Psychology Study to Complement 'Thirteen'

Hi everyone – I located an interesting study on child-parent relationships that I believe is extremely relevant to the movie “Thirteen”. The title of the study is “Lying behavior, family functioning, and adjustment in early adolescence,” and although it’s packed with information (some more relevant, some less) it explores several noteworthy correlations regarding child lying and the quality of a parent-child relationship in areas such as (a) communication, (b) trust, and (c) alienation. Not surprisingly, an increase in lying was strongly correlated with less communication and trust, as well as greater alienation. Although relatively intuitive, the researchers provided an intriguing explanation for this phenomenon by suggesting that when a parent knows a child is lying (and has lied several times in the past), the child loses credibility. The parent thus becomes frustrated and chooses to avoid engaging the child, believing conversation will get them both nowhere.

I believe this explanation is emphasized in the movie, particularly after Mel picks up the two girls from ‘the library’. Mel asks the two how studying went and Tracy immediately responds saying she was researching a biosphere project. Evie then explains that she’s researching advance physics. Mel quickly nods her head, acknowledging both responses, and there is an eerie silence between the three of them as they walk towards the car (before the scene cuts to inside the house). It’s as is Mel understands these are thinly veiled lies (advance physics in middle school? Really?) and simply doesn’t want to engage them anymore.

The explanation provided in the study shouldn’t by any means be taken as the only explanation, and in fact, though the study addresses concerns with causality, there are several ‘chicken or egg’ dilemmas that are left unaddressed (i.e. does alienation lead to feelings of betrayal that increases lying which, in turn, decreases trust?)

Nevertheless, it’s a relatively short read and worth looking into if you’re interested in adding some more psyc analysis to your thoughts on “Thirteen”.

Link to study via ProQuest: http://proquest.umi.com/pqdlink?Ver=1&Exp=03-30-2015&FMT=7&DID=1164232161&RQT=309&cfc=1