30/05/2026
We are excited to share that our team has published two new studies in Child Development and Developmental Psychology – two of the most prestigious and highly cited journals in the field of developmental science!
So, what did we find? In short: when children cheat or lie, it may say less about their character – and more about the pressure they feel at home.
📄 Study 1: Published in Child Development
Drawing on data from 479 children in Singapore’s landmark GUSTO (Growing Up in Singapore Towards healthy Outcomes) cohort, we discovered a striking pathway: fathers who adopted a more controlling parenting style had children who were more self-critical during a challenging task at age 4½ , and those same children were more likely to cheat on a dart game roughly 18 months later. The implication? Strict parenting can turn up a child's internal pressure dial so high that dishonesty becomes a coping strategy — a way to dodge failure and preserve a sense of success.
📄 Study 2: Published in Developmental Psychology
In a longitudinal study tracking 302 families over two years (ages 7–9), we found that children exposed to higher levels of negative parental control were more likely to develop dysfunctional beliefs, thoughts like "I have to do well to be liked" or "I shouldn't make mistakes." These self-beliefs, in turn, predicted a greater tendency to lie over time.
💡The Bigger Picture
Across both preschoolers and primary school children, the message is consistent and powerful: controlling parenting can shape how children see themselves, and that distorted self-view can drive dishonesty. When kids feel relentless pressure to be perfect, cheating and lying become tools for survival, not signs of poor character.
These two papers were led by Liwen Yu, a third-year PhD student in our lab. An impressive achievement at this stage of her doctoral journey! 👏
Reflecting on the findings, Liwen shared:
"These two studies taught us something important: raising honest children goes beyond teaching right from wrong. It starts with building a home where children feel valued, accepted, and safe to make mistakes, not one where they feel trapped in a cycle of pressure and perfectionism. Warmth and support may, in fact, be the most powerful antidotes to dishonesty."
Paper 1: Authoritarian parenting at 4.5 years predicts children’s cheating at 6 years.
Link for full-text: https://doi.org/10.1093/chidev/aacaf049
Paper 2: Longitudinal associations between parental negative control and children’s deceptive behavior: The mediating role of children’s dysfunctional attitudes
Link for abstract: https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0002117
(As this paper is subscription-based, the full text is not available. Please feel free to contact us if you would like a copy of the paper.)
