Parents’ perceptions of their children’s lie telling in the context of sibling relationships

Abstract

Familial influences on children’s deception are understudied. This thesis examined children’s lie telling in the context of sibling relationships by surveying parents on the types of lies told by children in the sibling context (e.g., pro- and antisocial), the quality of the sibling relationship, and parent socialization (e.g., encouragement and punishment) of lie telling. Children’s lies were “rare” in the sibling context, and antisocial lies were more frequent than prosocial lies. Sibling Conflict was positively and significantly predictive of pro- and antisocial lies in the sibling context; Sibling Warmth was not a significant predictor of either lie type. Parent encouragement was “very rare”, and punishment was “occasional.” Parent encouragement and punishment were significant, positive predictors of pro- and antisocial lies in the sibling context. These findings highlight how siblings and parents can potentially influence children’s lie telling.