Longitudinal Associations Between Youth Information Management With Mothers and Self-Esteem: The Role of a Sense of Control.

Introduction: Adolescents' information management behaviors involve calibrating interactions between the self and parents, which could serve as either risk or protective factors for self-esteem. Since a sense of control over life outcomes is a protective factor for overall well-being, it might account for links between youth information management and self-esteem. This longitudinal study examined whether youth's sense of control mediated associations between concealment and voluntary disclosure and their self-esteem, at both the between- and within-person levels.

Methods: Late adolescents in Hong Kong (N = 350; 39.7% male; M_ageT1 = 18.20) completed 16 bi-weekly reports of concealment and disclosure with mothers, their sense of control, and self-esteem. Multilevel structural equation modeling analyzed both concurrent and temporal associations.

Results: At the between-person level, a diminished sense of control mediated relationships that higher concealment and lower disclosure respectively held with lower self-esteem. Within-person effects of concealment remained consistent across models examining concurrent and time-lagged associations. Greater concealment negatively predicted both concurrent and subsequent sense of control, which, in turn, predicted lower self-esteem. The concurrent associations model revealed that a stronger sense of control mediated a positive link between disclosure and self-esteem. The temporal associations model did not find significant time-lagged effects of disclosure.

Conclusions: Concealment might be detrimental to adolescents' sense of control and self-esteem both temporarily and enduringly, while routine disclosures could provide temporary contributions to healthy self-perceptions. This research also emphasizes that a sense of control could be a focal point for interventions targeting youth who exhibit problematic information management.