Adolescents' Well-Being with Respect to the Patterns of Disclosure to and Secrecy from Parents and the Best Friend: A Person-Centered Examination

Longitudinal Associations among Psychological Control, Positive and Negative Interactions, and Adolescents' Domain-Specific Disclosure to Parents

Although much research has shown that parental psychological control undermines adolescents' routine disclosure to parents, past research has not examined whether the effects of psychological control on disclosure are domain-specific and mediated by the quality of adolescents' interactions with mothers and fathers. The present one-year longitudinal study examined whether parental support and negative interactions with each parent mediated longitudinal associations between adolescents' ratings of psychological control and adolescents' disclosure about routine prudential, personal, and multifaceted activities, as defined by social domain theory. These issues were examined over one year in 174 mostly White (74%), U.S. middle class middle adolescents (M = 15.70 years, SD = 0.63, 83 males). Greater parental psychological control was associated over time with less disclosure to both parents about personal activities and less disclosure to fathers about multifaceted issues. Perceived declines in support fully mediated the effects of psychological control on adolescent disclosure to mothers about personal issues and partially mediated the effects on disclosure to fathers about personal and multifaceted issues. In addition, negative interactions led to decreased disclosure about prudential issues. Thus, perceived psychological control and relationship quality had domain-specific and parent-specific longitudinal effects on adolescent disclosure to parents about their routine activities.

Disclosure of Exposure to Violence in Urban Adolescents

Research has documented high rates of exposure to violence in urban African American adolescents together with their negative effects on psychosocial adjustment. Coping with violence exposure may be facilitated by disclosure of these experiences to others, but little is known about the extent to which youth disclose their various experiences with violence. This study examined the prevalence of disclosure of violence experienced as a witness or victim in different contexts or locations to parents, friends, siblings, teachers, counselors, and relatives. Urban African American adolescents from Southeastern U.S. were interviewed at three time points (N = 81; average ages 13.3, 16.1, and 17.8). Across the three time points, 90% to 91% witnessed violence and 64% to 81% were victimized in the last year. Of these youth, 40% to 53% disclosed experiences of witnessing violence and 29% to 52% disclosed experiences of victimization. The results showed that disclosure of violence most often involved parents and friends, with fewer youth disclosing to teachers and counselors. Disclosure of violence victimization increased from early to late adolescence. Experiences of dating violence victimization were less likely to be disclosed by adolescents, especially among males. These findings support the need for more research on adolescents' disclosure of violence exposure and its links to adjustment, with implications for interventions aimed at improving coping in youth exposed to violence.

Family-Focused Universal Substance Use Prevention in Primary Care: Advancing a Pragmatic National Healthcare Agenda

This article advances ideas presented at a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine workshop in 2022 that highlighted clinical practice and policy recommendations for delivering universal, family-focused substance use preventive interventions in pediatric primary care. Pediatric primary care is a natural setting in which to offer families universal anticipatory guidance and links to systematic prevention programming; also, several studies have shown that offering effective parenting programs in primary care is feasible. The article describes a blueprint for designing a pragmatic national agenda for universal substance use prevention in primary care that builds on prior work. Blueprint practice schematics leverage efficacious family-focused prevention programs, identify key program implementation challenges and resources, and emphasize adopting a core element approach and utilizing digital interventions. Blueprint policy schematics specify avenues for improving cross-sector policy and resource alignment and collaboration; expanding, diversifying, and strengthening the prevention workforce; and enhancing financing for family-focused prevention approaches. The article then draws from these schematics to assemble a candidate universal prevention toolkit tailored for adolescent patients that contains four interlocking components: education in positive parenting practices, parent and youth education in substance use risks, a parent-youth structured interaction task, and parent and youth linkage to in-person and web-based prevention resources.

