What parents don't know and how it may affect their children: Qualifying the disclosure–adjustment link

Abstract

Recent research has identified adolescent disclosure to parents as a powerful predictor of adolescent adjustment. We propose, however, that the common operationalization of adolescent disclosure incorporates the two separate constructs of disclosure and secrecy, and predicted that the disclosure-adjustment link can largely be explained by the unique contribution of secrecy from parents. A four-wave survey study among 309 adolescents tested these predictions. Factor analyses confirmed that disclosure and secrecy should be distinguished as two separate constructs. Moreover, in cross-lagged path analyses, only secrecy was a longitudinal predictor of adolescent internalizing (i.e., depression) and externalizing (i.e., delinquency) problems, disclosure was not. Secrecy consistently contributed to the longitudinal prediction of delinquency from early to middle adolescence, whereas it contributed to the prediction of depression only in early adolescence. Findings thus attest the importance of distinguishing between disclosure and secrecy and suggest that the disclosure-adjustment link may actually reflect a secrecy-maladjustment link.

The Relationship Between Parental Knowledge and Monitoring and Child and Adolescent Conduct Problems: A 10-Year Update

“…Adolescents also engage in a wide variety of strategies to keep information from their parents, including nondisclosure, avoiding, lying, and secrecy (Keijsers and Laird 2010;Smetana 2008). Secrecy and concealment longitudinally predict more engagement in delinquent behavior (Frijns et al 2010) whereas disclosure predicts less antisocial behavior (Laird and Marrero 2010). Therefore, the type of nondisclosure strategy has important implications for later adolescent problem behavior.…”

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

“…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.…”

Mother–adolescent monitoring dynamics and the legitimacy of parental authority

“…Items are from Stattin and Kerr (2000), Kerr and Stattin (2000) but were modified to make the items appropriate for our early adolescent sample (see Laird & Marrero, 2011). We did not include the two items that tapped adolescent secrecy because Frijns et al (2010) demonstrated that the disclosure and secrecy items loaded onto different factors (see also a Canadian study Almas, Grusec, & Tackett, 2011). Mean scores were used (a age12 ¼ .83; a age13 ¼ .87).…”