Adolescence, Lying in

Means and Reasons

There is considerable evidence that the “seeds” for adolescent deception may be planted during early childhood. For example, early on, when young children observe their peers misbehaving or cheating, they immediately run to tell a parent, teacher, or other adult. While they are being completely honest, this repetitive behavior eventually becomes annoying to the adult, who eventually tells the child to stop tattling and work it out on his/her own. It doesn't take long for the child to realize that being called a “tattler” by a peer on the playground is not a good thing. During adolescence, turning in a peer for lying means “acting like a child.” So, keeping quiet after watching peers cheat, use illegal drugs, cut classes, and shoplift is easy for most adolescents because they have been reinforced for years to do so.

Adolescent lying takes many forms. Adolescents can distort the truth with contradictory information, by offering half-truths to temper the impact of the facts, by changing the subject to divert the listener, by giving the impression that they are being open by offering only limited or partial information, and by concealing or not divulging information. Many adolescents equate diverting attention, not disclosing information, and remaining silent as not lying, but just changing the subject.

There are a variety of motives or reasons that help explain why the act of lying tends to increase during adolescence. By far, the top motive that adolescents use to justify lying behavior is to preserve their autonomy. During adolescence, youth begin to socialize more with their peers and receive less direct monitoring and supervision from parents. Thus, parental supervision depends more on reports from young people about their activities, friends, and behavior. Parental supervision shifts from direct monitoring to trusting that young people will provide truthful reports of their commitments and activities—where they are going and who they are with. However, during adolescence, risk-taking and testing the limits are common ways of asserting independence. Away from direct parental supervision and exposed to myriad new enticements such as alcohol, drugs, and sex, the adolescent turns to more frequent lying to preserve autonomy and avoid parental disapproval and potential sanctions. Adolescents believe that, right or wrong, they have the right to make their own decisions, particularly in the areas of privacy, control over their bodies, and choice of friends.

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