These results have implications for

These results have implications for professionals who work with young children
and who wish to encourage children to give truthful accurate reports.
The results of this study reveal that positive consequences resulting from truth telling should be emphasized
and negative consequences for transgressing should be avoided in order to promote honesty in young children.
If children fear potential negative outcomes for disclosing information,
they may be more reluctant to disclose.
The results also suggest that children’s behavior is influenced by anticipation of external sanctions (Bandura, 1991).
Such factors can lead children to either conceal the truth (when expecting punishment) or tell the truth
(when expecting praise for telling the truth). The current findings provide support for the suggestion
that emphasizing beliefs about the importance of truth telling is effective in promoting truthful disclosures
(Wagland & Bussey, 2005).
Future research needs to establish whether the same influences have an effect on children’s truth-telling behavior
about another’s transgression as well as on the disclosures of adolescents.