It was suggested that self-disclosure be placed in a developmental framework, and that the structure and child rearing practices of the family definitely influence self-disclosure by providing a model for interpersonal relationships. (Author/KA)