Testing a Model of Disclosure, Perceived Support Quality, and Well-Being in the College Student Mental Illness Context: A Weekly Diary Study

Prominent disclosure models elucidate decisions to disclose health information, yet explanations for disclosure consequences remain underdeveloped. Drawing on Chaudoir and Fisher’s disclosure process model, this study aims to advance understandings of how disclosure to a parent contributes to well-being for college students with mental illness. We tested a mediational model in which, at the within-person level, perceived support quality explains the association between on-going disclosure of mental illness-related experiences and well-being. Participants were 163 college students who self-identified as having mental illness and who completed six consecutive, weekly surveys. A multilevel analysis showed that increases in disclosures of mental illness-related experiences, relative to participants’ mean level, were associated with enhanced well-being via perceptions of higher quality support, above and beyond between-person differences. This study contributes to the literature by offering an explanation for the effects of disclosure on well-being and underscores the importance of capturing disclosures over time.