Voluntariness, timing, and consistency in adolescent routine disclosure and lying to parents

INTRODUCTION

Whether adolescents' routine disclosure to parents is voluntary is assumed but rarely assessed. Researchers also have not examined whether disclosure and lying are premeditated, occurring before rather than after disclosure or lying, and whether adolescents use a single strategy consistently rather than applying multiple strategies when deciding whether to disclose or lie about their activities. This study investigated these significant gaps in the literature and tested whether voluntariness (for disclosure), timing, consistency, and parental psychological control are associated with lessons learned from disclosure and lying.

METHODS

Narrative interviews were conducted in 2014-2015 with 131 primarily middle-class, mostly White US early and middle adolescents and college students (M's = 12.74, 15.81, 20.41 years). Narrated disclosure and lying interviews were reliably coded for voluntariness, timing, consistency, and lessons learned. Parental psychological control was assessed using an online survey.

RESULTS

Disclosure was primarily strategic or voluntary and less often involuntary. Lying occurred more often before the narrated event, whereas disclosure occurred more often after. Youth typically reported using other strategies besides the elicited one. Disclosing after was associated with lessons learned. Voluntary disclosure was associated with psychological growth, and psychological control was associated with negative self-lessons.

CONCLUSIONS

Disclosure and lying are complex and nuanced, varying in their timing, consistency, and voluntariness. These features contribute to adolescents' meaning-make from disclosure and lying. The findings have implications for future research on disclosure and secrecy.

A Latent Profile Analysis of Lie-Telling to Parents and Friends during Adolescence

Adolescence has been suggested to be a time of heightened lie-telling. The current study used a latent profile analysis to examine unique patterns of lie-telling for lies told to parents and friends during adolescence as well as whether adjustment indicators (relationship quality, depressive symptoms, social anxiety, externalizing problems) could be used to predict group membership. These patterns were examined among 828 10- to 16- year-olds (Mage = 12.39, SD = 1.69, 49.9% male). In both relationships, 5-profile solutions emerged; most adolescents reported very infrequent lie-telling, while a small portion (less than 5%) told high rates of lies. Adjustment indicators predicted group membership. Depressive symptoms, social anxiety, parent relationship quality, and externalizing problems predicted group membership for lying to parents. Depressive symptoms and social anxiety predicted group membership for lying to friends. The findings indicate that high rates of lie-telling found in previous research may be driven by a small number of prolific lie-tellers.

Parent-Child Sexual Communication Frequency and Adolescent Disclosure to Mothers About Sexuality: The Moderating Role of Open Communication in a Common Fate Structural Equation Model

Although frequent and open parent-child sexual communication (PCSC) has been shown to yield positive effects on adolescent sexual health outcomes, most PCSC is one-sided and parent dominated rather than ideal communication characterized by openness. Adolescent children's disclosure of sexual feelings and behaviors to parents can prompt parent-child sexual communication (PCSC) and help parents tailor PCSC to children's needs, increasing the effectiveness of PCSC in promoting positive sexual outcomes. However, very little work has been done exploring correlates of adolescent disclosure about sexuality. Thus, the current study explored the associations between frequent PCSC and child disclosure and secret keeping, and whether open PCSC moderated the relationships. The sample included 603 mother-child dyads from the United States. Adolescent children were 12-17 years old (M = 14.55, SD = 1.68), White (55.6%) and cisgender female (49.8%). A common-fate SEM model revealed that PCSC frequency was positively associated with adolescent disclosure and adolescent secret keeping. However, when PCSC was open, PCSC frequency was associated with a decrease in adolescent secret keeping and an increase in adolescent disclosure. We discuss the importance of encouraging both open and frequent PCSC, as their interaction is related to increased adolescent disclosure and less adolescent secret keeping.

