Mayeux Research

I’m a bit late in posting this—Santa Claus has, after all, come and gone—but a recent discussion on a parenting blog got me thinking. In the nature of full disclosure, I should mention that my husband and I are big fans of Santa, and our daughter spent many hours over the last month singing songs about the guy, discussing his impending trip down our chimney, and reminding me of Santa’s (and Rudolph’s) need for cookies on Christmas Eve. So I entered into this bit of research with a pretty clear sense of how I wanted it to turn out.

The gist of the discussion on the blog was this: Some parents felt that facilitating a child’s belief in Santa was nothing short of deception, and that it would lead to anger and feelings of mistrust and betrayal when the child eventually learned the truth. Others saw real value in creating a magical Santa experience for their children, believing that it presents a developmentally-appropriate way for children to engage in make-believe and fantasy.

I knew where I stood; I remember well how magical a time the holidays were for me as a child, how much of a thrill I got on Christmas Eve as I climbed into bed hoping I’d fall asleep before Santa arrived on my block.  And I remember being extremely disappointed when I learned that it was all pretend, although I certainly didn’t feel betrayed. But I was curious—Had anyone actually approached this from a scientific perspective? Was there research on children’s reactions to learning there is no Santa?

As it turns out, there is, albeit very little. The one empirical article I found (by Carl Anderson and Norman Prentice) interviewed children who used to believe in Santa about their reactions to finding out that he didn’t exist after all. The children admitted to feeling sad, angry, and disappointed—but those feelings were short-lived, and they were not severe. About half of the children interviewed found out the truth on their own, with another third being told by their parents—and for most children, the realization was a gradual one. What I found most interesting was that many of the children reported mixed feelings about discovering the truth, including relief. Their parents, on the other hand, reported almost no positive feelings about their children’s discovery, and were mainly just plain sad about it.

This was a small study, and as far as I can tell it hasn’t been replicated. But it made me feel a little bit better about my child-deceiving, trust-busting holiday parenting decisions. I hope it does the same for yours.

Now if someone would only design a study to measure the traumatic effects of forcing children to sit on Santa’s lap for a photo op….



I was recently asked to give a brief talk to the students in our department’s Psychology Club, and I enthusiastically accepted. Psych Club is generally made up of our brightest, most motivated undergraduate students, and it’s a fun group. Feeling as though I had talked my own research to death recently, I decided to speak to the students about the effects of homelessness on child development, health, and achievement. This topic has been on my mind a lot lately as my husband and I continue to be involved with Positive Tomorrows, a nonprofit, tuition-free private school for homeless children in OKC.

I thought I would share here some of what I have learned about this topic. It’s sobering, but reminds us of the importance of prevention and intervention programs aimed at stopping the cycle of poverty. Much of this information comes from the National Center on Family Homelessness and empirical research conducted by experts in child development.

Effects of Homelessness on Child Development

• Internalizing behaviors, such as anxiety/depression, social withdrawal, somatic complaints
• Peer rejection and social ostracism
• Homeless children are self-critical and have low self-esteem
• Among adolescents, prostitution, drug use, and other forms of delinquency are common—which means that homeless teens often end up incarcerated.

Effects on School Achievement

• Less than 25% of Oklahoma’s homeless teens graduate from high school.
• The test scores of Oklahoma’s homeless children are far below those of middle-income kids.
• Homeless children are far more likely to be retained at least one school year (often more than one).
• Most homeless kids are below grade-level in reading and math.

One of the primary causes of these achievement-related outcomes is that homeless children are simply not in school regularly. The transient nature of a homeless family means that it’s difficult to keep a child registered in their (ever-changing) neighborhood school. Homeless parents are more likely to allow their children to stay out of school because of how difficult it is to keep them enrolled and attending. As a result, their children fall farther and farther behind—which means that when they eventually secure permanent housing and can enroll their children in school again, their children have fallen far below grade-level and cannot keep up with their peers. The frustration, embarrassment, and incredible academic challenge that results can lead to chronic academic underperformance, and eventually to complete school drop-out.

The solution to this enormous social problem is obviously complex and multi-faceted. But it has been incredibly encouraging and rewarding to be involved with an organization that’s changing the lives of homeless children, one family at a time. If you’re in the OKC area and looking to devote some time or money to a worthy cause, please visit Positive Tomorrow’s website and contact their executive director or volunteer coordinator.

So, the site is back up--thanks for bearing with me. Apparently clicking one wrong button really can wipe out your entire website. Who knew?

I'm still working to rebuild some of the content, and unfortunately the hundreds of comments are lost forever. But I hope to be back in the swing of things and blogging regularly within a few more days.