Open up or close down: How do parental reactions affect youth information management?☆

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to test a process model of youths' information management. Using three waves of longitudinal data collected from 982 youths, we modeled parents' positive and negative reactions to disclosure predicting youths' feelings about their parents, in turn predicting youths' disclosure and secrecy about their daily activities. Gender, age, and psychopathic personality traits were examined as potential moderators. The results showed that parents' negative reactions were associated with increases in youths' feeling controlled and decreases in youths' feeling connected to their parents, which in turn, predicted increased secrecy and decreased disclosure. In contrast, parents' positive reactions predicted increased feeling connected to parents, which in turn predicted increased disclosure. Moreover, these predictive pathways were modified by youths' psychopathic personality traits. Our results are consistent with a transactional model suggesting that how parents react to youths' disclosure affects youths' future decisions to provide their parents with information about their daily activities. The results point to the importance of considering youths' feelings and characteristics.

Parental Behaviors in the Context of Adolescent Disclosure (PBAD): Instrument Development

“…In addition to the parental negative reactions identified in previous research (Kerr et al, 1999;Marshall et al, 2005;Tilton-Weaver et al, 2010), new forms of parental behavior which play a role in facilitating adolescent disclosure have been introduced in the PBAD-A (i.e. creating opportunities for adolescent's disclosure, asking unobtrusive questions, parental own disclosure) and PBAD-R (i.e.…”

“…Five-point response scales were used (1-never to 5-always). Several studies found a two-factor structure of the scale: disclosure and secrecy (Frijns, Keijsers, Branje, & Meeus, 2010;Tilton-Weaver et al, 2010), pointing out the importance of conceptually distinguishing between the two. Since it is not yet clear whether this structure stems from conceptual difference between disclosure and secrecy or it represents a disclosure topic specificity (disclosure items concern school and friends; secrecy items concern free time, nights and weekends), we rephrased the two secrecy items to measure disclosure (e.g.…”

“…In line with that, two qualitative studies showed that one of the most prominent reasons adolescents gave for withholding information was expecting negative reactions from their parents (Marshall, Tilton-Weaver, & Bosdet, 2005;Tilton-Weaver & Marshall, 2008). Very few quantitative studies explored parental reactions to youths' disclosures (Kerr, Stattin, & Trost, 1999;Tilton-Weaver et al, 2010), and none of them thoroughly described and classified such parental reactions. Apart from the reactions following adolescents' disclosures, parental emotional states or behaviors that take place prior to actual self-disclosure also play a role in inviting or preventing adolescents' opening up to a parent (Tokić & Pećnik, 2011).…”

Parental monitoring and youth behavior problems: moderation by callous-unemotional traits over time

“…For youths high on CU traits, parents may have to rely more on what the youth feels like disclosing. Indeed, youths with CU traits are possibly least likely to freely give information to their parents [33], and parents might be responding to this closed behavior by reducing their monitoring attempts.…”

Mother–adolescent monitoring dynamics and the legitimacy of parental authority

“…Although adolescents may employ a range of different strategies (Cumsille, Darling, & Martinez, 2010;Marshall et al, 2005), previous work suggests that information management strategies can be classified efficiently as concealing strategies or revealing strategies (e.g., . Concealing and revealing are not two opposite ends of the same continuum Larson & Chastain, 1990), but represent distinct types of strategies, with their own outcomes and precursors (Cumsille et al, 2010;Marshall et al, 2005;Tilton-Weaver et al, 2010). Therefore, both disclosure (a revealing strategy) and secrecy (a concealing strategy) were assessed in the current study.…”