PH
A private relationship and a deliberately secret relationship aren't necessarily psychologically identical.
Research found that greater romantic secrecy was associated with lower relationship commitment.
It was also associated with lower self-esteem and more self-reported health symptoms.
Researchers proposed that secrecy can restrict the feeling that partners' lives and identities are interconnected.
Of course, couples may have legitimate safety or privacy reasons for keeping a relationship hidden.
But when secrecy is unwanted, hiding the relationship may carry psychological costs beyond simply not posting each other online.
© Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin