Poster Session 6: Children, Parents, and Families in Context

Presenters: Rebecca Leaf Brown, Hailey Holmgren, Jodi Dworkin

Summary
The aim of this study was to examine the influence of parent-child communication and parental solicitation on two aspects of adolescent secrecy (i.e. secret sharing and secret keeping). Using a sample of 403 parent-child dyads, parent participants were asked about parent-child communication and parental solicitation, and adolescent participants were asked about parent-child communication, parental solicitation, and secret keeping and sharing behaviors. Results suggest that child report of communication, and parent report of solicitation behaviors were linked with more secret sharing, while parent report of communication was negatively associated with secret keeping. The discussion and implications sections focus on the importance of parent-child communication in creating an open channel of communication between adolescents and their parents.

Objectives
-- To examine differences between secret keeping based on parent-child communication and parental solicitation
-- To examine differences between secret sharing based on parent-child communication and parental solicitation
-- To inform prevention efforts by identifying parent behaviors (e.g., soliciting information, communicating) that may prevent secret keeping and encourage secret sharing in adolescence

Subject Codes: communication, parent-child relationships, parenting
Population Codes: adolescence, diverse but not representative, U.S.
Method and Approach Codes: dyadic analysis, regression: linear (simple, multiple, hierarchical), quantitative methodology