Navigating the technification of abuse: family communication and support strategies for professional women

Abstract

This study examines how professional women in Indonesia negotiate the “technification of abuse” through the lens of Communication Privacy Management (CPM) theory. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with ten professional women (N = 10), the investigation identifies five discursive strategies constituting “family support work”: protective disclosure, time negotiation, boundary management, meaning-making reflection, and third-party mobilization. Notably, the findings conceptualize a “third shift”—an intensive layer of communicative labor dedicated to digital security—which frequently triggers boundary turbulence as perforated family privacy rules collide with professional autonomy. The results indicate that participants systematically orchestrate boundary permeability to maintain emotional equilibrium and safeguard professional reputations against chronic digital scrutiny. This study extends CPM theory by demonstrating how collectivist family dynamics both facilitate and complicate digital resilience, shifting the understanding of family support from passive emotional aid to active, coordinated boundary labor.