Active Parental Mediation and Adolescent Problematic Internet Use: The Mediating Role of Parent-Child Relationships and Hiding Online Behavior

In today's information society, with the growing integration of the Internet into individuals' lives, problematic Internet use (PIU) among adolescents has become more prevalent. Therefore, we conducted this study to investigate the correlation between active parental mediation and PIU in adolescents, as well as the potential mediating roles of parent-child relationship and adolescents' hiding online behavior. A total of 539 middle school students (mean age = 13.384) were recruited for this study and participated by completing a series of paper-and-pencil questionnaires. The findings indicated a significant negative relationship between active parental mediation and PIU. Furthermore, both the mediating role of the parent-child relationship and the role of hiding online behavior were found to be significant. Specifically, the mediating role is comprised of two paths: the independent mediating role of the parent-child relationship, and the sequential mediating role involving both the parent-child relationship and hiding online behavior. The study contributes an innovative theoretical perspective to deepen the understanding of the formation mechanism of PIU. Moreover, it offers practical empirical insights for the prevention and intervention of PIU among adolescents.

A Developmental Model of the Sexual Minority Closet: Structural Sensitization, Psychological Adaptations, and Post-closet Growth

Across the lifespan, most sexual minority individuals experience the closet-a typically prolonged period in which no significant others know their sexual identity. This paper positions the closet as distinct from stigma concealment given its typical duration in years and absolute removal from sources of support for an often-central identity typically during a developmentally sensitive period. The Developmental Model of the Closet proposed here delineates the vicarious learning that takes place before sexual orientation awareness to shape one's eventual experience of the closet; the stressors that take place after one has become aware of their sexual orientation but has not yet disclosed it, which often takes place during adolescence; and potential lifespan-persistent mental health effects of the closet, as moderated by the structural, interpersonal, cultural, and temporal context of disclosure. The paper outlines the ways in which the model both draws upon and is distinct from earlier models of sexual minority identity formation and proposes several testable hypotheses and future research directions, including tests of multilevel interventions.

Patterns of Reasons for Not Disclosing Personal Activities and Feelings to Mothers and Fathers among Ethnically Diverse Adolescents

Adolescents' routine disclosure and self (non)disclosure to parents have been distinguished conceptually, but rarely empirically. Using latent profile analyses (LPA), these two types of (non)disclosure were operationalized and examined in terms of the patterns of reasons middle adolescents endorsed for not disclosing personal activities and personal feelings to mothers and fathers and their correlates. This was studied in a sample of 489 U.S. Chinese, Mexican, and European heritage middle adolescents (M_age = 16.37, SD = 0.77, 55% females). Three profiles emerged for both mothers and fathers: A majority profile for mothers consisting of adolescents who viewed personal activities and feelings as personal (i.e., private and not harmful), and much smaller sanction-driven and self-conscious profiles. With fathers, personal concerns were separated in the private profile, which also emphasized that fathers would not listen or understand, a harmless profile, and as with mothers, a sanction-driven profile. Overall, but varying in frequency for different profiles, middle adolescents emphasized personal concerns for not disclosing routine personal activities and psychological concerns for self nondisclosure. The profiles also differed by ethnicity/race, generational status, and trust in mothers and fathers. The father private profile and sanction-driven profiles with both parents were associated with more depressive symptoms and problem behavior relative to the other profiles. The results provide insight into why middle adolescents of diverse ethnicities do not disclose personal information to parents.

Theory of Mind and Concealing vs. Forthcoming Communication in Adolescence

Concealing information requires that adolescents manage the information that they share, which requires cognitive skills, for example, theory of mind (ToM). This study explored motivations for concealment that early adolescents (N = 90, M = 12.81 years, SD = 5.10 months, range 12–14 years, and 58% female) endorsed concealing or disclosing to friends and parents, in relation to their theory of mind. We found that adolescents broadly endorsed disclosure to both parents and friends, even when it might mean they would face consequences, be impolite (by not protecting another’s feelings), or face negative identity-related emotions. We found that ToM ability was associated with a tendency to endorse being forthcoming and sharing information with both friends and parents. These findings provide new insight into how the relation between ToM and concealment may change with age, specifically how in early adolescence it may foster open communication rather than concealment as is the case in early and middle childhood.

How Do Adolescents Manage Information in the Relationship with Their Parents? A Latent Class Analysis of Disclosure, Keeping Secrets, and Lying

The use of disclosure and concealment strategies by adolescents in the relationship with their parents may have important implications for their adjustment. Few studies of adolescents' information management have taken a person-centered approach, yet it is a useful way to understand variations in how they regulate information shared with their parents. This study explored adolescents' information management constellations with their mothers and fathers, and how these patterns differ in terms of perceived need-supportive parenting, autonomous reasons for disclosure, and problematic alcohol use. Three hundred thirty-two Swiss adolescents (45% female; M_age = 15.01 years) reported information management strategies used with each parent (disclosure, keeping secrets, lying), perceptions of maternal and paternal need-supportive parenting (involvement, autonomy support, structure), autonomous reasons for disclosure, and problematic alcohol use. Latent class analyses revealed three classes: Reserved (37%), Communicators (36%), and Deceptive (27%). Comparisons across classes showed that adolescents in the Communicators class reported the highest levels of parental involvement and autonomy support, as well as autonomous reasons for disclosure. Adolescents in the Deceptive class reported the lowest levels of parental involvement and autonomy support, as well as autonomous reasons for disclosure. Associations between classes and problematic alcohol use were also found, such that the likelihood of problem drinking was greater for adolescents in the Deceptive class. These findings underscore the importance of continued information sharing with both parents, and underline how a need-supportive parenting context may encourage adolescents to talk voluntarily.

It takes two (or more): The social nature of secrets

The lion's share of research on secrecy focuses on how deciding to keep or share a secret impacts a secret-keeper's well-being. However, secrets always involve more than one person: the secret-keeper and those from whom the secret is kept or shared with. Although secrets are inherently social, their consequences for people's reputations and social relationships have been relatively ignored. Secrets serve a variety of social functions, including (1) changing or maintaining one's reputation, (2) conveying social utility, and (3) establishing friendship. For example, if Beth has a secret about a past misdemeanor, she might not tell any of her friends in order to maintain her reputation as an outstanding citizen. If Beth does share this secret with her friend Amy, Amy could interpret this as a sign of trust and think that their friendship is special. However, Amy could also choose to share Beth's secret with the rest of the friend group to show that she is a useful member with access to valuable information about others. Attention to these social functions of secrets emerges from a young age, and secrets play a prominent role in human relationships throughout the lifespan. After providing an overview of what is currently known about the relational consequences of secrecy in childhood and adulthood, we discuss how social and developmental psychologists could work together to broaden our understanding of the sociality of secrets. Future steps include incorporating more dyadic and social network analyses into research on secrets and looking at similar questions across ages. This article is categorized under: Psychology > Reasoning and Decision Making.

The Role of the Family's Emotional Climate in the Links between Parent-Adolescent Communication and Adolescent Psychosocial Functioning

The current study was designed to extend the parenting literature by testing the moderating role of the family's emotional climate, operationalized with parent-adolescent emotional closeness and adolescent feelings of being overly controlled by parents on the longitudinal associations between parent-driven communication efforts (i.e. parental behavioral control and solicitation of information from their adolescent), adolescent-driven communication efforts (i.e. adolescent disclosure and secrecy) and adolescent psychosocial functioning (i.e. emotional problems, conduct problems, delinquency, and wellbeing). We conducted a series of cross-lagged models controlling for adolescent gender and ethnicity using a two-wave Swedish longitudinal set of self-report data (N = 1515, 51% girls, M age = 13.0 and 14.3 years at T1 and T2, respectively). Multi-group analyses revealed that the negative links between T1 parental control and T2 adolescent delinquency, T1 parental solicitation and T2 adolescent conduct problems and delinquency, and T1 emotional problems and T2 adolescent disclosure were moderated by the family's emotional climate. When the family's emotional climate was positive, the parenting strategies had a more positive effect on adolescent psychosocial functioning, and adolescents with emotional problems communicated more openly with their parents. These findings suggest that the relational context in the family is an important protective factor and add specificity to the previously established role of parent-adolescent communication in adolescent psychosocial development. In terms of preventive interventions, strategies to enhance the family's emotional climate should be considered prior to teaching specific parenting strategies.