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13 - Adolescent Lying to Parents and Resistance to Parental Authority

from Part III - Informant and Contextual Differences in Disclosure and Secrecy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 December 2024

By
Matthew Gingo
Edited by
Judith G. Smetana ,
Nicole Campione-Barr  and
Lauree C. Tilton-Weaver
Judith G. Smetana
Affiliation:
University of Rochester, New York
Nicole Campione-Barr
Affiliation:
University of Missouri, Columbia
Lauree C. Tilton-Weaver
Affiliation:
Örebro University
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Summary

Although lying is frequently associated with problem behaviors, recent research also suggests that lying to parents is part of a normative developmental process that serves important functions for the growth and maintenance of adolescent autonomy and reflects complex and mature moral reasoning. This chapter examines adolescent lie-telling as an information management strategy and a form of everyday resistance that adolescents engage in as they strive for autonomy and increased independence in their relationships with parents. Connections between adolescent lie-telling and the development of their autonomy and moral evaluations are considered in detail. The chapter examines adolescent lying as a concealment strategy and situates lying among other information management techniques discussed in this volume. Literature on the developmental trajectory of lying is discussed, with an eye toward the changing alchemy of the adolescent–-parent relationship as children enter and move through adolescence.

Keywords

Adolescenceadolescent–parent relationshipautonomyconcealmentdeceptionlyingmoral developmentresistancesocial-domain theory
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Parental Monitoring and Information Management during Adolescence , pp. 261 - 281
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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