Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Dec;52(12):2559-2577.
doi: 10.1007/s10964-023-01834-2. Epub 2023 Aug 26.

A Latent Profile Analysis of Lie-Telling to Parents and Friends during Adolescence

Victoria W Dykstra  1 , Teena Willoughby  2 , Angela D Evans  2
Affiliations

A Latent Profile Analysis of Lie-Telling to Parents and Friends during Adolescence

Victoria W Dykstra et al. J Youth Adolesc. 2023 Dec.

Abstract

Adolescence has been suggested to be a time of heightened lie-telling. The current study used a latent profile analysis to examine unique patterns of lie-telling for lies told to parents and friends during adolescence as well as whether adjustment indicators (relationship quality, depressive symptoms, social anxiety, externalizing problems) could be used to predict group membership. These patterns were examined among 828 10- to 16- year-olds (Mage = 12.39, SD = 1.69, 49.9% male). In both relationships, 5-profile solutions emerged; most adolescents reported very infrequent lie-telling, while a small portion (less than 5%) told high rates of lies. Adjustment indicators predicted group membership. Depressive symptoms, social anxiety, parent relationship quality, and externalizing problems predicted group membership for lying to parents. Depressive symptoms and social anxiety predicted group membership for lying to friends. The findings indicate that high rates of lie-telling found in previous research may be driven by a small number of prolific lie-tellers.

Keywords: Adjustment; Adolescence; Latent profile analysis; Lie-telling.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Armsden, G. C., & Greenberg, M. T. (1987). The inventory of parent and peer attachment: Individual differences and their relationship to psychological well-being in adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 16(5), 427–454. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02202939 . - DOI - PubMed
    1. Achenbach, T. M. (1999). The child behavior checklist and related instruments. In M. E. Maruish (Ed.), The use of psychological testing for treatment planning and outcomes assessment (pp. 429–466). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers, Mahwah, NJ.
    1. Austin, J. L. (1962). How to do things with words. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
    1. Baudat, S., Mantzouranis, G., Van Petegem, S., & Zimmermann, G. (2022). How do adolescents manage information in the relationship with their parents? A latent class analysis of disclosure, keeping secrets, and lying. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 51(6), 1134–1152. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-022-01599-0 . - DOI - PubMed - PMC
    1. Baumrind, D. (2005). Patterns of parental authority and adolescent autonomy. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 2005(108), 61–69. https://doi.org/10.1002/cd.128 . - DOI

LinkOut - more resources