Despite theoretical claims that adolescents' information management with parents and their experiences of autonomy might mutually influence one another, little is known about how these potential reciprocal processes unfold in daily family life. This preregistered daily diary study examined potential bidirectional associations between adolescents' voluntary disclosure, concealment, and autonomy at the within-family level. This study also tested whether family differences in maternal privacy invasion moderated these associations. A total of 179 adolescents (Mage = 15.35, SD = 1.06; 49.10% male) and their mothers (Mage = 43.33, SD = 4.46) completed baseline measures of maternal privacy invasion. Youth also provided 21 consecutive daily reports on information management and autonomy. Dynamic structural equation modeling revealed that on days when adolescents disclosed more than usual, they reported higher levels of autonomy the next day. Concealment showed no significant lagged associations with autonomy. Maternal privacy invasion did not moderate the associations. These findings underscore voluntary disclosure as a key antecedent of adolescents' daily autonomy experiences. This research can provide insights for interventions aimed at promoting adolescents' autonomy by encouraging their voluntary disclosure, even in families where maternal intrusion is prevalent.
Peng et al. (Fri,) studied this question.