Premium
Reasons for, and consequences of, revealing personal secrets in close relationships: A longitudinal study
Author(s) -
Caughlin John P.,
Afifi Walid A.,
CarpenterTheune Katy E.,
Miller Laura E.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
personal relationships
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.81
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1475-6811
pISSN - 1350-4126
DOI - 10.1111/j.1350-4126.2005.00101.x
Subject(s) - psychology , social psychology
This investigation examines whether individuals’ reasons for keeping secrets predict whether they eventually reveal those secrets and whether individuals can accurately anticipate the outcomes of revealing. Respondents ( n = 342) first reported on a secret they were keeping and then returned 2 months later to report whether they had revealed it and, if so, what happened when they did. Findings indicated that participants’ reasons for keeping a secret predicted whether they revealed it. The results also indicated both accuracy and inaccuracy in secret tellers’ expectations of the outcomes of revealing a secret. Finally, despite some demonstrable inaccuracies in the forecasted outcomes, participants’ retrospective accounts after revealing suggested that participants typically believed that they had accurately predicted the consequences of revealing.