Young adults who remembered greater exposure to “parenting by lying” were more likely to report “lying to their parents more frequently in adulthood” (Santos et al 2017).
They also showed higher levels of psychological maladjustment. They were more likely to suffer from aggressive behavior problems and antisocial personality problems (Santos et al 2017; Setoh et al 2020).
People are more likely to tell lies when they perceive that other people in their world — friends, family, romantic partners — make a habit of stretching the truth (Mann et al 2014).
Parents who rely heavily on instrumental lies may spend less time less time engaging their kids in conversations that could help them develop crucial problem-solving and negotiation skills.
As a result, their kids grow up with fewer such skills, putting them at higher risk for anti-social behavior (Santos et al 2017).
In yet another study of outcomes among young adults, people who remembered frequent parental lying during childhood were much more likely to say they were dissatisfied with the relationship they had with their parents (Cargill and Curtis 2017).
Cargill JR and Curtis DA. 2017. Parental Deception: Perceived Effects on Parent-Child Relationships. Journal of Relationships Research 8: e1.
Hays C and Carver LJ. 2014. Follow the liar: the effects of adult lies on children’s honesty. Dev Sci. 17(6):977-83.
Heyman GD, Hsu AS, Fu G, Lee K. 2013. Instrumental lying by parents in the US and China. Int J Psychol. 48(6):1176-84.
Heyman GD, Luu DH, Lee K. 2009. Parenting by lying. J Moral Educ. 38(3):353-369.
Mann H, Garcia-Rada X, Houser D, Ariely D. 2014. Everybody else is doing it: exploring social transmission of lying behavior. PLoS One. 9(10):e109591
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