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Children’s persistent lying, gender differences, and disruptive behaviours: A longitudinal perspective

Background: Although lying by children can be a serious problem for parents and educators, there are hardly any longitudinal data to help understand its development. The aim of this study was to understand the stability of consistent lying from 6 to 8 years of age, and its association with other behaviour problems rated concurrently and subsequently. Methods: Teachers and mothers rated lying and disruptive behaviours of a population sample of boys (N = 549) and girls (N = 579) for three consecutive years when the children were 6, 7, and 8. Teachers also rated children’s disruptive behaviours at ages 10 and 11. Results: Mothers tended to rate their children as lying more often than teachers did. Girls were rated by both adults and across ages, as lying less than boys. The number of consistent liars (i.e., lying according to both adults at a given age) was the same at different ages. Persistent liars (consistent liars from ages 6 to 8) were rated more disruptive concurrently and subsequently by teachers. However, their disruptive behaviours did not increase from ages 6, 7, and 8 through ages 10 and 11 compared to other groups. Conclusions: Lying is common for 6- to 8-year-old children, but more frequent for males. Frequent lying, as reported by mothers and teachers, appears to become persistent by 7 years of age. Persistent lying was concurrently associated to disruptive behaviour problems. Some patterns of lying were also predictive of increases in disruptive behaviour but this finding was inconsistent and suggested the need for further research. Future studies need also to focus on the content of the lies, and their timing, to understand their function.