Keeping secrets from parents: Daily variations among poor, urban adolescents

Abstract

Daily variations in secrecy with mothers and fathers were examined in 108 poor, urban, diverse middle adolescents (M = 15.16 years, SD = 0.89). Adolescents completed online diaries over 14 days assessing secrecy from parents about school, personal, and multifaceted activities (e.g., staying out late), and bad behavior. Three‐level hierarchical linear models indicated that there were significant daily fluctuations in adolescents' secrecy with mothers and that adolescents kept more secrets from mothers about personal than other activities. Secrecy with mothers also was associated with greater involvement in problem behavior. For both mothers and fathers, secrecy on the current day was associated with greater secrecy on the previous day and with poorer overall relationships (as aggregated across study days) with that parent. Thus, for mothers, secrecy appeared to be associated with both stable factors and daily variations, whereas for fathers, secrecy was associated primarily with stable factors. The results provide a detailed picture of secrecy in diverse adolescents' everyday lives.

Parent–Child Relationships in the Twilight Saga: Implications for Family Life Education

“…Something wrong.'' (New Moon, p. 178) Previous research confirms the idea that adolescents keep secrets from their parents (Jensen, Arnett, Feldman, & Cauffman, 2004;Smetana, Villalobos, Rogge, & Tasopoulos-Chan, 2010). Motivations for secret-keeping include the desire for privacy and avoidance of negative consequences parents might impose should secrets, such as going against parents' wishes, be revealed (Darling, Cumsille, Caldwell, & Dowdy, 2006;Smetana, Villalobos, Tasopoulos-Chan, Gettman, & Campione-Barr, 2009;Tokic & Pecnik, 2010), as illustrated in several of the examples above.…”

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

“…One way to exercise autonomy is to restrict the information that parents have so that one can make decisions or pursue activities without excessive parental input or oversight (Tilton-Weaver and Marshall 2008). From this perspective, adolescents' disclosure of peer information should be more strategic (Smetana et al 2010), based partly on the child's attitudes about what parents have a right to know.…”

The Trouble with Bullying in High School: Issues and Considerations in Its Conceptualization

“…This co-occurs with normative developmental changes in how parents and their children negotiate their relationships with one another as adolescents begin to acquire greater autonomy (Bakken and Brown 2010). Adolescents are less likely to disclose information they think is personal or that will get parental disapproval (Smetana et al 2009). Bullying likely fits this designation as some parents blame the victim (i.e., their own child) when it occurs (Harcourt et al 2014).…”

“…Adolescents who fully disclose about their lives are less likely to be depressed and are more likely to have better relationships with their parents (Smetana et al 2009). To better facilitate disclosure, parents need to take all disclosures about bullying seriously to ensure that adolescents feel validated and motivated to disclose about bullying in the future (Sawyer et al 2011).…”