Disclosure and Secrecy in Adolescent-Parent Relationships

Author(s): Judith G. Smetana, Aaron Metzger, Denise C. Gettman and Nicole Campione-Barr
Source: Child Development, Vol. 77, No. 1 (Jan. - Feb., 2006), pp. 201-217
Published by: Wiley on behalf of the Society for Research in Child Development
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3696699
Accessed: 22-02-2016 14:10 UTC

REFERENCES
Linked references are available on JSTOR for this article:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3696699?seq=1&cid=pdf-reference#references_tab_contents

You may need to log in to JSTOR to access the linked references.

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/
info/about/policies/terms.jsp

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content
in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship.
For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Society for Research in Child Development and Wiley are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to
Child Development.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 203.101.161.82 on Mon, 22 Feb 2016 14:10:10 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 Child Development,January/February2006, Volume 77, Number 1, Pages 201-217

Disclosure and Secrecy in Adolescent-Parent Relationships

JudithG. Smetana,AaronMetzger,DeniseC. Gettman,and Nicole Campione-Barr
Universityof Ftochester

Beliefs about parents' legitimate authorityand adolescents' obligations to disclose to parents and actual dis-
closure and secrecy in differentdomains were examined in 276 ethnicallydiverse, lower middle-class 9th and
12th graders(Ms = 14.62and 17.40years) and their parents(n = 249).Adolescents were seen as more obligated
to disclose prudentialissues and less obligated to disclose personalthan moral,conventional,and multifaceted
issues; parents viewed adolescents as more obligated to disclose to parents than adolescents perceived them-
selves to be. Adolescents disclosed more to mothersthan to fathers,particularlyregardingpersonalissues, but
mothersoverestimatedgirls'disclosure.Greatertrust,perceivedobligationsto disclose, and, for personalissues,
more parentalacceptanceand psychologicalcontrolpredicted more disclosure and less secrecy.

Recentresearchhas highlightedthe importanceof
children'sdisclosureas a sourceof parentalknowl-
edge about children'sactivities(Crouter& Head,
2002;Kerr&Stattin,2000;Kerr,Stattin,&Trost,1999;
Stattin& Kerr,2000).Althougha greatdeal of re-
searchindicatesthat parentalmonitoringbecomes
increasinglyimportantin adolescence,as adoles-
cents spend less time with parentsand more time
with peers (Csikszentmihalyi & Larson,1984;He-
therington,1993;Larson,Richards,Moneta,Holm-
beck, & Duckett,1996),Crouterand Head (2002)
have noted that most of the researchhas assessed
parentalmonitoringin termsof parents'knowledge
of children'sactivitiesand thatparentalknowledge
can be obtainedin variousways. Kerrand Stattin
(2000),Kerret al. (1999),and Stattinand Kerr(2000)
distinguishedamongchilddisclosure,parentalsoli-
citation of information,and parentalbehavioral
controland found that,controllingfor trust in the
parent-child relationship,only adolescentdisclo-
sure was associatedwith lower levels of juvenile
delinquencyand adolescentconductproblems(but
see Fletcher,Steinberg,& Williams,2004,who found
thatparentalcontrolcontributedsignificantlyto pa-
rentalknowledgeand also to reductionsin juvenile
delinquency).Furthermore, Kerret al. (1999)found
We thank Dr. KennethHilton, the Rush-HenriettaSchool Dis-
trict,and the many families who participatedin this research.We
are also grateful to AparajitaBiswas, Emily Locker, Gregory
Sherman,Pia Weston,and AlexandraRiverafor their assistance
with this study.
Correspondenceconcerningthis articleshould be addressedto
Judith Smetana, Departmentof Clinical and Social Sciences in
Psychology, Meliora Hall, RC 270266, University of Rochester,
Rochester,NY 14627. Electronicmail may be sent to smetana
Epsych.rochester.edu.
that adolescents who are more disclosing view their
parents as more trusting of them.
These findings are intriguing, because they shift
the focus of this large body of research from
parenting practices to adolescents' active manage-
ment of informationabout their lives. Yet the find-
ings are incomplete, both conceptually and
methodologically.As adolescents spend more time
away from home, they have increased opportunities
to manage information,keep things secret,and make
choices about disclosure, but Kerrand Stattin(2000)
did not systematically consider what adolescents
disclose or are secretive about. Adolescents may
choose to reveal or conceal informationto parentsfor
differentreasons,including attemptsto assert power
or manipulate parents (Stattin, Kerr, & Ferrer-
Wreder,2000), avoid disapproval (Marshall,Tilton-
Weaver, & Bosdet, 2005; Stattin et al., 2000), gain
autonomy (Finkenauer, Engels, & Meeus, 2002;
Marshall et al., 2005), or because they increasingly
view some aspects of their behavior as private mat-
ters and inappropriateto disclose to parents. Fur-
thermore, teenagers' management of information
may vary for different types of activities and the
extent to which they believe those activities may
elicit parentalconcern.
Youniss and Smollar (1985)found that adolescent
boys and girls talk to both mothersand fathersabout
schoolwork,future plans, and social issues, but they
do not communicate much about issues like dating
(although they disclose more to mothers than fa-
thers).Likewise,Noller and Callan(1990)found that,
in general,adolescents reportednot disclosing much
to their parents,with adolescent girls reportingmore
disclosure to mothers than to fathers and adolescent
t 2006 by the Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.
All rights reserved. 0009-3920/2006/7701-0014

This content downloaded from 203.101.161.82 on Mon, 22 Feb 2016 14:10:10 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
202 Smetana, Metzger, Gettman, and Campione-Barr
boys reporting equal disclosure to mothers and fa-
thers about relationships, sexual attitudes and in-
formation, and plans. Although these studies are
informative,they lack a conceptualframeworkand a
more systematic approach for understanding the
types of issues that adolescents disclose or conceal
from parents.
Moreover,Kerrand Stattin(2000)and Stattinand
Kerr (2000) examined disclosure as assessed by five
questions: whether adolescents spontaneously tell,
like to tell, usually tell, keep a lot of secrets, or hide
their everyday activities from their parents.Previous
researchhas shown that disclosure and secrecy are
only moderately (and inversely) correlated (Fin-
kenauer et al., 2002), as are disclosure and conceal-
ment (Finkenauer,Frijns,Engels, & Kerkhof,2005),
but they were combined in Kerrand Stattin's(2000)
measures. Kerrand Stattin(2000)found that greater
disclosure was associated with more positive out-
comes, but Finkenaueret al. (2002) found that for
both early (12- to 13-year-olds)and late (16- to 18-
year-olds) adolescents, secrecy (but not disclosure)
was associated with poorer relationships with par-
ents, more physical complaints,and more depressed
mood. Moreover, adolescents' disclosure and con-
cealment (as rated by parents) each have unique
associationswith parenting (Finkenaueret al., 2005).
This research suggests that disclosure and secrecy
are empirically distinct, perhaps because they vary
conceptually in the extent to which they may entail
acts ot omlsslon versus commlsslon.
, * * . .
Research from the perspective of social domain
theory (Nucci, 1996; Smetana, 1995, 2006; Turiel,
1983, 1998) may provide a useful way of conceptu-
alizing these issues. Previous research(Fuligni,1998;
Smetana,1988a,2000;Smetana& Asquith, 1994)has
shown that adolescents consistently reject parents'
legitimate authority to regulate personal issues,
which pertain to control over one's body, privacy,
and choices regarding issues such as clothes, hair-
styles, or recreationalactivities. Personal issues are
seen as not having consequences for others and are
thereforeviewed as beyond the boundaries of legit-
imate moral and conventionalconcern.Adolescents'
rejection of legitimate parental authority and their
claims to jurisdiction over personal issues suggest
that adolescents assert an "arena of privacy"
(Buhrmester& Prager, 1995) over these issues and
they may believe that they are not obligated to dis-
close personal issues to parents. With age, adoles-
cents also increasingly assert autonomy over
7na>1tifaceted issues, which entail overlaps between
domains. For instance, keeping the bedroom clean
may be seen as a conventionalissue by parentsand a
This content downloaded from 203.101.161.82 on Mon, 22 Feb 2016 14:10:10 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
personal issue by adolescents; likewise, some
friendship issues may entail overlapping conven-
tional, prudential, psychological, and personal con-
cerns. As parents generally believe that they have
more authority over personal and multifaceted is-
sues than adolescents desire, parents may view ad-
olescents as being more obligated to disclose these
issues than adolescents believe. However, previous
research has not examined adolescents' or parents'
perceptions of adolescents' obligations to disclose
information in different domains. Furthermore,
whether adolescents actually disclose these issues to
parents may vary according to the nature of the
parent-adolescent relationship.
In contrast, previous research has shown that
adolescents and parents agree that parents should
have legitimate authority over moralissues (which
pertain to justice, welfare, or rights), conventionalis-
sues (the arbitrarynorms, like etiquette and man-
ners, that facilitate the smooth functioning of social
systems), and prudentialissues (which pertain to the
individual's comfort, safety, or health;Fuligni, 1998;
Smetana, 1988a,2000; Smetana & Asquith, 1994). In
turn, this suggests that adolescents may believe that
they are obligated to disclose their moral, conven-
tional, and prudentialbehavior to parents.
Finally, Finkenaueret al. (2002) also found that
adolescents' self-disclosure was negatively associat-
ed and secrecy was positively associated with emo-
tional autonomy, as assessed on Steinberg and
Silverberg's (1986) emotional autonomy measure.
They interpreted these findings as demonstrating
that secrecy has both positive and negative benefits
during adolescence. Most researchershave viewed
Steinbergand Silverberg'smeasure as assessing de-
tachment rather than healthy individuation (e.g.,
Ryan& Lynch,1989).Therefore,whether secrecy has
positive benefits during adolescence remains un-
clear,although the availableresearchis consistent in
indicating that adolescent disclosure leads to better
adjustment (Kerr & Stattin, 2000; Stattin & Kerr,
2000). As Crouterand Head (2002) have suggested,
more informationon the correlatesof disclosure and
secrecy is needed.
The presentstudy broughttogetherthese different
lines of research to examine disclosure and secrecy
and their correlates in adolescent-parent relation-
ships. The first aim of the study was to extend pre-
vious research on beliefs about the legitimacy of
parental authority in different social-cognitive do-
mains to examine adolescents' and parents' beliefs
about adolescents' obligations to disclose moral,
conventional,prudential,multifaceted,and personal
issues. On the basis of previous research (Smetana,

