Introduction. Many parents across the world lie to their children, for example, to influence children's behavior and emotions (parenting-by-lying; lifetime prevalence rates 67-100%; Roza et al., 2024; Setoh et al., 2024). However, most parents also explicitly teach their children that lying is not acceptable (Heyman et al., 2009; Lavoie et al., 2016). Although socialization theories propose that parental teaching, modeling, and inconsistencies between them affect children's tendency to lie, it remains underexplored.
Purpose. In this study, we explore these socialization pathways to advance understanding of how children learn to be honest or lie through parental influence.
Method. We conducted a hypothetical vignette study in 150 Dutch children aged 8-13. Parent figures gave consistent moral messages (It is not OK to lie + modeling honesty) or inconsistent moral messages (It is not OK to lie + modeling lying) to a child figure. Subsequently, children were asked if they think the child in the story would lie or tell the truth after receiving these socialization messages. We vary the type of lie (instrumental, prosocial, or antisocial) and the recipient of the child's lie, to explore generalization of socialization.
Results. Currently, data of 139 Dutch children (68 females, Mage = 10.29 years, SD = 1.31) have been collected. The following research questions will be preregistered and analyzed: (1) How do parental modeling, teaching, and inconsistent moral messages regarding lie-telling influence children's lie-telling? (2) Are these effects person-specific (e.g., only towards parents, but not teachers)? (3) Do these socialization effects vary by lie type?
Conclusions. These data provide an understanding of how moral socialization and potential discrepant moral messages affect children's lie-telling. As parents are primary socialization agents for children, this study will provide unique insights to advance not only science, but also to provide better parenting advice about the socialization of honesty.