Author(s)

Ginger R. Gerrish¹, Zackary Philyaw², Keisha E. Payne², Jerome Rabow², Manpreet Dhillon Brar²

¹Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
²University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA, USA.

This paper examined the self-disclosures of students about sexual abuse and assault in a university classroom. These self disclosures were secrets that prevented students from knowing and understanding their deeper selves. We described the structure of a university classroom that encouraged the revelation of secrets in the classroom. The self reported feelings of the seven individuals who revealed secrets, as well as interviews and web posts about the consequences for each individual were the basis of this paper. The classroom factors that facilitated disclosure along with positive benefits of disclosure were discussed.

Secrets, Self-Disclosure, Mental Health, Psychosocial Adjustment, Shame, Abuse, Sexual Assault

Gerrish, G. , Philyaw, Z. , Payne, K. , Rabow, J. and Brar, M. (2016) Secrets in the Classroom: Self-Disclosure about Sexual Abuse. Sociology Mind, 6, 140-148. doi: 10.4236/sm.2016.63012.