1988a, 2000; Smetana & Asquith, 1994), we hypoth-
esized that judgments of legitimate parental au-
thority would be highly associated with obligations
to disclose to parents and that both adolescents and
parentswould view adolescents as more obligatedto
disclose moral, conventional, and prudential issues
rather than multifaceted and personal issues. Fur-
thermore,we hypothesized that generation and ad-
olescents' age would moderate these findings and
that parents would view adolescents as more obli-
gated to disclose to parents, particularlyregarding
multifaceted and personal issues, than adolescents
believed they were obligated to do. We also hy-
pothesized that adolescents' obligations to disclose
issues in all domains, but particularlyin the personal
domain, would decline with age. Because previous
research on parental authority beliefs has revealed
few systematic sex differences, sex differences in
beliefs about disclosure were examined, but no spe-
cific hypotheses were tested.
The second aim of this study was to examine ad-
olescents' (and for disclosure, parents') perceptions
of actual disclosure and secrecy to parents. We fo-
cused here on everyday issues to ensure that the is-
sues examined afforded frequent opportunities for
disclosure or concealment.Thus, we examined per-
ceptions of disclosure and secrecy regardingschool-
work (such as whether homework was completed or
how students are doing on different subjects in
school), peer issues (like whether parents are home
when teens are at other friends' houses or whether
they are dating), and personal issues (how adoles-
cents spend their free time or what they talk about on
the phone with friends). Although academic issues
can be conceptualized as primarily prudential in
nature (e.g., having to do with potential long-term
harm or benefit to the self), this differs from the
prudential issues examined in both the current as-
sessment and previous researchon the legitimacy of
parentalauthority,which has focused on prudential
issues of risk, such as drug and alcohol use or sexual
activity (e.g., Smetana, 2000; Smetana & Asquith,
1994).The peer issues examinedhere were consistent
with the multifacetedfriendship issues examined in
previous researchon the legitimacy of parental au-
thority in that they included both personal and po-
tentially conventionalor prudentialconcerns.
On the basis of results of Finkenaueret al. (2002,
2005), we expected that adolescents' disclosure to
parents would be only moderately and inversely
associated with their ratings of secrecy or conceal-
ment from parents about the same issues. We also
examined age, sex, and topic differences in adoles-
cents' disclosure and secrecy and generation differ-
This content downloaded from 203.101.161.82 on Mon, 22 Feb 2016 14:10:10 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Disclosure in Adolescence 203
ences in disclosure. We expected that adolescents
would disclose more and conceal less about aca-
demic than personal or peer issues and that they
would disclose more and conceal less about peer
than personalissues. Furthermore,previous research
on disclosure has focused primarilyon middle ado-
lescence (Kerr& Stattin,2000;Stattin& Kerr,2000)or
has not distinguished between middle and late ad-
olescence (Darling, Cumsille, Hames, & Caldwell,
2004). In this study, we examined middle (9th grad-
ers) and late adolescents' (12th graders')secrecy and
disclosure regarding these different topics. On the
basis of the previous research(Buhrmester& Prager,
1995; Finkenauer et al., 2002; Youniss & Smollar,
1985), we hypothesized that adolescents' disclosure
of personal issues to parents would decrease with
age. Furthermore,we hypothesized that adolescents
would disclose less, particularlyat older ages and
regardingpersonal issues, than parents perceived.
Furthermore,Crouterand Head (2002)have criti-
cized past researchon parentingas focusing globally
on "parents"rather than assessing parenting sepa-
rately for mothers and fathers. Thus, in this study,
adolescents separatelyrated their disclosure and se-
crecytoward mothersand fathers.On the basis of the
previous research,which has shown that disclosure
varies for mothers and fathers and interacts with
child gender (Bumpus, Crouter, & McHale, 2001;
Crouter,Helms-Erikson,Updegraff,& McHale, 1999;
Noller & Callan, 1990; Waizenhofer,Buchanan, &
Jackson-Newsom,2004;Youniss& Smollar,1985),we
expected that adolescents, and particularly girls,
would report greater disclosure overall to mothers
than to fathers but that adolescent boys would dis-
close personalissues more to fathersthan to mothers.
The final aim of this study was to examine the
correlates of adolescent disclosure and secrecy re-
garding these differenttypes of issues. We examined
the unique influences of adolescents' beliefs about
their obligations to disclose to parents, parenting
(including acceptance and psychological control),
and the quality of parent-adolescent relationships
on disclosure and secrecy. We hypothesized that
adolescents who viewed themselves as more obli-
gated to disclose to parentswould disclose more and
conceal less. We also expected that the quality of the
parent- adolescent relationship would influence
both disclosure and secrecy, but that different di-
mensions would be important for each. Based on
Kerr et al.'s (1999) findings, we expected that trust
(both parents' perceptions of trust in their adoles-
cents and adolescents' perceptions of trust in
their parents) would be associated with disclosure
regarding all three types of issues. However, we
204 Smetana, Metzger, Gettman, and Campione-Barr
hypothesized that adolescents' trust in parents
wouldbe morepositivelyassociatedwith disclosure
regardingpersonalissues and more negativelyas-
sociatedwith secrecyover personalthan other is-
sues. On the basisof the resultsof Finkenauer
et al.
(2002),we expectedthatmoreproblematicparent-
adolescentrelationships,includinggreaterconflict,
would be associatedwith greatersecrecy(but not
disclosure),particularly
overpeerissues.Finally,on
the basis of recentresearch,which has linked pa-
rentalpsychologicalcontrolspecificallywith paren-
tal overcontrolof adolescents'personal domains
(Hasebe,Nucci, & Nucci,2004;Smetana& Daddis,
2002),we expectedthatmoreparentalpsychological
controlwould be associatedwith greatersecrecy
over personalissues, whereas greateracceptance
would be associatedwith greaterdisclosureover
personalissues.
Methods
Participants/Sample
The samplefor this study consistedof 276 ado-
lescents,1549thgraders(M= 14.62years,SD = 0.51,
n = 53 malesand 101females)and 12212thgraders
(M= 17.40years,SD= 0.47,n = 42 malesand 80 fe-
males),and theirparents(n = 249:210 mothersand
39 fathers).Boys and girls in each grade did not
differsignificantlyin age.Theadolescentswere70%
EuropeanAmerican,9% African American,9%
Asian,7%biracial,4%Hispanic,and 2%other.Most
participatingstudentslived in two-parentfamilies
with two biologicalparents(72%);the remainder
resided in stepparentfamilies (7%),single-parent
families (19%,of which nearly all were mother-
headedhouseholds),or other(2%).Familystructure
and adolescents'race/ethnicity(examinedin terms
of EuropeanAmericanvs. all else) did not differ
significantlyby adolescents'gradeor sex.
Participatingmothersand fatherswere, on aver-
age, 43.50 and 45.67 years old, respectively
(SDs = 5.00and 5.82years).Twenty-eight percentof
bothmothersandfathershad a highschooldiploma
or less, 45%of mothersand 37%of fathershad
completedsome college,and the remainingparents
had obtaineda college degree or higher (8% of
mothersand 15%of fathershad graduatedegrees).
Parentswere primarilylower middle-class,as as-
sessed on the socioeconomicindex (SEI;Nakao &
Treas,1992).Scoreson the SEIcan rangefrom1 to
100, with higher scores indicatinggreateroccupa-
tionalprestige(Ms= 46.64and52.26formothersand
fathers,SDs= 15.50and 18.48).Finally,adolescents
This content downloaded from 203.101.161.82 on Mon, 22 Feb 2016 14:10:10 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
with parentsparticipating
or not participating
in the
study did not differ in sociodemographicback-
ground,exceptthatadolescentswith a participating
parentweremorelikelyto comefromtwo biological
parentfamiliesthanadolescentswhose parentsdid
not respond(72%vs. 56%).
Assessmentsof ParentalAuthorityLegitimacyand
Obligationsto Disclose
Stimuli. Thestimulifortheseassessmentswere20
hypotheticalissues groupedinto prudential,moral
and conventional,multifaceted,and personalcate-
gories(seeAppendixA fortheitems).Basedon pilot
testingand previousresearch(Smetana& Daddis,
2002;Smetana,Campione-Barr, & Daddis,2004),the
moral and conventionalitems were combinedto
forma singlesociallyregulateddimension.The defi-
nitions of the domainsand the selectionof items
were based on previous theorizingand research
(Smetana,1988a,2000;Smetana& Asquith,1994),as
well as pilottesting.
Legitimacyratings. Adolescentsand parentsrated
the extentto which it is okay for parentsto make
rulesor set expectationsabouteach item,assessing
the legitimacyof parentalauthority.Respondentsrated
the legitimacyof parentalauthorityon a 5-point
scale rangingfrom 1 (absolutely not) to 5 (definitely,
yes).Thus,higherscoresindicatedgreaterlegitimacy
of parentalauthority.ossfor adolescents'ratingsof
prudential,socially regulated(moraland conven-
tional),multifaceted,and personalitems were .89,
.74,.77,and .76,respectively,andforparents'ratings
were .91,.77,.81,and .74,respectively.
Obligationsto disclose.Adolescentsand parents
alsoratedwhetherchildren"shouldtell parentswhat
they are doing,thatis whetherthey have a duty or
obligationto tell parentsabouttheirbehavior,"as-
sessingtheirjudgmentsof theirobligationsto disclose
to parents.Obligationswere rated on the same 5-
point scale as for legitimacy,with higherscoresin-
dicatinggreaterobligation.ocswere .89,.87,.78,and
.77 for adolescents'ratings of prudential,social,
multifaceted,and personalitems, respectively,and
.92,.83,.81,and .75for parents'ratings.
Assessncents
of Dasclos1lre
and Secrecy
Adolescent disclosure.Adolescents and parents
ratedhow oftenthey "usuallytell or are willing to
tell theirmother(or father),withoutthem asking"
about 12 personal,peer, and schoolworkissues,
listed in AppendixA. As can be seen, the same
personalitems used in the assessmentof beliefs

