Secrets lurking in the background: Investigating the underlying effects of secrets in everyday life

Abstract

Keeping secrets can have negative consequences for well-being, yet most research relies on artificially prompting participants to reflect on their secrets prior to assessing key outcomes. The current research addresses this methodological limitation by having participants (N = 114) report on significant social interactions with five people for 10 days of experience sampling, with the extent of secrecy from each person only assessed after those 10 days. Results show that keeping more secrets from an interaction partner (and secrets of greater importance) was associated with higher burden in daily interactions (i.e., more stress, distractedness, distance, inauthenticity) and lower relationship quality. These results provide compelling evidence that keeping secrets may be negatively associated with daily interactions and relationships even when secret-keepers are not necessarily dwelling more on their secrets. Altogether, this research suggests that the implications of secrecy can be pervasive, subtle, and variable depending on each unique relationship with one's secrecy targets.