Attitudes Toward Parental Disclosures to Children and Adolescents by Divorced and Married Parents

Abstract

Objective To examine individuals' attitudes about parental disclosures to children. Background Parents' disclosures can either help or hinder children's coping with family‐related stressors. Knowing what is appropriate to disclose, however, is not always clear. Method We examined judgments about parental disclosures using a mixed‐methods approach. In 18 factorial vignettes, information about a parent's marital status and gender and a child's age and gender were randomly varied; a convenience sample of 561 individuals evaluated the appropriateness of parental disclosures. An open‐ended question asked respondents to explain their answers. Results Quantitative data indicated that children's ages and parents' gender affected attitudes about disclosures, but parents' marital status and children's gender did not. Qualitative responses indicated that participants were concerned about parental disclosures putting children in the middle of parents' problems. Disclosures about sexual issues were considered inappropriate for school‐aged children but appropriate for adolescents. Conclusion There is consensus on evaluations of the appropriateness of specific parental disclosures. Negative disclosures are perceived as potentially harmful to offspring regardless of parents' marital status. Some topics are seen as more acceptable to disclose to adolescents than to younger children, and evaluations of specific disclosures differ for fathers and mothers. Implications A better understanding of how people evaluate parental disclosures may be useful to family therapists, parent educators, and others who work with families.

Divorced parents' perceived benefits and risks of dating and sharing of dating information

“…We also were not able to examine or control for children's ages. It is likely that the information parents share with children is related to children's ages (e.g., Kang et al, 2017), and we were not able to explore that issue in this study. Also, participants were recruited from a divorced education course, which may limit the generalizability of the sample, although it should be noted that many courts in the United States require divorcing parents to attend parent education courses as part of their conditions.…”

“…Conversely, perceiving few benefits or greater risks may be related to later introductions of dating partners because parents want to be sure of the relationship before getting other family members involved. Public attitudes about what divorced parents should disclose to their children vary (Kang et al, 2017), although there is some consensus on what should not be shared (e.g., parental sexual behaviors) and what should be discussed (e.g., the parent-child bond). Disclosure about parents' dating relationships was a topic that most people in this convenience sample thought might be damaging to children (Kang et al, 2017).…”

“…Public attitudes about what divorced parents should disclose to their children vary (Kang et al, 2017), although there is some consensus on what should not be shared (e.g., parental sexual behaviors) and what should be discussed (e.g., the parent-child bond). Disclosure about parents' dating relationships was a topic that most people in this convenience sample thought might be damaging to children (Kang et al, 2017). It is likely that divorced parents attend to and may be influenced by these public attitudes.…”

Topics and Effects of Iranian Mothers’ Disclosure to Their Children: A Phenomenological Analysis

“…According to CPM theory, parental disclosure and its effects are influenced by factors such as gender and marital status of parents and the child's age. for instance, mothers are more likely than fathers to disclose problems to their children (9). About the child's age, previous studies have found that the destructive effects of inappropriate parental disclosure on younger children are greater than on older children (13).…”

“…So far, the phenomenon of disclosure and its effects among adults) 3), siblings (4), and friends (5) and also adolescents' disclosure to their parents (6) have been well studied, and its positive effects on people's relationships and health have been confirmed, but few studies have been conducted on parental disclosure to children (7). The topics that parents may disclose to their children include subjects related to their divorce (8), dating, disagreements over how to co-parent, daily activities, positive or negative comments about their spouse (7), their spouse's life (9), financial concerns (10), and spiritual disclosure) 11).…”