aboutlegitimateparentalauthorityand obligations
to disclosewereusedin theassessmentof disclosure.
Respondentswereinstructedto considerhow much
they (or theiradolescents)discloseor are willingto
disclose to each parent,ratherthan whetherthey
actuallyengagein eachbehavior.Adolescentscom-
pletedthe ratingsseparatelyfor disclosureto moth-
ers and fathers.Responseswere ratedon a 5-point
scalerangingfrom1 (nevertell)to 5 (alwaystell).as for
disclosureregardingpersonal,schoolwork,and peer
issueswere.81,.78,artd.68foradolescents'ratingsof
mothers,.77, .80,and .67 for adolescents'ratingsof
fathers,and .78,.86,and .68for parents'ratings.
Adolescentsecrecy.Secrecywas ratedregarding the
same set of itemsused to assessdisclosure.Adoles-
centsratedhow oftenthey "keepsecretor tryto hide
whatyouaredoingfromyourmother(father)" on a 5-
pointscalerangingfrom1 (never) to 5 (always).Again,
ratingswerecompletedseparatelyforeachparent.ots
forratingsof secrecyregardingpersonal,schoolwork,
and peer issues were .78, .76,and .68 for ratingsof
mothersand .80,.80,and .70forratingsof fathers.
of Disclosureand Secrecy
Correlates
Trust.Adolescents completed the Trust subscale
(10 items) of the Parent-Peer AttachmentInventory
(PPAI;Armsden & Greenberg,1987),which assesses
adolescents' trust in parents.Responses were scored
on a 5-point Likertscale ranging from 1 (almostnever
or nevertrue)to 5 (aZmost alwaysor alwaystrue).Ad-
olescents completed the questionnaire twice, once
for mothers (a=.74) and once for fathers (a=.77).
The items were reworded to assess parents' trust in
their adolescent (a=.69). Adolescents' ratings of
trust in mothers and fathers were significantly as-
sociated, r(263)= .43 (except where otherwise noted,
all ps<.Ol); ratings of mothers and fathers were
combined for the analyses.
Adolescent-parentconflict.Adolescents and par-
ents rated 11 different areas of day-to-day decision
making (dress or clothing, helping out around the
house, homework, time to be home, choice or vol-
ume of music or TV,time spent on the phone, who
should be friends, bedroom, spending or managing
money, dating), drawn from previous research on
adolescent-parent conflict (Smetana, 1989). Using
proceduresderived from the Issues Checklist(Prinz,
Foster,Kent, & O'Leary,1979;Robin & Foster,1989),
respondents indicated whether each issue was dis-
Legitimacyof ParentalAuthorityand Adolescents'
cussed during the past 2 weeks (scored as O= not Obligationsto Discloseto Parents
discussedor 1 = discussed).Then, for each issue dis-
cussed, respondentsrated the frequencyof discussion
during the previous 2 weeks on a scale ranging from and parents'judgments of the legitimacy of parental
This content downloaded from 203.101.161.82 on Mon, 22 Feb 2016 14:10:10 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Disclosure in Adolescence 205
1 (not often)to 4 (veryoften)and the intensityof dis-
cussion during the previous 2 weeks on a 5-point
scale ranging from 1 (calm)to 5 (angry).Adolescents
completed these ratings separately for mothers and
fathers. Ratings of mothers and fathers were signif-
icantly associated for both frequency, r(247)=.56,
and intensity, r(245)=.43; thus, scores for mothers
and fathers were combined for both variables.
Parenting.Parents rated their parenting on the
Acceptance/Rejection and Psychological Control
subscales (10 items each) of the Children'sReportof
Parents'BehaviorInventory(CRPBI;Schaefer,1965a,
1965b;Schludermann& Schludermann,1970). Par-
ents rated each item on a 3-point scale ranging from
1 (not like the parent)to 3 (a lot likethe parent).as for
the two scales were .73 and .58.
Self-esteem.Adolescents rated each of 10 items on
the Rosenberg(1986) Self-EsteemInventory on a 4-
point scale ranging from 1 (stronglydisagree)to 4
(stronglyagree;a= .87).
Procedures
Adolescents and theirparentswere recruitedfrom
a suburban school district. Researchers visited all
9th- and 12th-gradehomerooms to inform students
about the research. Interested students took the
survey packages (for both students and parents)
home. Because of the number of single-parentfami-
lies in the district, only one parent per family was
asked to complete the surveys. Studentswere offered
small honoraria for their participation. Completed
surveys were returned in school or, in a few cases,
mailed back to the researchteam.
Participationrates, based on the number of stu-
dents in each grade and the average daily absence
ratesfor those grades,were 33%for the 9th grade and
27%for the 12th grade. The race/ethnicity and soci-
oeconomic status of our sample closely matched the
demographic characteristicsof the district, which
was primarilylower middle-classand 78%White,9%
African American, 1% American Indian, 7% Asian,
and 4%Hispanic.Participatingstudentswere slightly
above the district average in academic achievement
(assessed by self-reportedgrade point average), and
girls were overrepresentedin our sample.
Results
Means and standard deviations for adolescents'
206 Smetana, Metzger, Gettman, and Campione-Barr

authority and adolescents' obligations to disclose
their behavior in different domains are reported in
Table1. Our hypothesis that ratingsof the legitimacy
of parental authority and obligations to disclose to
parents would be highly associated was confirmed.
Total ratings were strongly correlated for adoles-
cents, r(275)=.59, and parents, r(249)=.62. How-
ever, although statistically significant, associations
between parents' and adolescents' ratings of the le-
gitimacy of parental authority,r(249)=.20, and ob-
ligations to disclose to parents, r(249)=.29, were
only moderate.
To test hypotheses about domain, age, and gen-
eration differences, separate 2 (grade) x 2 (sex) x 2
(generation:parent vs. child) x 4 (domain) repeated
measures analyses of variance (ANOVAs) with
generation and domain as repeated measures were
performed on ratings for the two judgments. As
hypothesized, parents werei seen as having signifi-
cantly less legitimate authority,F(1,236) = 6.17, and
adolescents were perceived as being significantly
less obligated to disclose to parentsas they got older,
F(1,237)=7.94. Also consistent with expectations,
parents viewed parents as having significantlymore
legitimate authority, F(1,237)= 239.14, and adoles-
cents as having significantlymore of an obligationto
disclose to parents, F(1,237) - 220.30, than did ado-
lescents. Furthermore,significant main effects for
domain in ratings of legitimacy, F(3,708)=523.69,
and obligations to disclose, F(3,711)= 327.23, re-
vealed that prudential issues were seen as more le-
gitimately subject to parental authority and more
obligatory to disclose than all other issues (Bonfer-
roni t-tests, all ps<.01). In turn, socially regulated
(moral and conventional) items were seen as more
legitimately subject to parental authority than mul-
tifaceted and personal issues. In contrast, adoles-
cents were seen as more obligated to tell parents
about their behavior vis-a-vis multifaceted issues
than moral, conventional, and personal issues. As
hypothesized, personal issues were seen as less ob-
ligatory to disclose and less legitimately subject to
parentalauthoritythan all other issues.
Findings regardingthe legitimacy of parentalau-
thority were qualified by significant Generationx
Grade, F(1,236) = 4.93, p = .03, Generationx Do-
main, F(3,708) =42.76, and Domain x Grade x
Generation interactions,F(3,708) = 4.50. For obliga-
tions to disclose to parents, there was a significant
Generationx Domain interaction, F(3,711)=20.49,
and the three-way interaction approached signifi-
cance, F(3,711)= 2.56, p = .054. Post hoc analyses
revealed that there were no significant age differ-
ences in 9th and 12th graders' ratings of the legiti-
macy of parental authority for any of the domains,
but parentsof 9th gradersviewed parentalauthority
as more legitimate for multifaceted, socially regu-
lated (moral and conventional),and personal issues

Table 1
Means and StandardDeviations for Ratings of Legitimacyof Parental Authority and Obligations to Disclose

Legitimacy of parental authority Obligation to disclose

Adolescents Parents Adolescents Parents

9th 12th M 9th 12th M 9th 12th M 9th 12th M

Prudential
M 4.17 3.96 4.05 4.73 4.52 4.64 3.63 3.33 3.51 4.74 4.55 4.66
SD 1.12 0.98 1.08 0.88 0.92 0.90 1.37 1.28 1.30 0.75 0.70 0.73
Social
M 2.91 2.89 2.90 4.29 4.05 4.19 2.89 2.66 2.79 4.07 3.80 3.96
SD 0.99 0.94 0.92 0.72 0.86 0.75 1.09 1.02 0.96 0.73 0.75 0.75
Multifac
M 2.76 2.74 2.75 4.24 3.75 4.05 3.25 3.18 3.22 4.29 3.90 4.12
SD 0.91 0.85 0.87 0.72 0.79 0.78 1.02 0.89 0.94 0.70 0.71 0.73
Personal
M 2.11 2.18 2.15 3.16 2.80 3.02 2.55 2.49 2.52 3.35 3.07 3.23
SD 0.88 0.79 0.83 0.80 0.79 0.81 0.88 0.86 0.87 0.78 0.68 0.75
Total
M 3.02 2.98 3.00 4.12 3.79 3.99 3.09 2.91 3.01 4.11 3.84 4.00
SD 0.82 0.71 0.77 0.59 0.65 0.64 0.91 0.85 0.88 0.62 0.59 0.62

Note. Multifac = Multifaceted; Social = Moral and Conventional. Items were rated on 5-point scales where higher scores = more legitimate
parental authority and greater obligation to disclose to parents.

This content downloaded from 203.101.161.82 on Mon, 22 Feb 2016 14:10:10 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 n
oce
ecn
oo
N N
sr
ct oO
N
ooo4oo noo
N
ooo
sr o ct
toe N
oNootn e oO
oIn
oo
o o ooeN Nooo
o tN
o 'eIn
No oN
O Nt ooNo csIn ono so N
o
N ov - -

Disclosure in Adolescence 207

(but only marginally,for prudential issues) than did N

o
N
o
e
o
e
o
cs
o
+
o
u:
o
's
o
oo
o o
m e
o
o

parentsof 12th graders.As expected, parentsviewed l l l l l l

their adolescents as significantly less obligated to

disclose their activities in each domain as they got
older. However, similar age-relateddecreases in ad- - o
o
o

o
o

o
m

o
m

o
o

o
N

o
t

o
o

o
e

o
N

o
o

olescents' ratings of their obligation to voluntarily cr) I I I I 0

disclose their behavior to parents approached sig- Qn

u

nificance for moral and conventional (p<.07) and * *

prudential issues (p< .055), although adolescents o o o o o o o o o

u

consistently rated personal issues as less obligatory

u)
l l l l
ap

than all other issues.

