Parenting by Lying, Beliefs in Fantasy Characters, and Adult Functioning

Parenting by Lying, Beliefs in Fantasy Characters, and Adult Functioning Parenting by lying is a phenomenon in parenting research that examines the effects of parents lying to their children. Higher instances of parenting by lying in childhood has been found to be correlated with higher instances of lying to parents, psychosocial maladjustment, antisocial personality problems, and externalizing behaviors in adulthood (Santos et al., 2017). There is currently no research exploring the impact of parenting by lying on childhood belief in fantasy characters (Santa Claus, Tooth Fairy, and Easter Bunny). It was therefore hypothesized that parenting by lying would be positively associated with (1) belief in more fantasy characters, (2) belief for a longer period, (3) higher unpleasant reactions to the truth, and (4) lying to parents. Secondly, it was hypothesized that belief in fantasy characters would be positively correlated with (1) stress, anxiety, and depression, and (2) personality behaviors (neuroticism, conscientiousness, agreeableness, extroversion, and openness to experience). Data was collected from college students at Murray State University (n=162; m[age] = 18.84) during the Fall 2018 Semester who responded retrospectively on their childhood fantasy characters and parenting strategies experienced. The results indicate that (1) parenting by lying was positively correlated with belief in more fantasy characters (r=0.236), belief for a longer period (r=0.221), unpleasant reactions to the truth (r=0.181), and lying to parents (r=0.282), (2) unpleasant reactions to the truth were positively correlated with neuroticism (r=0.160), and (3) belief for a longer period was negatively correlated with openness to experience (r=-0.213). Keywords Parenting By Lying, Fantasy Character Belief, Adult Functioning, Personalit