Lie-telling as a mode of antisocial action: Children’s lies and behavior problems

Abstract

Despite the fact that lie-telling is a common concern among parents, clinicians, and professionals, there has been little systematic investigation of the lies that children tell in relation to their problematic behaviors, nor of other social factors that may influence this relation. This study explored the relation between children’s problem behaviors and their lie-telling in two studies. The first examined whether children would tell an antisocial lie to an unfamiliar adult to conceal cheating behavior. The second analyzed the relation between children’s problem behaviors, parenting styles, and the frequency of lies reported by parents over two weeks at home. Results suggest that children with higher levels of behavior problems are more likely to tell an antisocial lie to an unfamiliar adult and have a higher frequency of parent-reported lies. Results also indicate that parenting approaches moderate the relation between behavior problems and the frequency of lies that parents report.

Keywords:

• Children
• antisocial lies
• behavior problems
• parenting

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the children and families who participated in this study. The authors would also like to thank the graduate students, and volunteers in the Talwar Child Development Lab and Child Study Lab at John Jay College.