*

Overview and Descriptive Findings for Disclosure and o

l
o
l
o
l
o
l
o
l
o
l
o o

Secrecy ut

c)
o
c)

Means and standard deviations for adolescents' o *-

u)

ratings of disclosure and secrecy regardingpersonal, o

e t n m t Oo o

o o o o o o o
peer, and schoolwork issues for mothers and fathers u
cJ
l l l 1 l

and their interrelationshipsare presented in Table2. ll

v)

As can be seen, mean levels of disclosureand secrecy o

were both moderate. e

t
o
N
N
o
o
e
o
t
e
o
ol

o
o
N
o
o
o.
v)

Because we selected the peer issues from a larger l l l l l l

set of multifaceted issues used to assess legitimate av

parental authority,the items, by definition, entailed

o oo o oo e o

overlaps between the domains. Thus, high correla- u:

o
.
e
o
.
N
o
.

o
.
In
o
.
o
.

ut

tions between personal and peer issues would be as

u
expected, and this is what we found. However, there cJ
un

were strong associationsamong ratings of disclosure u)

t
- o
o
sr
rs
N
N
t
N
wo
o
o
o
regardingall three types of issues. In contrast,while s
: n
o
n
u o o o o

oo
adolescents' ratings of secrecy regarding personal s
v)
u

and peer issues were highly correlated,as would be o

u)

expected, the remainingassociationswere moderate, o

.

o
.

o
. .

as

supporting their distinction.For both disclosure and vb

secrecy, adolescents' ratings of mothers and fathers v]

were very strongly associated,but when considering 5

oo
so
t
m
o
o

both mothers and fathers, adolescents' ratings of vL o o

n

disclosure and secrecy showed the expected mod- cE

ll

erate but negative associations. o

o
-
4 o
C)

n wo o
. .
._

ot o
a
c

Adolescent Disclosure and Secrecy

* v

uL

Although adolescents' ratings of mothers and fa- s

o t t oo N oO e on oO tn o m e
o
thers were strongly associated, the results in Table2
. . . . . . . . . . . .

: ct
7H

also suggest that therewere mean level differencesin o

ll
adolescents' ratings of their parents. Thus, in the :
s
cn

next set of analyses, 2 (adolescents' sex) x 2 (sex of :

v)
N n N N e 's N N N N N N
* ^v

parent) x 2 (grade) x 3 (topic) repeated measures s

ANOVAs with sex of parent and topic as repeated o

[L, O
ll v
measures were run to examine the hypothesized au
o
sH
u) -

s
grade, sex of parent, sex of adolescent, and topic v) tV (n *s >
u a
X u c) ; ,5; a) v
LL,
s v S v ;# un
differences in secrecy and disclosure. (There was a =-s;
So o
slightly smaller n in these analyses than in the pre- as
a)
T t T T T -
u) u) u) n ut
S :8 > :E >:8 11 e
vious analyses because not all adolescents rated a -

n u
o
u
o
cJ
o
n
o
cn
o
ut
X

U
aUj

U
sU

U
QU

U
Q

U
u

father. Parent-adolescent differences in ratings of n Q av c) Q . .

n
M S Ct) S S
Q sE
*

This content downloaded from 203.101.161.82 on Mon, 22 Feb 2016 14:10:10 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
208 Smetana, Metzger, Gettman, and Campione-Barr

disclosurewere examinedin a separateanalysis,
describedin moredetailbelow.)
Adolescentsecrecy.Meansandstandarddeviations
for adolescents'ratingsof secrecytowardmothers
and fathersare shownin Table3. Adolescentswere
more secretiveabout peer than personalissues or
schoolworkandmoresecretiveaboutpersonalissues
thanschoolwork,F(2,246)= 34.10.A significantSex
of Childx Sex of Parentinteraction,F(1,248)= 5.64,
was qualifiedby a significantSex of Childx Sex of
Parentx Topic interaction,F(2,496)= 3.61. Boys
concealedpersonalissues frommothersmorethan
girlsdid, F(1,248)= 4.79.
A significant Topicx Grade interaction,
F(2,496)= 7.06,revealedthat9th gradersweremore
secretive about peers than either schoolworkor
personalissues and more secretiveaboutpersonal
issues than schoolwork, Ms = 2.87, 2.68, 2.11,
SDs = 1.21,0.93,0.98,respectively.In contrast,12th
gradersdid not differentiatebetweenpersonaland
peer issues, although they hid both more than
schoolwork,Ms = 2.59, 2.69, 2.29, SDs = 0.89, 1.02,
0.93,respectively.Thesefindingswerequalifiedby a
significantGradex Child'sSex x Topicinteraction,
F(2,496)= 5.40,whichwas due to a Gradex Child's
Sex interactionfor schoolwork,F(3,269) - 2.84. Post
hoc tests indicated that 12th-gradeboys kept secrets
about schoolwork more than did either 12th-grade
girls or 9th-gradeboys (see Table3).
Adolescentdisclosure.Adolescents' ratings of dis-
closure to mothers and fathers are also presented in
Table3. As hypothesized, adolescents reported vol-
untarily disclosing more to mothers than to fathers,
F(1,252)= 52.66, Ms = 3.16, 2.92, SDs = 0.85, 0.90,
respectively. Mirroringthe results for secrecy, ado-
lescents also disclosed more about schoolwork than
either peers or personal issues and more about peers
than personal issues, F(2,504) = 175.87.
A significantSex of Child x Sex of Parentinterac-
tion, F(1,252)= 10.54, was qualified by a significant
Sex of Child x Sex of Parentx Topic interaction,
F(2,504)= 6.39. Post hoc analyses revealed that, as
expected, girls disclosed more about personal issues,
Ms = 2.96, 2.65, SDs = 0.94, 0.87, and schoolwork,
Ms = 3.93, 3.69, SDs = 0.90, 0.91, respectively,to their
mothers than did boys, but boys and girls did not
differ in their voluntary disclosure to mothers about
peers. Contraryto hypotheses, there were no differ-
ences in boys' and girls' disclosureto fathers.
In addition,a significantTopic x Gradeinteraction,
F(2,504)= 10.60 revealed that 12th gradersvoluntar-
ily disclosed more about peers than did 9th graders,

Table 3
Means and StandardDeviations for Adolescents'Ratings of Disclosure and Secrecy to Parents

Regarding mothers Regarding fathers

Boys Girls Boys Girls

9th 12th M 9th 12th M 9th 12th M 9th 12th M

Disclosure
Personal
M 2.59 2.73 2.65 2.94 2.98 2.96 2.40 2.63 2.51 2.52 2.45 2.49
SD 0.93 0.81 0.87 0.93 0.94 0.94 0.90 0.76 0.85 0.87 0.88 0.87
School
M 3.84 3.52 3.69 3.97 3.87 3.93 3.65 3.29 3.49 3.70 3.57 3.64
SD 0.99 0.79 0.91 0.91 0.89 0.90 1.07 0.91 1.01 1.13 1.09 1.11
Peer
M 2.72 3.13 2.91 2.98 3.19 3.08 2.65 3.00 2.81 2.55 2.77 2.65
SD 1.08 1.04 1.08 1.26 1.78 1.22 1.14 1.06 1.11 1.21 1.21 1.21
Secrecy
Personal
M 2.78 2.72 2.79 2.55 2.48 2.52 2.77 2.68 2.73 2.76 2.59 2.69
SD 0.95 0.92 0.95 0.93 0.92 0.93 1.02 0.93 0.98 1.02 0.99 1.00
School
M 2.10 2.57 2.34 2.07 2.09 2.12 2.17 2.58 2.36 2.17 2.23 2.20
SD 1.03 1.00 1.04 0.99 0.90 0.95 1.00 1.06 1.05 1.09 1.02 1.06
Peers
M 2.97 2.53 2.85 2.71 2.70 2.68 3.07 2.50 2.81 2.90 2.87 2.90
SD 1.17 0.88 1.06 1.26 1.13 1.21 1.20 1.02 1.15 1.35 1.18 1.27

This content downloaded from 203.101.161.82 on Mon, 22 Feb 2016 14:10:10 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 Disclosure in Adolescence 209

