Poster #57 - Parental Lying Revisited: Towards a new Taxonomy of Parental Lying to Children

• In Event: Poster Session 05

Abstract

One-third of people lie at least once a day (Serota et al., 2010) and many parents admit lying to their children (Heyman et al., 2009). Lying pertains all (un)successful deliberate attempts, without forewarning, to create in another a belief, which the communicator considers to be untrue (Vrij, 2000). Lying or deception encompasses blunt lies, but also distortions or half-truths, and deliberate omissions of information (Cargill & Curtis, 2017), and content of parental lying varies widely, from exaggerated compliments, to false promises, to protective lies. Many parents struggle with the question how and when to tell the whole truth to their child and when to withhold (parts of) the truth.

Parental lying and deception has only been studied for roughly two decades. Most studies focus on so-called parenting by lying or instrumental lying, which incorporates lies to influence child’s behavior and emotions (Heyman et al., 2009;2013). Initial measures of parenting by lying covered different strategies to encourage obedient behavior, false compliments, and lies about fantasy figures (Heyman et al., 2009). Gradually, measures of parental lying are extended to cover additional lies, e.g., lies about sensitive topics, and lies to hide parental inadequacy.

The current study adds to this growing knowledge base in two ways: (1) extensive semi-structured interviews with parents are conducted to see whether current measurement instruments sufficiently cover all forms of parental lying; (2) a new taxonomy is described based on the systematical categorical coding of reported lies.

For this qualitative study, 40 parents (diverse in sex, socio-economic background, cultural identity, and religiousness) of children aged 5-12 were individually interviewed (osf-link masked for review). Recruitment stopped when theoretical saturation was reached. Open questions were used to generate a broad overview of parent-to-child lying. Closed questions about more specific lie types were based on existing literature. Interview transcripts are currently coded in ATLAS.ti, using open, axial, and selective coding (Boeije, 2010; Corbin & Strauss, 1990). An initial code book based on categorizations in existing literature was supplemented along the way (example codes: reason for lie, type and content of lie, intended consequences for liar/target).

Preliminary results provide suggestions for specifying subtypes in existing parental lying categories: e.g., lies to influence the child’s behavior can have a positive connotation (through fantasy/playfulness) or a negative connotation (through instilling anxiety), and can be primarily self-oriented (to make parents’ life easier) or other-oriented (to benefit child in long run). Moreover, lies to influence child emotions are not only focused on enhancing child self-image, but are also used to shield the child from negative life events or major societal issues. Additional clusters that appear from the analyses of the interviews are parental lies to preserve an image of being a perfect parent and to maintain privacy, and parental lies primarily told for parental pleasure (mocking/joking at expense of child). At SRCD 2023, the overview of parental lies, and the proposed taxonomy will be presented, with the aim to provide a new basis for future research on parental lying, its correlates and child outcomes.

Authors

• Rianne Kok, Erasmus University Rotterdam
  Presenting Author

• Ines Constance Lucieer, Erasmus University Rotterdam

• Emma Charlotte Anne Roza, Erasmus University Rotterdam

• Lisanne Schroer, Erasmus University Rotterdam