The dark side of white lies: Parenting by lying in childhood and adolescent anxiety, the mediation of parent-child attachment and gender difference

Meiting Liu and Hua Wei

Children and Youth Services Review, 2020, vol. 119, issue C

Abstract: Research on family factors related to childhood and adolescent anxiety has primarily focused on explicitly negative parenting practices. Researchers have largely overlooked the influence of subtler parenting behaviors; for example, parenting by lying. Parenting by lying is a practice by which parents lie to their children to regulate their behavior. The current study examined the association between parenting by lying in childhood and adolescent anxiety, mediation of the parent-child attachment, and the gender difference in the mediation model. Adolescents (n = 912, Mage = 13.64, SDage = 1.07) were recruited from five secondary schools in a city in central China. A total of 422 (46.3%) boys and 490 (53.7%) girls completed questionnaires on parenting by lying, parent-child attachment, and anxiety. The results indicated that parenting by lying was positively associated with anxiety, and the parent-child attachment mediates this association. Adolescent girls who experienced parenting by lying in childhood had a significantly lower level of parent-child attachment, whereas the effect was not significant for boys. This study highlights an interesting but underresearched parenting practice and helps to characterize its potential effect on adolescent mental health.

Keywords: Adolescent anxiety; Parent-child attachment; Gender difference; Parenting by lying (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:119:y:2020:i:c:s0190740920320582

DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105635

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