Table4 found in the previous analyses,mothersdid not

Means and StandardDeviations for Adolescents'and Mothers' Ratings differ significantlyin their views of adolescents'
of Disclosure disclosureabouttheseissues.
Adolescents(rating
mothers) Mothers Correlatesof Adolescent Disclosure and Secrecy
9th grade 12th grade 9th grade 12th grade In the next set of analyses,we examinedcorrela-
Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls
tionsamongthestudyvariables,as shownin Table5.
For ratingsof the legitimacyof parentalauthority
Personal and beliefsaboutdisclosure,the moral,convention-
M 2.57 2.87 2.81 3.06 2.72 3.31 2.71 3.33 al, and prudentialitems were dropped, and the
SD 0.95 0.98 0.84 0.99 0.84 0.86 0.85 0.90 multifacetedandpersonalitemswerecombinedinto
School a single index to more closely matchthe issues of
M 3.80 3.86 3.58 4.01 3.14 3.58 2.72 3.56 disclosureand secrecyunder investigation.Given
SD 0.90 0.96 0.90 0.81 0.90 0.84 0.84 0.97 their high intercorrelations,adolescents'ratingsof
Peers
M 2.73 2.93 3.07 3.35 3.28
mothersand fatherswere combinedin theseanaly-
3.62 2.89 3.51
SD 1.07 1.31 1.09 1.20 0.94 1.04 0.96 0.99
ses for disclosure,secrecy,trust, discussion fre-
quency, and conflict intensity. As expected,
adolescents'ratingsof disclosureand secrecywere
significantlyand inverselycorrelated,r(274)= - .46.
F(1,173)=4.13,Furthermore, 12thgradersdisclosed As can be seen, intercorrelations among the inde-
moreaboutpeersthanaboutpersonalissues,whereas pendentvariableswere generallylow to moderate.
9th gradersdid not differentiate
betweenpeersand We also examinedcorrelationsbetweenadolescent-
personalissuesin theirdisclosureto parents. rated disclosureand secrecyand several sociode-
Parent-adolescentdifferencesin perceiveddisclo- mographicbackgroundvariables,includingparents'
sure. Becausemostparentparticipantsweremothers ages, educations,SEIscores,ethnicity(Whitevs. all
and because the previous analyses revealed that else),and maritalstatus(married,two-parentvs. all
adolescentsrated their fathersand mothersdiffer- else),but no significantrelationshipswere obtained.
ently,the next analysescomparedadolescents'rat- Next,we conductedregression analysesto examine
ings of disclosure to mothers with mothers' the uniqueinfluenceof studyvariableson disclosure
responses(n = 202).Thus,a 2 (adolescents'sex) x 2 andsecrecyregarding differentissues.As we hadno a
(grade)x 2 (adolescents'ratings of mothers vs. priorihypothesesaboutthe orderingof variables,all
mothers)x 3 (topic) repeated measures ANOVA variableswereenteredin a singlestep.Becauseado-
with generationandtopicas repeatedmeasureswas lescents'beliefsaboutthe legitimacyof parentalau-
performedon disclosureratings. thorityand their beliefs about their obligationsto
A significant Generationx Grade interaction, discloseto parentswere stronglycorrelated(r=.51),
F(1,198)= 6.60,indicatedthatmothersviewed their leading to concernswith multicollinearity, we in-
9th gradersas disclosingmorethan9th gradersre- cludedonly beliefsaboutadolescents'obligationsto
porteddisclosing,Ms = 3.36, 3.05, SDs = 0.82, 0.79, discloseto parentsin the regressionequations.
respectively,
but 12thgradersand theirmothersdid Therefore,adolescents'age and sex, adolescents'
not differ,Ms= 3.24, 3.28, SDs= 0.91, 0.86. A sig- ratingsof trust, discussionfrequencyand conflict
nificant Generationx Sex interaction,F(1,198)= intensity,self-esteem,andbeliefsaboutobligationsto
5.94,revealedthat mothersviewed theirdaughters disclose to parents,as well as parents'ratingsof
as disclosingmore than girls reporteddisclosing, acceptance,psychologicalcontrol,and trustin their
Ms = 3.49,3.29,SDs = 0.84,0.93,but thatboys' and childwereenteredin the analyses.Separateanalyses
theirmothers'ratingsdid not differ,Ms = 3.05,2.94, were run for disclosureand secrecyregardingper-
SDs-0.79, 0.80. sonal,peer,and schoolworkissues, resultingin six
A significantmain effect for topic, F(1,198)= separateregressions.Preliminaryanalysesrevealed
89.24,was qualifiedby significantTopicx Genera- thatparentaltrustwas not significantin any of the
tion, F(1,198)- 67.04, Topicx Grade, F(1, 198)= analyses,and thus it was droppedfrom the final
3.67, and Topicx Generationx Gradeinteractions, analyses.Theresultsof the analysesarepresentedin
F(1,198)= 4.76.Posthocanalysesrevealedthatwhile Table6.
12th gradersvoluntarilytold their mothersmore We also conductedexploratoryanalysesexamin-
abouttheirpeer relationsthan 9th gradersdid, as ing adolescents'separateratingsfor each topic for

This content downloaded from 203.101.161.82 on Mon, 22 Feb 2016 14:10:10 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Obligate Disclose .05 .48** * .06 .38*** .08 .43* * * .08 - .25* ** .08 - .17* .09 - .15*

210 Smetana, Metzger, Gettman, and Campione-Barr

Table 5
Means,StandardDeviations,andCorrelations
AmongVariables

M SD Age Sex TTrust Freq Intens Self-E Oblig PTrust Accep Psych

A Age 15.87 1.49 1.00 - 0.04 - 0.02 - 0.05 - 0.03 0.05 - 0.12* 0.01 - 0.06 - 0.06
Sex (1 = female) 0.66 0.48 1.00 - 0.13* 0.17** 0.18** - 0.10 0.13* - 0.04 0.10 - 0.01
A Trust 3.81 0.72 1.00 -0.01 -0.38** 0.43** 0.38** 0.39** 0.29** -0.11+
A Discussion Freq 2.15 0.63 1.00 0.52** 0.06 0.23** - 0.09 - 0.01 0.07
A Conflict Intensity 2.11 1.04 1.00 -0.08 -0.03 -0.15 -0.11+ 0.18**
A Self-Esteem 3.09 0.56 1.00 0.19** 0.10+ 0.16* - 0.06
A Obligations 3.11 0.86 1.00 0.17* 0.20** -0.04
P Trust 4.13 0.53 1.00 0.46** -0.17**
P Acceptance 2.56 0.32 1.00 - 0.14
P - Psych Control 1.81 0.33 1.00
Disclose-Personal 2.66 0.85 - 0.00 0.05 0.44** 0.16* - 0.08 0.28** 0.57** 0.23** 0.27** 0.06
Disclose-School 3.70 0.96 - 0.13* 0.09 0.48** 0.14* - 0.09 0.29** 0.50** 0.17** 0.29** - 0.08
Disclose-Peers 2.83 1.12 0.11+ 0.00 0.40** 0.14* - 0.10 0.18** 0.50** 0.19** 0.13* 0.01
Secrecy-Personal 2.64 0.92 - 0.02 - 0.01 - 0.28** -0.02 0.08 - 0.22** -0.30** - 0.08 - 0.01 -0.12+
Secrecy-School 2.19 0.96 0.12* - 0.10 - 0.25** 0.01 0.12+ - 0.22** - 0.23** - 0.12+ - 0.10 0.02
Secrecy-Peers 2.80 1.13 - 0.09 0.03 -0.28** 0.00 0.17* * - 0.21** - 0.21** -0.13* - 0.02 - 0.12+

Note. A = Adolescent; P = Parent; Freq= Frequency; Intens = Intensity; Self-E = Self-Esteem; Auth = Legitimacy of Parental Authority;
Oblig = Obligations to Disclose; Accep = Acceptance; Psych = Psychological Control. ns ranged from 276 (for associations between ado-
lescent-rated measures) and 242 (for associations between parental and child reports).
+p<.10, *p<.05, **p<.01.

mothers and fathers.In these analyses, we used ad-
olescents' parent-specificratings of trust, discussion
frequency,and conflictintensity,as well as measures
of parentalpsychologicalconbol, parentalacceptance,
and beliefs about obligationsto disclose used in the
previous analyses. Results differing from the com-
bined analyses are noted in parenthesesin the text.
Uniquecorrelatesof adolescentdisclosure.Older ad-
olescents reported greater disclosure over peer is-
sues. As can be seen, adolescents' trust in parents
and adolescents' beliefs about their obligation to
disclose to parents were statistically significant in
each analysis. Adolescents who trusted their parents
more and who believed they were more obligated to
disclose to them reported greaterdisclosure regard-
ing personal, peer, and schoolwork issues. In addi-
tion, more parent-reported psychological control
predicted greater adolescent disclosure about per-
sonal issues (for both mothers and fathers) and
marginally (p<.07) for peer issues (for fathers only,

Table 6
Regression
Modelsof Adolescents'
Perceptions
of Disclosureand Secrecy(n = 232J

Disclose-Pers Disclose-School Disclose-Peer Hide-Personal Hide-School Hide-Peer

Predictor SE p SE ,B SE p SE : SE : SE ,B

A Age .03 .09+ .03 -.04 .04 .20*** .04 -.07 .04 .12+ .05 -.14*
A Sex .09 -.01 .11 .08 .13 -.03 .13 -.03 .13 -.11+ .16 -.05
A Trust .08 .24*** .09 .28*** .11 .28*** .11 -.19* .11 -.10 .13 -.20*
Discussion Freq .08 .06 .09 -.01 .11 .10 .12 .03 .12 .02 .14 -.05
Conflict Intensity .07 .01 .08 .07 .10 -.04 .10 .02 .11 .10 .12 .17*

Self-Es teem .09 .04 .10 .08 .12 -.09 .12 -.07 .12 -.16 * .14 -.04
Parent Acceptance .14 .11* .16 .14* .19 -.02 .20 .13* .20 .01 .23 .09
Parent Psych Control .13 .15** .15 -.01 .18 .10+ .18 -.16** .19 -.01 .22 -.20**
Model Total R2 .46 .41 .38 .18 .14 .17

Note.Pers = Personal; A = Adolescent; Freq= Frequency; Psych = Psychological.

+p< .10, *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001.

This content downloaded from 203.101.161.82 on Mon, 22 Feb 2016 14:10:10 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

