Deception: A Young Person’s Life Skill?

This book applies the developmental challenge model of Hendry and Kloep (2002) to explain adolescents’ deception choices and their success in doing so. Further, it presents a new “social skills” model of deceptive behaviour, applying those to the lies told and detected during the period of adolescence. The book critically analyses current perspectives on deception research and adolescent development and presents data from interviews and focus groups conducted with young people on their lying behaviour and their strategies for success. The book also presents a view of how young offenders’ interpersonal strategies and tactics may vary according to psychological factors and the interview settings and presents recommendations for parents, academics and practitioners for successfully detecting young people’s deceptions.