Abstract
In the general population, confiding in others is typically related to a plethora of individual and interpersonal benefits. However, there is a lack of research which has examined how confiding may be experienced by young people who have been in the care system. The current study employed Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to guide the analysis of semi-structured interviews with eight young people, all of whom had care experience, on the topic of confiding in others. Five superordinate themes emerged from the data analysis. These included: difficulties negotiating an acceptable sense of self and ‘in-care’ identity that can be shared with others; the anticipation and expectation that confiding would lead to harm; subsequent internal conflict between being open or remaining closed; and the variable opportunities to develop trusted, confiding relationships across different environments. The findings suggest a need for young people in the care system to have safe, secure and stable environments, which can enable the development of trusted, confiding relationships within which one’s identity can be explored. The findings are considered in relation to existing theory and research. Implications for clinical practice and future research are discussed.