b=.16, p<.05). In contrast, greater parental accept-
ance was associated with greater disclosure about
schoolwork (for both mothers and fathers) and per-
sonal issues (for mothers only, b=.12, when exam-
ined separately for each parent). Older adolescents
disclosed more about peer issues. Self-esteem, dis-
cussion frequency, and conflict intensity were not
significantin the analyses of disclosure. Overall, the
variables accounted for 46%, 41%, and 38% of the
variance in adolescents' disclosure regarding per-
sonal, school, and peer issues, respectively.
IIniqxecorrelatesof adolescentsecrecy.Youngerad-
olescents reported greater secrecy regarding peers.
Consistent with the previous analyses, adolescents
who believed that they were more obligated to dis-
close to parents kept fewer secrets regarding these
issues. In contrastto the previous analyses, however,
trust did not significantly influence adolescents' se-
crecy regarding schoolwork (owing to a nonsignifi-
cant effect for trust in fathers,b= .10).
As in the previous analyses, more parental psy-
chological control was associated with less secrecy
regarding personal and peer issues. More parental
acceptancewas associatedwith less secrecyregarding
personalissues, betterself-esteemwas associatedwith
less secrecy regardingschoolwork,and, as expected,
adolescents who had more intense conflicts with
parents reportedmore secrecy regardingpeer issues
(for fathers only, b=.17). These variables accounted
for 18%,14%,and 17%of the variancein secrecy re-
garding personal,academic,and peer issues.
Discussion
This study extended our understandingof disclosure
and secrecy in parent-adolescent relationships in
several ways. First, using the framework of social
domain theory (Smetana, 1995, 2006; Turiel, 1983,
1998),the study demonstratedthat adolescents' and
parents' beliefs about adolescents' obligations to
disclose to parentswere closely associatedwith their
beliefs about parents'legitimateauthorityto regulate
acts in different social-cognitive domains and that
beliefs about disclosure were strongly associated
with adolescents' actual disclosure. Second, the
study elaborated on recent research on adolescent
disclosure (Kerr& Stattin,2000;Stattin& Kerr,2000)
by examining distinctions between disclosure and
secrecy, by comparing adolescents' and parents'
perceptions of adolescents' disclosure, and by ex-
amining the unique influence of different correlates
on adolescents' disclosure and secrecy regarding
different types of activities. These issues are dis-
cussed in turn below.
This content downloaded from 203.101.161.82 on Mon, 22 Feb 2016 14:10:10 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Disclosure in Adolescence 211
BeliefsAboutAdolescents'Obligationsto Discloseto
Parents
This study demonstrated that adolescents and
parents made conceptual domain distinctions in
their judgments of adolescents' obligations to tell
parents about their activities and that, as hypothe-
sized, parent-adolescent differences and adoles-
cents' age (but not adolescents' gender) moderated
these perceptions. Parallelingthe findings for judg-
ments of the legitimacy of parental authority,both
parents and adolescents viewed adolescents as more
obligated to tell parents about their prudential be-
havior and less obligated to disclose personal issues
than any other type of issue. These findings are
consistent with those of Perkins and Turiel (2005),
who found that adolescents judged it to be accepta-
ble to deceive parentsabout their moraland personal
behavior but not their prudentialbehavior.Consist-
ent with previous research (Smetana, 1988a, 2000;
Smetana & Asquith, 1994), (combined) moral and
conventional issues were judged to be more legiti-
mately subject to parental authority than multifac-
eted and personal issues.
This ordering was reversed, however, in adoles-
cents' ratings of their obligations to disclose to par-
ents; adolescents were seen as more obligated to tell
parents about their behavior regardingmultifaceted
than moral and conventional issues. Multifaceted
issues (like watching an R-rated movie or seeing
friends that parents don't like) are at the boundaries
between parental conventional regulation (or pa-
rental prudentialconcern)and adolescents' personal
jurisdiction and, as such, have been found to be
majorsources of conflict in adolescent-parent rela-
tionships (e.g., Smetana, 1988b, 1989; Smetana &
Asquith, 1994). Therefore, it is not surprising that
both adolescents and parents viewed adolescents as
more obligated to disclose these activitiesthan moral
or conventional behaviors, which, by adolescence,
entail well-established and taken-for-grantedexpec-
tations (Smetana & Daddis, 2002). Consistent with
the definition of personal issues as private matters
that are up to adolescents to decide (Nucci, 1996),
adolescents did not perceive themselves as obligated
to disclose personal issues to parents, whereas par-
ents, on average, viewed their teens as at least
sometimes obligated to tell.
Unlike previous research(Fuligni, 1998;Smetana,
1988a, 2000; Smetana & Asquith, 1994), age-related
declines in judgmentsof parents'legitimateauthority
to regulateacts in differentdomains were found only
in parents'but not adolescents'judgments.This could
be because this study focused on a more limited age
212 Smetana, Metzger, Gettman, and Campione-Barr
range than previous studies, which typically have
spanned pre- or early to late adolescence. Further-
more, unlike the previous research, where beliefs
aboutlegitimateparentalauthorityhave been assessed
using binomial judgments,this study used a 5-point
Likertscale. Even though parents'ratingsof their le-
gitimate authoritydeclined significantlywith adoles-
cents' age, there were large (approximatelyl-point)
differencesin parents'and 12th graders'ratings.
Parallel findings were obtained in ratings of ob-
ligations to disclose to parents. Parents consistently
viewed adolescents as more obligated to disclose
their behavior in each domain than adolescents
perceived, although discrepanciesbetween parents'
and adolescents' judgments decreased with adoles-
cents' increasing age, mostly because of age-related
differencesin parents'beliefs. Unlike the findings for
legitimacy, however, and most likely reflecting the
taken-for-granted nature of these expectations
(Smetana& Daddis, 2002),we did find that with age,
adolescents viewed themselves as less obligated to
disclose to parents about their moral and conven-
tional behavior.As expected, ratings of adolescents'
obligations to disclose to parents and the legitimacy
of parental authority were strongly associated, but
the strength of the correlations also indicated that
these constructsare not identical.
Disclosure and Secrecy
As Crouterand Head (2002)have recommended,
we examined adolescents' ratings of disclosure and
secrecy separatelyfor mothersand fathers.Although
these ratingswere very highly associated,there were
significant mean level differences, which were fur-
ther moderated by type of issue and, as others have
found, adolescents'sex (Bumpuset al., 2001;Crouter
et al., 1999;Noller & Callan, 1990;Waizenhoferet al.,
2004; Youniss & Smollar, 1985). Our findings are
consistent with previous research indicating that
both boys and girls, but particularly girls, have
closer, more supportive relationships with mothers
than with fathers (Furman& Buhrmester,1992)and,
more specifically,that girls confide more in mothers
than in fathers (Noller & Callan, 1990; Youniss &
Smollar,1985)about schoolworkand less often about
personal issues. Our findings did not support the
hypothesis that boys would voluntarily disclose
more about personal issues to fathers than mothers;
boys and girls in this study did not differ in their
disclosureor secrecyregardingany of the issues with
fathers. However, consistent with previous research
indicating that mother-daughter relationships are
closer and more supportive than mother-son rela-
This content downloaded from 203.101.161.82 on Mon, 22 Feb 2016 14:10:10 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
tionships (Furman & Buhrmester,1992), we found
that boys were more secretive about personal issues
with their mothers than were girls, whereas girls
disclosed more about personal issues (and also
schoolwork)to mothers than did boys. Furthermore,
mothers overestimated this disclosure and rated
their daughters as more disclosing than daughters
actually were (although no differences between
mothers and sons emerged). It has been hypothe-
sized that mothers identify more with their daugh-
ters than their sons (Chodorow, 1978). In fact, we
found that girls did disclose personal issues more to
mothers than did boys, which may lead mothers to
overestimate parent-adolescent similarities. In ad-
dition, parents have a greater "generationalstake"
(Bengston & Kuypers, 1971) in maintaining conti-
nuity between generations, whereas adolescents, in
contrast,are attemptingto differentiatefrom parents.
Although parents viewed adolescents as increas-
ingly less obligated to disclose about multifaceted
(including peer and friendship) issues with age, it
was surprising that 12th graders actually disclosed
more about these issues than did 9th graders. This
may be because conformity to peers, particularly
regarding antisocial issues, peaks in 9th grade
(Berndt,1979;Sim & Koh, 2003). Thus, 9th graders'
secretiveness about these issues may reflect their
greatersusceptibilityto peer pressure at this age. As
the peer issues included an item pertainingto dating,
it is also possible that adolescents become more
willing to talk to parents about their romanticinter-
ests and peer relationshipsas they get older. Finally,
it is unclear why 12th-gradeboys were more secre-
tive about schoolwork than either same-age girls or
younger boys. The 12th graders in this study did
report lower academic performance(as assessed by
grade point averages)than did 9th graders,although
no sex differencesin academicperformanceemerged
in our sample.
Correlatesof Disclosure and Secrecy
The results of this study did not provide strong
support for Finkenauer et al.'s (2002) claim that
disclosure and secrecy are conceptually distinct. As
expected, secrecy and disclosure were significantly
and inversely correlated. Although the strength of
the associationindicated that these measures are not
identical, they did have relatively similar correlates.
Consistentwith the previous research(Finkenaueret
al., 2002;Kerret al., 1999),we found that a context of
mutual trust facilitates adolescents' disclosure to
parents over all of the issues examined here. In con-
trast, secrecy over personal and peer issues was

