Shared secrets versus secrets kept private are linked to better adolescent adjustment

• Published in: Journal of adolescence (London, England.) Vol. 36; no. 1; pp. 55 - 64
• Main Authors: Frijns, Tom, Finkenauer, Catrin, Keijsers, Loes
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.02.2013; Elsevier; John Wiley & Sons, Inc
• Subjects: Adaptation, Psychological; Adjustment; Adjustment (to Environment); Adolescent; Adolescent Behavior; Adolescents; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Biological and medical sciences; Child development; Competence; Confidentiality; Correlation; Delinquency; Depression (Psychology); Developmental psychology; Disclosure; Female; Foreign Countries; Friends; Friendship; Functionalism; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Interpersonal Competence; Interpersonal functioning; Interpersonal Relations; Juvenile delinquency; Loneliness; Male; Medical sciences; Netherlands; Parent Child Relationship; Parent-Child Relations; Parents; Pediatrics; Psychological Patterns; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Secrecy; Sharing secrets; Social behavior disorders. Criminal behavior. Delinquency; Social skills; Surveys; Symptoms (Individual Disorders); Teenagers; Netherlands; Sharing secrets; Interpersonal functioning; Adjustment; Disclosure; Secrecy; Human; Peer relation; Delinquency; Parent child relation; Friendship; Social interaction; Correlation analysis; Social isolation; Adolescent; Family environment; Self disclosure; Social behavior disorder; Interpersonal relation
• ISSN: 0140-1971; 1095-9254
• DOI: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2012.09.005

Abstract It is a household notion that secrecy is bad while sharing is good. But what about shared secrets? The present research adopts a functional analysis of sharing secrets, arguing that it should negate harmful consequences generally associated with secrecy and serves important interpersonal functions in adolescence. A survey study among 790 Dutch adolescents showed that, in line with hypotheses, shared secrets (1) were kept by more adolescents than private secrets, (2) were not linked to maladjustment and (3) were linked to higher interpersonal functioning. Whereas private secrecy was associated with increased delinquency, physical complaints, depressive mood, loneliness, and with lower quality relationships, shared secrecy was associated only with more interpersonal competence. Moreover, sharing a secret was specifically linked to a higher quality relationship with the confidant, and sharing with parents was linked with less delinquency, whereas sharing with a best friend was linked with less loneliness and more interpersonal competence.