Investigating the effects of parents’ inappropriate disclosures on young adults’ emotion regulation and rumination

As children grow older, parents feel more comfortable sharing information about relational issues. This study explored associations between parents’ inappropriate disclosures, young adults’ rumination, and difficulties regulating emotions in still married families. It was guided by the theory of communication privacy management. Participants included 371 young adults who completed an online questionnaire. Results indicated an association between parents’ inappropriate disclosures and young adults’ rumination as well as between rumination and difficulties regulating emotions. Rumination functioned as a full indirect effect, explaining the relationship between parental disclosures and young adults’ general difficulties regulating emotions. Results emphasize the perils of inappropriate parental disclosures to young adult children and highlight reasons that young adults may have emotion regulation difficulties.