associated with less trust in the parent-adolescent
relationship, whereas secrecy over schoolwork was
associated with lower self-esteem. Secrecyover peer
issues was also uniquely associated with greater
conflict intensity.Thus, like Finkenaueret al. (2002),
we found that disclosure has positive implications
and secrecyhas negative implicationsfor adjustment.
However, we did not find that secrecy has positive
benefits during adolescence, although our assess-
ment of adjustmentwas more limited than theirs.
It should be noted that we assessed adolescents'
perceptions of trust in parents, whereas Kerr and
colleagues (Kerr et al., 1999; Kerr & Stattin, 2000)
assessed adolescents'perceptionsof parents'trust in
them (which we assessed directly here through
parents' reports). Although there were significant
bivariateassociationsbetween parents' trust in their
teens and adolescent-reporteddisclosure (as well as
between adolescent- and parent-rated trust), ado-
lescents' trust in parents was more strongly associ-
ated with disclosurethan parents'trustin their child.
This may reflect an informantbias, but it is also in-
terestingto note that parents'ratings of trust in their
adolescent were not significantly associated with
two of the three measures of secrecy.
Furthermore,consistent with other research ex-
amining self-disclosure as an aspect of and route
toward achieving intimacy (Reis & Shaver, 1988),
Finkenaueret al. (2002, 2005) examined self-disclo-
sure in terms of revealing private thoughts and
feelings. Along with other researchers who have
examined disclosure as an aspect of parental
knowledge (Crouter & Head, 2002), however, this
research focused on adolescents' voluntary disclo-
sure of activities (although one personal item,
"having a 'crush' on a girl or boy," referredto feel-
ings). Our research suggests that it is important to
specify the issues that are kept secretor disclosed, as
they have somewhat differentcorrelates.
Differenceswere particularlyevident for parents'
ratings of acceptance and psychological control.
Greater parental acceptance was associated with
more disclosure regarding personal issues and
schoolwork and less secrecy regarding personal is-
sues. As the moderate association (r=.43) between
parentalacceptanceand parent-ratedtrust suggests,
acceptance partially indexes parents' warmth and
support, which was shown to have a positive asso-
ciation with disclosure. As adolescents (and to a
lesser extent, parents) viewed disclosure over per-
sonal issues as discretionaryrather than obligatory,
acceptanceon the part of the parent may be partic-
ularly importantin creatinga climate where adoles-
cents feel comfortablein revealing personal issues.
This content downloaded from 203.101.161.82 on Mon, 22 Feb 2016 14:10:10 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Disclosure in Adolescence 213
Previousresearchhas shown that overcontrolof
the personaldomainleads to greaterfeelingsof pa-
rental psychologicalcontrol (Smetana& Daddis,
2002)and moreinternalizingsymptoms(Hasebeet
al., 2004).Contraryto our hypotheses,the findings
fromthis studyfurthersuggestthatgreaterparental
psychologicalcontrol was associatedwith more
disclosure(and less secrecy)regardingpersonalis-
sues and less secrecyregardingpeer issues.We as-
sesseddisclosurein termsof how much"adolescents
usuallytell, withoutparentsasking"aboutdifferent
issues. Thus,the findingsfor psychologicalcontrol
raisethe intriguingpossibilitythatadolescentswith
parentswho use morepsychologicalcontrolmayfeel
subtly coercedto disclose personalissues without
parentsovertlyasking;this issue bears furtherin-
vestigationin futureresearch.Darlinget al. (2004)
have examineddifferentdisclosurestrategies,in-
cluding full disclosure, partial disclosure (e.g.,
omittingsome details),lying,and avoidance;future
researchshould examinewhetherparentalpsycho-
logicalcontrolis differentiallyassociatedwith ado-
lescents'use of these strategies.In addition,in this
study, psychologicalcontrol was assessed using
parent reports;adolescents'reports of parenting
were not obtained.As differentinformants'ratings
of parentingaretypicallyonlymoderatelycorrelated
(Pettit,Laird,Bates,Dodge,&Criss,2001;Smetana&
Daddis, 2002), future researchshould determine
whetheradolescents'perceptionsof parentalpsy-
chologicalcontrolare also associatedwith greater
disclosure,more secrecy,and use of differentdis-
closurestrategies.
Limitationsof this Stedy and FutureDirections
A strengthof this study was that we compared
adolescents'ratingsof disclosureto motherswith
mothers'ratingsof theiradolescents,yieldinga more
preciseassessmentof parent-childsimilaritiesand
differencesthanis typicallyobtainedwhen students
areaskedto rate"parents." However,becauseof the
numberof single-parentfamiliesin our sampleand
thedifficultyof enrollingfathersin research(Parke&
Buriel,1998),we only obtainedresponsesfromone
parentper family.In futureresearch,both mothers'
and fathers'ratingsof adolescentdisclosureshould
be obtainedso that interactionsbetween parents'
and adolescents'genderin disclosurecan be more
fully examined.
Owing to the task demands(includingthe time
neededto completethe surveysandthe redundancy
of asking so many questionsrepeatedlyabout the
same set of items),we did not obtainadolescents'
214 Smetana, Metzger, Gettman, and Campione-Barr
parent-differentiatedperceptionsof beliefs about the
legitimacy of parents' authority or adolescents' ob-
ligations to disclose. It would be worthwhile in fu-
ture research to determine whether adolescents'
beliefs about these issues differ when considering
mothers and fathers.Likewise, we did not obtain an
assessment of parents' perceptions of their adoles-
cents' secrecy, because of task demands as well as
concerns about whether parents know what they do
not know. Future researchshould examine parents'
knowledge of or perceptions of adolescents' secrecy.
In this study, we restricted our assessment of
disclosure and secrecy to everyday activities, in-
cluding personal, peer, and schoolwork issues. It
would be especially important in future researchto
examine disclosure regardinga broaderset of issues,
including prudential behaviors (such as drug and
alcohol use, cigarette smoking, and sexual activity)
as well as other domains of misbehavior (such as
cutting classes or bullying). We did not obtain as-
sessments of disclosure regarding these behaviors
because our piloting indicated the need to differen-
tiate between adolescents who engage in these be-
haviors but do not tell their parents and adolescents
who are not involved in the behaviors (and thus
have nothing to tell). Future research focusing on
normative samples of adolescents will need to dis-
entangle these issues carefully.Previous researchhas
shown that parents solicit more information when
their adolescents are more involved in problem be-
havior (Kerr& Stattin,2000; Tilton-Weaver& Gala-
mbos, 2003), but it would also be interesting to
examine the correlates of adolescents' disclosure
over these aspects of adolescents' behavior.Takinga
different approach, Darling et al. (2004) examined
how much adolescents disclose about issues of con-
flict. However, this may provide an incomplete as-
sessment of disclosure, as there may be little conflict
about issues that are successfully concealed. For in-
stance, our results indicated that conflict intensity
was related to greatersecrecy about peer issues, but
not personal or schoolwork issues.
The correlates examined here accounted for a
sizable proportionof the variance in disclosure, but
much less of the variance in secrecy. Thus, future
research needs to better identify the correlates of
secrecy, especially as Finkenauer et al. (2005) has
found that concealmentin their sample had signifi-
cant but low associations with different dimensions
of parenting. Whereas disclosure may reflect nor-
mative developmental processes of individuation,
the associationbetween poor self-esteem and greater
secrecy (at least over schoolwork) suggests that se-
crecy may have its roots in (mal)adjustment.This
This content downloaded from 203.101.161.82 on Mon, 22 Feb 2016 14:10:10 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
hypothesis should be examined in future research
that includes a broader range of adjustment mea-
sures;this might betterilluminate Finkenaueret al.'s
(2002)claim that disclosure and secrecy are distinct.
Longitudinal research is needed to examine the
developmental trajectories and interrelationships
among beliefs about parental authority and adoles-
cents' obligations to disclose to parents and actual
disclosure. We hypothesize that authoritybeliefs in-
fluence beliefs about adolescents' obligation to dis-
close to parents, which in turn influence disclosure.
As these constructs were assessed concurrently in
this study, however, the causal directions and me-
diating (or potentially moderating) relationships
among the variables cannot be determined.
Disclosure and secrecy should also be examined
in a broader age range of adolescents, and adoles-
cents' justificationsfor disclosure or secrecy in dif-
ferent domains should be investigated. Adolescents
may have different reasons for not disclosing or
concealing issues in the personal versus other do-
mains, and these reasons may be differentially re-
lated to adjustment. Furthermore,as Darling et al.
(2004) have found, disclosure and secrecy are only
two of several possible strategies adolescents may
have for managing information,and more research
on adolescents' strategies for managing different
types of issues is needed.
Although our participationrates were good and
our sample appeared to be representative of the
larger school district from which it was drawn, pre-
vious research has indicated that well-functioning
families are overrepresentedin family research,es-
pecially when active informed consent procedures
are used (Weinberger,Tublin, Ford, & Feldman,
1990),as was done here. Thus, future researchmight
include both normative and at-risk youth. Further-
more, futureresearchshould examine disclosureand
secrecy in different ethnic and racial groups, as it is
likely that disclosure and secrecy in adolescent-
parentrelationshipsmay have differentmeanings in
different cultural contexts.
Finally,the results of this study have implications
for the recent debates about parentalknowledge and
parentalmonitoring.It has been claimed (Crouter&
Head, 2002;Kerr& Stattin,2000) that most measures
of parental monitoring are actually measures of pa-
rental knowledge, which come primarily from ado-
lescent disclosure in the context of trusting parent-
child relationships.Our results confirm the salience
of trust in adolescent disclosure, but we also found
that, even in good relationships, parents overesti-
mate their adolescents' disclosure, particularly at
middle adolescence and with regard to peers. This

