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Adolescent Disclosure of Information About Peers: The Mediating Role of Perceptions of Parents’ Right to Know

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Abstract

Following the important insight that what parents know about their adolescent offspring depends primarily on what the child tells them, this study examines how attitudes about what parents have a right to know mediate the associations between several factors (quality of parent–child relationships, time spent with family and peers, levels of antisocial and prosocial behaviors, and gender and age) and adolescents’ disclosures about peer relations. In two studies of early and middle adolescents (Ns = 231, 249; M ages = 14.5, 13.0; 62.3, 51.8 % female; 53.7, 67.5 % European American), a new measure of right-to-know attitudes is derived and then applied to four facets of adolescents’ experiences with peers: details of activities with peers, issues in specific relationships, and positive and negative peer characteristics. The findings indicate that adolescents are more inclined to disclose certain aspects of their peer relations than others, but these inclinations are related to several factors—especially the quality of mother–child relationships and involvement in antisocial behavior—and mediated by adolescents’ attitudes regarding what parents have a right to know about peers. The results are related to autonomy development and parental oversight of adolescent peer interactions.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a grant to the second author by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.

Author contributions

HYC conceived of the study, participated in its design, performed the statistical analysis, and drafted the manuscript; BBB participated in the design, interpretation of the data, and helped draft the manuscript; HVB conceived of the study, participated in its design and coordination, and data analysis. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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  1. Department of Educational Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1025 W Johnson St, Madison, WI, 53706, USA

    Hsun-Yu Chan & B. Bradford Brown

  2. Department of Family Consumer Science, Minnesota State University, Mankato, 102 Wiecking Center, Mankato, MN, 56001, USA

    Heather Von Bank

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  1. Hsun-Yu Chan
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Correspondence to B. Bradford Brown.

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Chan, HY., Brown, B.B. & Von Bank, H. Adolescent Disclosure of Information About Peers: The Mediating Role of Perceptions of Parents’ Right to Know. J Youth Adolescence 44, 1048–1065 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-015-0261-9

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