Positive parenting and children's prosocial behavior in eight countries.
Published
Journal Article
BACKGROUND:Research supports the beneficial role of prosocial behaviors on children's adjustment and successful youth development. Empirical studies point to reciprocal relations between negative parenting and children's maladjustment, but reciprocal relations between positive parenting and children's prosocial behavior are understudied. In this study reciprocal relations between two different dimensions of positive parenting (quality of the mother-child relationship and the use of balanced positive discipline) and children's prosocial behavior were examined in Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States. METHODS:Mother-child dyads (N = 1105) provided data over 2 years in two waves (Mage of child in wave 1 = 9.31 years, SD = 0.73; 50% female). RESULTS:A model of reciprocal relations between parenting dimensions, but not among parenting and children's prosocial behavior, emerged. In particular, children with higher levels of prosocial behavior at age 9 elicited higher levels of mother-child relationship quality in the following year. CONCLUSIONS:Findings yielded similar relations across countries, evidencing that being prosocial in late childhood contributes to some degree to the enhancement of a nurturing and involved mother-child relationship in countries that vary widely on sociodemographic profiles and psychological characteristics. Policy and intervention implications of this study are discussed.
Full Text
Duke Authors
Cited Authors
- Pastorelli, C; Lansford, JE; Luengo Kanacri, BP; Malone, PS; Di Giunta, L; Bacchini, D; Bombi, AS; Zelli, A; Miranda, MC; Bornstein, MH; Tapanya, S; Uribe Tirado, LM; Alampay, LP; Al-Hassan, SM; Chang, L; Deater-Deckard, K; Dodge, KA; Oburu, P; Skinner, AT; Sorbring, E
Published Date
- July 2016
Published In
Volume / Issue
- 57 / 7
Start / End Page
- 824 - 834
PubMed ID
- 26511201
Pubmed Central ID
- 26511201
Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)
- 1469-7610
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
- 0021-9630
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
- 10.1111/jcpp.12477
Language
- eng