suggests the need for furtherspecificationand more
precise measurement of "parentalknowledge." For
instance, as our results indicate that parents think
they know more than they do, parent reports of
knowledge may be of limited value. On the other
hand, much research has asked adolescents "how
much your parents really know" about the youth's
activities.Our findings suggest that it might be better
to more directly assess how much adolescents dis-
close to parents, rather than asking adolescents to
estimate how much their parents know. Further-
more, researchershave not paid sufficient attention
to the types of items used to assess parental moni-
toring or knowledge. Future researchshould distin-
guish between issues that adolescents feel obligated
to disclose (like prudential or peer issues) and per-
sonal issues, where disclosureis discretionary,as our
results indicate that there are age-related,conceptu-
al, and generational differences in the way parents
and adolescents think about these different dimen-
sions of disclosure and secrecy.
References
Armsden, G. C., & Greenberg,M. T. (1987).The inventory
of parent and peer attachment:Individual differences
and their relationship to psychological well being
in adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence,16,
427-454.
Bengston,V. L., & Kuypers,J. A. (1971).Generationaldif-
ference and the developmentalstake. Agingand Human
Development, 2, 249-260.
Berndt, T. (1979). Developmental changes in conformity Kerr, M., Stattin,H., & Trost,K. (1999).To know you is to
to peers and parents. DevelopmentalPsychology,15,
608-616.
Buhrmester,D., & Prager,K. (1995).Patternsand functions
of self-disclosureduring childhood and adolescence. In
K. Rotenberg (Ed.), Disclosureprocessesin childrenand
adolescents(pp. 10-56). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge
University Press.
Bumpus, M. F., Crouter,A. C., & McHale, S. M. (2001).
Parental autonomy granting during adolescence: Ex-
ploring gender differences in context. Developmental
Psychology, 37, 164-173.
Chodorow) N. (1978). The reproductionof mothering.Be-
rkeley:University of CaliforniaPress.
Crouter,A. C., & Head, M. R. (2002).Parentalmonitoring
and knowledge of children. In M. Bornstein (Ed.),
Handbook of parenting,2nded.,Vol.3: Becomingandbeinga
parent(pp. 461-483). Mahwah,NJ:Erlbaum.
Crouter, A. C., Helms-Erikson, H., Updegraff, K., &
McHale, S. M. (1999). Conditions underlying parents'
knowledge about children's daily lives in middle
childhood: Between- and within-family comparisons.
ChildDevelopment, 70, 246-249.
Csikszentmihalyi,M., & Larson,R. (1984).Beingadolescent. Parke,R. D., & Buriel,R. (1998).Socializationin the family:
New York:Basic Books.
This content downloaded from 203.101.161.82 on Mon, 22 Feb 2016 14:10:10 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Disclosure in Adolescence 215
Darling, N., Cumsille, P., Hames, K., & Caldwell, L. L.
(2004).Adolescents as active agents in the monitoring proc-
ess; disclosure strategies and motivations. Unpublished
paper,PennsylvaniaState University,College Park.
Finkenauer,C., Engels, R. C. M. E., & Meeus, W. (2002).
Keeping secrets from parents: Advantages and disad-
vantages of secrecy in adolescence.Journal of Youthand
Adolescence,2, 123-136.
Finkenauer,C., Frijns,T., Engels, R. C. M. E., & Kerkhof,P.
(2005).Perceivingconcealmentin relationshipsbetween
parents and adolescents:Links with parentalbehavior.
Personal Relationships,12, 387-406.
Fletcher,A., Steinberg,L., & Williams,M. (2004).Parental
influences on adolescent problem behavior: Revisiting
Stattinand Kerr.Child Development,75, 781-796.
Fuligni, A. J. (1998). Authority, autonomy, and parent-
adolescentconflictand cohesion:A study of adolescents
from Mexican, Chinese, Filipino, and European back-
grounds. DevelopmentalPsychology,34, 782-792.
Furman, W., & Buhrmester,D. (1992). Age and sex in
perceptionsof networks of personal relationships.Child
Development,63, 103-115.
Hasebe, Y., Nucci, L., & Nucci, M. S (2004).Parentalcon-
trol of the personaldomain and adolescentsymptoms of
psychopathology.Child Development, 75, 815-828.
Hetherington, E. M. (1993). An overview of the Virginia
longitudinal study of divorce and remarriagewith a
focus on early adolescence.Joalrnalof FamzlyPsychology,
7, 39-56.
Kerr,M., & Stattin,H. (2000).Whatparentsknow,how they
know it, and several forms of adolescent adjustment:
Further support for a reinterpretationof monitoring.
DevelopmentalPsychology,36, 366-380.
trust you: Parents'trust is rooted in child disclosure of
information. Journalof Adolescence,22, 737- 752.
Larson, R., Richards, M., Moneta, G., Holmbeck, G., &
Duckett, E. (1996).Changes in adolescents' daily inter-
actions with their families from ages 10-18: Disen-
gagement and transformation.DevelopmentalPsychology,
32, 744-754.
Marshall, S. K., Tilton-Weaver,L. C., & Bosdet, L. (2005).
Information management: Considering adolescents'
regulationof parentalknowledge. Journalof Adolescence,
22, 633-647.
Nakao, K., & Treas,J. (1992).The 1989 socioeconomicindex of
occupations: Constructionfrom the 1989 occupationalpres-
tige scores(GeneralSocial Survey:MethodologicalReportNo.
74). Chicago:University of Chicago, National Opinion
ResearchCenter.
Noller,P.,& Callan,V.J. (1990).Adolescents'perceptionsof
the natureof their communicationwith parents.Journal
of Youthand Adolescence,19, 349-362.
Nucci, L. P. (1996).Moralityand personalfreedom.In E. S.
Reed, E. Turiel,& T. Brown (Eds.), Values and knowledge
(pp. 41-60). Mahwah,NJ:Erlbaum.
Ethnic and ecological perspectives. In N. Eisenberg
216 Smetana, Metzger, Gettman, and Campione-Barr
(Ed.), Handbookof child psychology,Fifth Edition,Vol. 3
Social,emotional,and personalitydevelopment (W. Damon,
Series Editor;pp. 463-552). New York:Wiley.
Perkins,S. A., & Turiel,E. (2005).Tolie or not to lie:Towhom
and underwhat circumstances. Unpublished manuscript,
University of California,Berkeley.
Pettit, G. S., Laird, R. D., Bates, J. E., Dodge, K. A., &
Criss, M. M. (2001).Antecedents and behavior-problem
outcomes of parental monitoring and psychological
control in early adolescence. Child Development,72,
583-598.
Prinz, R. J., Foster, S. L., Kent, R. N., & O'Leary,K. D.
(1979).Multivariateassessment of conflict in distressed
and nondistressedmother-adolescent dyads. Journalof
AppliedBehaviorAnalysis,12, 691-700.
Reis,H. T.,& Shaver,P.(1988).Intimacyas an interpersonal
process. In S. Duck (Ed.),Handbook of researchin personal
relationships (pp. 367-289). London:Wiley.
Robin,A. L., & Foster,S. I. (1989).Negotiatingparent-ado-
lescentconflict:A behavioral familysystemsapproach. New
York:Guilford.
Rosenberg,M. (1986). Conceivingthe self. Melbourne,FL:
Krieger.
Ryan, R. M., & Lynch,J. H. (1989). Emotionalautonomy
versus detachment:Revisiting the vicissitudes of ado-
lescence and young adulthood. ChildDevelopment,60,
340-356.
Schaefer,E. S. (1965a).A configurationalanalysis of chil-
dren's reportsof parentalbehaviors:An inventory.Child
Development, 36, 417-424.
Schaefer,E. S. (1965b). Children's reports of parent be-
haviors. Jogrnalof ConsultingPsychology, 29, 552-557.
Schludermann,S., & Schludermann,E. (1970).Replicability
of factors in Children's Report of Parent Behavior
(CRPBI).Journalof Psychology, 39, 39-52.
Sim, T., & Koh, S. (2003).A domain conceptualizationof
adolescent susceptibilityto peer pressure.Journalof Re-
searchon Adolescence, 13, 57-80.
Smetana,J. G. (1988a).Adolescents' and parents' concep-
tions of parental authority. Child Development,59,
321-335.
Smetana, J. G. (1988b). Concepts of self and social con-
vention:Adolescents' and parents'reasoningabout hy-
pothetical and actual family conflicts. In M. Gunnar &
W. A. Collins (Eds.),21st MinnesotaSymposiumon Child
Psychology: Development duringthetransitiontoadolescence
(pp. 79-122). Hillsdale, NJ:Erlbaum.
Smetana,J. G. (1989).Adolescents' and parents'reasoning
about actual family conflict. Child Development,60,
1052- 1067.
Smetana, J. G. (1995). Morality in context: Abstractions,
ambiguities,and applications.In R.Vasta(Ed.),Annalsof
childdevelopment (Vol.10, pp. 83-130). London:Jessica
Kingsley.
This content downloaded from 203.101.161.82 on Mon, 22 Feb 2016 14:10:10 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Smetana,J. G. (2000).Middle-classAfricanAmerican ad-
olescents'and parents'conceptionsof parentalauthority
and parenting practices:A longitudinal investigation.
ChildDevelopment, 71, 1672-1686.
Smetana,J. G. (2006).Social domain theory:Consistencies
and variationsin children'smoraland social judgments.
In M. Killen & J. G. Smetana (Eds.), Handbookof moral
development (pp. 119-153). Mahwah,NJ:Erlbaum.
Smetana, J. G., & Asquith, P. (1994). Adolescents' and
parents' conceptions of parental authority and adoles-
cent autonomy.ChildDevelopment, 65, 1147-1162.
Smetana,J. G., Campione-Barr,N., & Daddis, C. (2004).
Developmental and longitudinal antecedents of family
decision-making:Defining health behavioralautonomy
for AfricanAmericanadolescents.ChildDevelopment, 75,
1418- 1434.
Smetana,J. G., & Daddis, C. (2002). Domain-specifican-
tecedents of psychological control and parental moni-
toring:The role of parentingbeliefs and practices.Child
Development, 73, 563-580.
Stattin, H., & Kerr, M. (2000). Parentalmonitoring:A re-
interpretation.ChildDevelopment, 71,1072-1085.
Stattin,H., Kerr,M., & Ferrer-Wreder, L. (2000).Adolescents'
secretlives:Whydo theyhidewhatthey'redoingfromtheir
parents?Paperpresentedat the BiennialMeetings of the
Society for Researchin Adolescence, Chicago,IL.
Steinberg,L., & Silverberg,S. (1986). The vicissitudes of
autonomy in early adolescence. ChildDevelopment,57,
841-851.
Tilton-Weaver,L. C., & Galambos, N. L. (2003). Adoles-
cents' characteristicsand parents'beliefs as predictorsof
parents'peer managementbehaviors.Journalof Research
on Adolescence, 13, 269-300.
Turiel, E. (1983). The development of social knowledge:Mo-
ralityand convention.Cambridge,UK: CambridgeUni-
versity Press.
Turiel,E. (1998).Moraldevelopment.In N. Eisenberg(Ed.),
Handbookof childpsychology,5th ed., Vol.3: Social,emo-
tional,and personalitydevelopment (WilliamDamon (Se-
ries Editor);pp. 863-932). New York:Wiley.
Waizenhofer,R. N., Buchanan,C. M., & Jackson-Newsom,
J. (2004). Mothers' and fathers' knowledge of adoles-
cents' daily activities:Its sources and its links with ad-
olescent adjustment.Journalof Marriageand the Family,
18, 348-360.
Weinberger,D., Tublin,S., Ford,M., & Feldman,S. (1990).
Preadolescents'social-emotionaladjustmentand selec-
tive attritionin family research.ChildDevelopment,61,
1374- 1386.
Youniss,J., & Smollar,J. (1985).Adolescents'relationswith
mothers,fathers,and friends.Chicago:University of Chi-
cago Press.
 Disclosure in Adolescence 217

Appendix A
Table A1
Stimulus Items for Assessments of Authority and Disclosure Beliefs, Actual Disclosure, and Secrecy

Beliefs about legitimateauthorityand disclosure Actual disclosureand secrecy

Prudential(risk) Prudential(schoolwork)
Drinkingalcohol Gettinga bad grade/not doing well on work or tests
Smokingcigarettes Finishinghomeworkor assignments
Going to a party where alcohol is served How teens are doing in differentschool subjects
Using marijuanaor other illicit drugs Doing particularlywell on an assignmentor test
Sociallyregulated(moralandconventional)
How friends are treated(teasing,saying mean things)
Spreadingrumorsor saying somethingcruel
Keepingpromisesto others (lying or dishonesty)
Talkingback or being rude to a teacherin class
Type of language (cursingor swearing)
Multifaceted Multifaceted
(peer)
Websitesvisited on the Internet
Types of movies watched or CDs listened to (watchingor listening Hanging out at a friend'swhen no adult is home
to R-ratedmovies or CDs)
Hanging out with friends parentsdon't like Spending time with someone parentsdon't like
If or who teens are dating If or who teens are dating
Personal Personal
How teens spend their free time How teens spend their free time
How teens spend their own money How teens spend their own money
What teens talk about on the phone with friends Whatteens talk about on the phone with friends
What teens write in e-mails, letters,or journals Whatteens write in e-mails,letters,or journals
Who teens like or have a crush on Who teens like or have a crush on

This content downloaded from 203.101.161.82 on Mon, 22 Feb 2016 14:10:10 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions