Singapore Parental Lying Scale (Parent Version)
Citation: Low, P. H. X., Kyeong, Y., & Setoh, P. (2024). Parenting by lying and children’s lying to parents: The moderating role of children’s beliefs. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 240, 105837
Scale:
I have said something similar to my child:
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Strongly Disagree | Disagree | Neither Agree nor Disagree | Agree | Strongly Agree |
Items:
- “Finish all your food, or you’ll grow up to be short.”
- You refuse to give candy to the child by saying, “There’s no more candy in the house” (even though there actually is).
- “If you don’t finish your rice, your future spouse will be pimply.”
- “If you don’t eat vegetables, you won’t have a nice complexion.”
- “If you don’t want to come with me, I will leave you here by yourself” (when you have no intention of leaving the child behind).
- “If you don’t hold my hand, a kidnapper will come to kidnap you while I’m gone.”
- Telling your child, “We’re reaching soon” (even though there is still a long way to go).
- “If you don’t quiet down and start behaving, the lady over there will be angry with you” (it is clear that the lady wouldn’t care).
- “If you don’t behave, the police will catch you” (when the police is unlikely to do so).
- “We don’t have enough money to buy you that toy” (when the family has plenty of money).
- Your child wants to buy candy, and you say, “There is no candy in this store” (when it’s not true).
- “I did not bring money with me today. We can come back another day” (when you have money and has no intention to go back).
- “Study hard, get good grades, and we will reward you” (when you may not reward the good grades later on)
- “Jumping makes you grow taller.”
- “If you use the phone too much, it’ll explode.”
- “If you do this to your mom/dad, your child will do the exact thing to you when you have children of your own.”
- Telling your child, “Good job!” (even though they didn’t actually do a good job).
- “You are better compared to another person” (when you do not mean it).
- “This hairstyle looks good on you” (when it does not).
- Telling your mother-in-law, “Your cooking is delicious!” (when her cooking tastes bad).
Scoring: Please note that there are two subscales for this instrument. Items 1 to 16 are instrumental lies, and items 17 to 20 are white lies. Subscales are scored by averaging the responses of items on the respective subscales and overall scale.
Singapore Parental Lying Scale (Child Version)
Citation: Low, P. H. X., Kyeong, Y., & Setoh, P. (2024). Parenting by lying and children’s lying to parents: The moderating role of children’s beliefs. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 240, 105837
Scales:
My parents have said something similar to me:
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Strongly Disagree | Disagree | Neither Agree nor Disagree | Agree | Strongly Agree |
Did you believe your parents when you heard them say it?
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 999 |
| Very Untrue | Untrue | Neither True nor Untrue | True | Very True | Not Applicable |
Items:
- “Finish all your food, or you’ll grow up to be short.”
- My parent says, “There’s no more candy in the house” (even though I know there is).
- “If you don’t finish your rice, your future spouse will be pimply.”
- “If you don’t eat vegetables, you won’t have a nice complexion.”
- “If you don’t want to come with me, I will leave you here by yourself”.
- “If you don’t hold my hand, a kidnapper will come to kidnap you while I’m gone.”
- My parent says, “We’re reaching soon” (even though there is still a long way to go).
- “If you don’t quiet down and start behaving, the lady over there will be angry with you” (it is clear that the lady wouldn’t care).
- “If you don’t behave, the police will catch you” (when the police is unlikely to do so).
- “We don’t have enough money to buy you that toy” (when the family has plenty of money).
- I want to buy candy, and my mother or father says, “There is no candy in this store” (when it’s not true).
- “I did not bring money with me today. We can come back another day” (when my parent has money and has no intention to go back).
- “Study hard, get good grades, and we will reward you” (when my parent may not reward the good grades later on)
- “Jumping makes you grow taller.”
- “If you use the phone too much, it’ll explode.”
- “If you do this to your mom / dad, your child will do the exact thing to you when you have children of your own.”
- My parent tells me, “Good job!” (even though I didn’t actually do a good job).
- “You are better compared to another person” (when my parent does not mean it).
- “This hairstyle looks good on you” (when it does not).
- My parent tells my grandma or a friend, “Your cooking is delicious!” (when her cooking tastes bad).
Scoring: Please note that there are two subscales for this instrument. Items 1 to 16 are instrumental lies, and items 17 to 20 are white lies. Subscales are scored by averaging the responses of items on the respective subscales and overall scale.