Mexican-American, Chinese-American and European-American Teens’ Disclosure to
Parents about Their Activities
Marina A. Tasopoulos1, Jenny Yau2 & Judith G. Smetana1
1
University of Rochester, 2 Azusa Pacific University
Introduction
Adolescents’ voluntary disclosure to their parents is an important influence on parentchild relationships, as higher levels of adolescent disclosure have been linked with more
positive adjustment (Stattin & Kerr, 2000).
Recent research from the social domain theory perspective (Turiel 1983, 2006)
suggests that adolescents’ disclosure to parents varies as a function of the type of issue
(Smetana et al., 2006). More specifically Smetana et al. found that teens disclose more about
schoolwork than friendships (which were defined as multifaceted, entailing overlap between
prudential and personal issues). They also disclosed more about friendships than personal
issues, which are seen as up to the individual and as not having consequences for others.
Girls have been found to disclose more to their mothers, particularly about relationships
(Noller & Callan, 1990) and personal issues (Smetana et al., 2006), and teens disclose more
to their mothers than their fathers (Smetana et al., 2006). Previous research has found that
trust with parents and parental acceptance is associated with disclosure in the personal
domain (Smetana et al., 2006).
Most of the research thus far has focused on primarily European-American or
European youth, and ethnicity differences in disclosure have received little research
attention. Previous research indicates that adolescents of different ethnicities conceptualize
parents’ legitimate authority in different ways (Fuligni, 1998), suggesting that teens’
disclosure to parents also may vary by ethnicity. Research indicates that Mexican American
and Chinese American families are more hierarchical than European American families.
Family obligations are important to Chinese American families (Fuligni, Yip & Tseng,
2002), whereas familism and respeto are important values in Hispanic families. These values
may affect disclosure to parents (Harwood et al., 2002).
Study Objectives
To examine the influence of gender and ethnicity on low to middle SES middle
adolescents’ disclosure to parents about prudential, overlapping and personal issues. We
also distinguished between personal behaviors and feelings.
Hypotheses:
* Overall, teens were expected to disclose less about personal issues and feelings than
about overlapping and prudential issues.
* To maintain family harmony (among Chinese American teens) and familism (among
Mexican American teens), it was hypothesized that Chinese American and Mexican
American teens would disclose less to their parents than White teens.
* Girls were expected to disclose more than boys.
* Teens were expected to disclose more to mothers than fathers.
Methods
Participants: 489 lower socioeconomic status high school students from an urban, Westcoast city.
Total
Chinese American
Mexican American
White*
n
Mean
males females Age (yrs)
1st
Generational status
2nd
2.5 3rd or higher
489
188
209
92
221
92
99
30
99
81
16
2
184
96
85
3
268
96
110
62
16.37
16.27
16.28
16.78
47
3
36
8
155
8
69
78
* additional data are being collected in order to increase the number of White teens.
Procedure:
Teens completed questionnaires in school.
Measures:
*Disclosure
How often do you tell your mother/father, without her/him asking, about _______?
* 5 point scale: 1 (never tell) to 5 (always tell)
* ‘X’ (I never do this/feel this).
Domain (# of items) Definitions & Examples
Personal (5)
A matter of personal choice
Example: ‘What I talk about with my friends on the phone’
Personal Feelings (5) Individual’s personal feelings and emotions
Example: ‘Whether I felt unhappy, bored, or depressed during the day’
Prudential (6)
Individual’s safety or health
Example: ‘Whether I go to parties where alcohol is served.’
