Adolescents’ Self-Disclosure to Parents Across Cultures: Who Discloses and Why

Abstract

Much attention has been given to self-disclosure as an important component of parent—adolescent relationships. The authors address gaps in the current literature via a multimethod, multicultural design, interviewing 120 adolescents in Costa Rica, Thailand, and South Africa about their reasons for disclosing to parents, and then constructing items to represent the essence of the interview data and administering these items (along with measures of the parent—adolescent relationship and adolescent characteristics) to 2,100 adolescents in the same cultures. Analyses focus on discerning reasons for disclosure and on identifying profiles of adolescents who are more likely to disclose. Results reveal that adolescents from different cultures generally disclose for similar reasons and in similar patterns and that adolescents who disclose report social competence and, consistent with past research, positive parenting.

The Longitudinal Influence of Self‐Efficacy, Communication, and Parenting on Spontaneous Adolescent Disclosure

“…According to Bussey (), an individual's self‐belief in their capacity for disclosure (i.e., their disclosure self‐efficacy) may enable it. This is supported by research indicating that self‐efficacy for self‐assertiveness is positively correlated with self‐disclosure to mothers across cultures (Hunter et al., ). While these findings are informative, the situation specificity inherent in Bandura's (, ) definition of self‐efficacy warrants the investigation of whether self‐efficacy for disclosure specifically can influence disclosure behavior.…”

“…These findings are congruent with the view that children with parents who are behaviorally controlling are more likely to engage in disclosure as their parents actively solicit information, clearly communicate expectations, and provide a structure through which their child understands the link between their behavior and these expectations (Soenens et al., ). Other studies have similarly found that teenagers who rate parents as higher in behavioral control report more disclosure, but only in some cultures (Hunter, Barber, Olsen, McNeely, & Bose, ) and when disclosing certain issues (Smetana, Villalobos, Tasopoulos‐Chan, Gettman, & Campione‐Barr, ). Meanwhile, Darling et al.…”

“…This is in line with research showing that parental psychological control serves to undermine adolescents' voice with parents, including their articulation of personal experiences (Zimmer‐Gembeck, Madsen, & Hanisch, ). Whereas some studies have found evidence consistent with a negative relationship between parental psychological control and a child's willingness to share information (e.g., Soenens et al., ; Urry, Nelson, & Padilla‐Walker, ), others have reported no such relationship (e.g., Hunter et al., ). Further contradictory are the findings of Smetana et al.…”

Adolescent Disclosure of Information About Peers: The Mediating Role of Perceptions of Parents’ Right to Know

“…Several studies have pointed to some aspect of parenting or the quality of parent-child relationships as a determinant of disclosure (Hunter et al 2011;Keijsers et al 2009;Tilton-Weaver 2014). Our study is unusual in considering multiple qualities of parent-child bonds separately for mothers and fathers.…”

“…Although some investigators report that females are more open with parents (especially mothers) than males (Crouter et al 2005;Daddis and Randolph 2010), this is not always the case, and gender differences are usually modest. Similarly, ethnic differences in adolescents' disclosure within a given society have not been widely examined, but cross-cultural studies reveal both consistencies-e.g., in reasons for sharing information with parents (Hunter et al 2011)-and inconsistencies-e.g., in factors predicting disclosure (Darling et al 2009)-in patterns of sharing information with parents.…”