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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Dev. Psychol.
Sec. Adolescent Psychological Development
Volume 2 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fdpys.2024.1513617

Reputational Concerns Moderate the Relationship Between Lying and Depression

Provisionally accepted
Ryuji Oguni Ryuji Oguni 1*Keiya Taguchi Keiya Taguchi 2
  • 1 Ritsumeikan University, Ibaraki, Japan
  • 2 Osaka University, Suita, Ōsaka, Japan

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    This cross-sectional study examined whether reputational concerns moderated the relationship between lying and depression in adolescence. We conducted an online survey of 1,022 Japanese high school students between the ages of 15 and 18 (474 males and 548 females). Results showed that the relationship between selfish lying and depression was not moderated by either rejection avoidance or praise seeking. In contrast, the relationship between prosocial lying and depression was moderated by both rejection avoidance and praise seeking. Specifically, when rejection avoidance and praise seeking were high and when rejection avoidance was high and praise seeking was low, those with higher tendencies toward prosocial lying exhibited higher levels of depression. When rejection avoidance was low and praise seeking was high, those with higher tendencies toward prosocial lying had lower levels of depression. Our findings indicate that reputational concerns complexly moderate the relationship between lying and depression in adolescence.

    Keywords: Reputational concerns, Rejection avoidance, Praise seeking, lying, selfish lying, Prosocial lying, Depression, adolescence

    Received: 18 Oct 2024; Accepted: 24 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Oguni and Taguchi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Ryuji Oguni, Ritsumeikan University, Ibaraki, Japan

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