Overlapping (7)
overlap between the personal and prudential
Example: ‘Whether I stay out late’
* Trust
-10 item trust subscale of the Parent-Peer Attachment Inventory (Armsden &
Greenberg, 1987)
-5 point scale
* Problem Behaviors
-17 items adapted from the Problem Behavior Survey (Mason, Cauce, Gonzales &
Hiraga, 1994)
-7 point scale
* Family Obligations
-10 items: 5 items adapted from the Family Obligation scale (Fuligni, 1999) and 5
items from the Family Interdependence measure (Phinney et al., 2005)
-5 point scale
Results
(Disclosure to Mothers)
Analyses: 4 (domain) x 2 (gender) x 3 (ethnicity) ANOVA with age, generational status,
and parental education as covariates on teens’ disclosure to mothers
Disclosure across domains
4
ratings
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
Chinese
American
Mexican
American
White
Ethnicity main effect: F(2, 492) = 6.19, p < .01
Mexican American and White > Chinese American
Disclosure across domains
4
ratings
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
male
Gender main effect: F(1, 492) = 2.97, p < .10
Females > males
female
disclosure by domain
4
*
ratings
3.5
3
**
+
*
2.5
male
female
2
1.5
1
overlapping
personal
personal
feelings
prudential
Gender X domain interaction: F(3, 492) = 22.43, p < .001
disclosure by domain
3.5
3
ratings
2.5
Chinese American
Mexican American
White
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
overlapping
personal
personal
feelings
prudential
Ethnicity X domain interaction: F(6, 492) = 2.85, p < .05
Personal & Overlapping: White > Chinese American
Personal Feelings: Mexican American & White > Chinese American
Prudential: White > Chinese American and Mexican American
Personal Feelings
4
*
ratings
3.5
3
**
male
2.5
female
2
1.5
1
Chinese
American
Mexican
American
White
Personal feelings:
Gender X Ethnicity interaction: F(6, 492) = 1.91, p < .05
Personal Domain
4
ratings
3.5
3
*
**
male
2.5
female
2
1.5
1
Chinese American
Mexican American
White
Personal domain: F(2, 458) = 2.58, p < .10
Results
(Disclosure to Fathers)
Analyses: 2 (parent gender) by 4 (domain) by 2 (teen gender) by 3 (ethnicity) ANOVA
with age, parent education and generation as covariates
Disclosure to Parents
4
3.5
3
*
male
2.5
female
2
1.5
1
mothers
fathers
Child Gender X parent gender: F(1, 271) = 17.30, p < .001
*Overall, disclosure to fathers was very similar to disclosure to mothers. Parent gender
did not interact with ethnicity.
Why do Chinese American teens disclose less than other teens?
3 hypotheses:
1. Do Chinese American teens have less trust with parents than Mexican American and
White teens?
ANOVA: 2 (teen gender) X 3 (ethnicity)
Trust with Mothers
5
4
3
2
1
Chinese
American
Mexican
American
White
Ethnicity main effect (with generational status controlled): F(2, 461) = 4.87, p < .01
Mexican American & White > Chinese American
2. Are Chinese American teens engaged in less problem behavior (prudential disclosure)
than other teens?
ANOVA: 2 (teen gender) X 3 (ethnicity)
Problem Behaviors*
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
Chinese
American
Mexican
American
White
Ethnicity main effect: F(2, 400) = 7.59, p < .01
Mexican American > Chinese American & White
No gender differences, although males disclosed more about prudential issues
3. Are Chinese American teens are higher in family obligations?
Family obligation
5
4
3
2
1
Chinese American
Mexican American
White
No ethnicity main effect: F(2, 451) = 1.30, p > .05
Discussion
Unlike previous research (Smetana et al., 2006), our hypothesis that disclosure
would differ according to domain was not supported, although domain did interact
significantly with teen gender and ethnicity. We found significant ethnic differences in
disclosure to mothers; Chinese American teens disclosed less than either Mexican
American or White teens. Our hypothesis that Mexican American teens also would
disclose less than White teens was not supported, except for disclosure over prudential
issues. The lack of findings may be due to differences in the generational status of the
two groups, as Chinese American youth were more likely to be first generation than were
Mexican American youth, but analyses conducted within each ethnicity did not yield
significant effects for generation. Ethnicity differences also were not found in teens’
disclosure to their fathers.
One explanation for the finding that Chinese American teens disclosed less to
their mothers than White and Mexican American teens may be that they reported lower
levels of trust with their mothers than the other teens in this study. Smetana et al. (2006)
found that trust with mothers is more associated with disclosure in the personal than in
the other domains, and Chinese American teens have been found to report less warmth
and acceptance from their mothers than do teens of other ethnicities (Greenberger &
Chen, 1996).
An alternate explanation could be that Chinese American teens disclose less
because they have greater feelings of family obligation and may try to maintain family
harmony. However, no ethnicity differences were found in family obligations. A third
explanation is that lower levels of disclosure in the prudential domain may be due to less
engagement in problem behavior. Our analyses revealed that Chinese American and
White teens did not differ in levels of problem behavior, and Mexican American teens,
who were engaged in the highest levels of problem behavior, still disclosed less than
White teens over prudential issues. These findings suggest that trust and warmth with
parents may at least partially explain the ethnicity differences found here in disclosure.
Future research is needed to replicate these findings and further explain ethnicity
differences in disclosure.
This finding that girls disclosed more than boys and that girls disclosed more to
their mothers than boys replicates previous studies (Smetana et al., 2006). Also, unlike
previous research, we found that disclosure to mothers and fathers was similar. Finally, a
novel aspect of the present study was that we distinguished between personal behaviors
and feelings. Similar results were obtained for both. Reasons for not disclosing and
strategies for disclosure also will be examined.
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