I just don’t agree with my parents: Why Chinese adolescents keep secrets

Abstract

The present study investigated 195 Chinese adolescents’ ( Mage = 15.9, SD = 1.46, 56% female) everyday secret-keeping behaviors and their rationale for their behaviors as reported in a two-week daily diary. A total of 860 secrets were reported. Chinese adolescents primarily kept secrets involving personal activities, followed by academic events and events concerning interpersonal relationships and electronic use. Justifications for their secretive behaviors mainly included reports of fear of parental disapproval in all types of events, particularly in personal events. Adolescents’ fear of parental disapproval was often referenced in the context of adolescents’ belief that their parents differed when it came to the value of doing activities outside of academics and attitudes towards adolescents’ academic successes and failures. Our findings highlighted the significance of academic events and achievement in Chinese adolescents’ secret-keeping behaviors and the central role of avoiding parental punishment or criticism in their justifications across all types of events. Girls reported a greater proportion of secrets concerning personal activity and a smaller proportion concerning electronic use than boys. Developmental differences were also found in the reporting of keeping secrets in personal activity and electronic use, i.e., adolescents reported more secrets in personal activity but fewer secrets concerning electronic use when they grew older. The findings highlight the importance of balancing adolescents’ needs for autonomy development and academic achievement in adolescent-parent relationships.