The objective of this study was to explore the relationship between self-disclosure and intimacy status. Sixty-four women and 32 men (mean age = 27.44) were asked to complete the Greene Self-Disclosure Sentence Blank in response to one of two conditions, each of which specified a hypothetical target person for the self-revealing communication: a Significant Other (with whom the subject was close) or a Stranger (a new acquantance). Subjects also completed the Jourard Self-Disclosure Questionnaire, which assessed previous self-disclosing behavior, and responded to an interview, which allowed them to be placed into one of six possible intimacy statuses: Intimate, Merger, Preintimate, Pseudointimate, Stereotyped Relationships, or Isolate. Amount of previous self-disclosure to a romantic partner varied significantly as a function of intimacy status, marital status and sex, with the greatest amounts of personal information having been communicated by those in the intimate, married, and female groups, respectively. Previous self-disclosure to a closest friend varied with the subjects' martial status and sex, with divorced and female subjects having disclosed the most. Subjects assigned to the Significant Other condition disclosed more intimate information than those assigned to the Stranger condition. Intimacy status, marital status and sex did not affect the intimacy level nor the self-evaluative content of the disclosures observed in the experimental situation. It was concluded that intimacy development most likely has an impact on overall patterns of self-disclosure in romantic relationships; however, its relationship to behavior in a particular situation has not yet been demonstrated. The subjects' relationship with the recipient of communication appears to be critical in determining the level of self-disclosure. (Author/BL)