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

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 ( M age = 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.