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Is Keeping a Secret or Being a Secretive Person Linked to Psychological Symptoms?
Author(s) -
Kelly Anita E.,
Yip Jonathan J.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of personality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.082
H-Index - 144
eISSN - 1467-6494
pISSN - 0022-3506
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-6494.2006.00413.x
Subject(s) - psychology , personality , social psychology , social support , developmental psychology
This prospective study explored whether keeping a major secret, self‐concealment (i.e., the predisposition to keep secrets), and social support at Time 1 predicted symptomatology levels 9 weeks later (Time 2) among a sample of 86 undergraduates. The results showed that the process of keeping a secret actually predicted fewer symptoms, whereas the personality variable of self‐concealment predicted more symptoms at Time 2, even when the analyses controlled for social support. However, the predictive effects of both secret keeping and self‐concealment were wiped out when the analyses statistically controlled for initial symptomatology, which was positively linked to self‐concealment from the outset. These findings challenge conventional wisdom about the dangers of keeping a major secret and suggest that, instead, the kind of person who is secretive simply might be more vulnerable to symptoms.