“Don’t tell anyone.”

This is a phrase we hear before or after someone tells us a secret. We all have our reasons to have secrets.

According to Dr. Asim Shah, professor and executive vice chair in the Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Baylor, secrets often involve something that someone does not take pride in. They’ve chosen someone to confide in, but don’t want other people to know about it because they feel like if it gets out it could damage their reputation.

We have looked into TruePublic statistics gathered through anonymous polling, and there are some interesting insights for us all. Let’s dive deeper and see what secrets Americans have.

Drug use

Most of the respondents (74%) said they have never used a drug other than marijuana.

Friendship

Most of the respondents (47%) said they have only 1 or 2 people they can trust.

How many friends do you have that you can trust?

Note that most females said they have only 1 or 2 friends they can trust, while most men said they have 3 to 7.

Most interestingly, Baby Boomers are the only age group that mostly believe they have 3 to 7 friends they can trust.

How many people in your life could you trust with your greatest secret?

No one — 27%

Just one person — 27%

Two people — 30%

Three or more people — 16%

Most of Gen Z and Millennials have only two people to trust. Most of the Gen X people (49%) said they have only one person they can trust, and most of the Baby Boomers (35%) said no one.

And when asked if they are good at keeping their friend’s secrets, 86% answered “Yes.”

Private life, dating, and relationships

It turns out that most people talk to themselves.

And most (67%) of the respondents said they are carrying a secret that causes them shame.

Do you think it’s more healthy or unhealthy for a couple to discuss their exes with each other?

Unlike other age groups, most Baby Boomers (60%) think that it’s unhealthy for a couple to discuss their exes with each other.

Even more impressive is that most of the respondents said they enjoy hearing the details of other people’s romantic relationships.

Do you enjoy hearing the details of other people’s romantic relationships?

Yes, it’s interesting — 70%

No, it’s boring — 30%

Among all age groups, only most of the Baby Boomers (59%) believe that hearing the details of other people’s romantic relationships is boring.

25% of the respondents said they struggle with pornography addiction.

Interestingly, men seem to have more pornography addiction issues than women do: 16% of women and 43% of men answered “Yes” to this question.

Half of the respondents said they had sent someone a nude photo of themselves.

Asians are less likely to send a nude photo of themselves than people who belong to other races.

Summing up

Note that the sample included up to 30K respondents: some questions had a minimum of 1K answers while others reached 30K. All the respondents stay anonymous at TruePublic while all the users who ever answer a question, get the chance to see real-time demographic data about how other people answered the same question.

Download TruePublic iOS app

Download TruePublic Android app