"Why Should I Tell My Business?": An Emerging Theory of Coping and Disclosure in Teens

Disclosing predepression feelings of sadness is difficult for teens. Primary care providers are a potential avenue for teens to disclose these feelings and a bridge to mental health care before becoming more seriously ill. To explore how to more effectively recruit teens into a primary care-based, online depression prevention study, we held 5 focus groups with African American and Latino teens (n = 43) from a large Midwestern city. We conducted constant comparative analysis of the data and a theoretical conceptualization of coping and disclosure emerged. Our analysis revealed an internal coping continuum in reaction to sadness and pivotal elements of trust and judgment that either lead teens to disclose or not disclose these feelings. The teens' perspectives show the necessary characteristics of a relationship and comfortable community and virtual settings that can best allow for teens to take the step of disclosing to receive mental health care services.