title: Gender differences in keeping secrets from parents in adolescence.
abstract: The current longitudinal study examined adolescent gender differences in the developmental changes and relational correlates of secrecy from parents. For 4 successive years, starting in the second year of junior high (mean age at Time 1 = 13.2 years, SD = 0.51), 149 male and 160 female Dutch adolescents reported on secrecy from their parents and the quality of the parent-child relationship. Latent growth curve modeling revealed a linear increase in secrecy, which was significantly faster for boys than for girls. Moreover, cross-lagged panel analyses showed clear concurrent and longitudinal linkages between secrecy from parents and poorer parent-child relationship quality in girls. In boys, much less strong linkages were found between poorer relationships and secrecy from parents.
authors.affiliation: Research Centre Adolescent Development.
authors.forename: Loes
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Keijsers
authors.forename: Susan J T
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Branje
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Frijns
authors.forename: Catrin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Finkenauer
authors.forename: Wim
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Meeus
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D041923:Adolescent Development; D003142:Communication; D003219:Confidentiality / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires