Should I Help? Prosocial Decision-Making in Elementary Students (Poster 50)

• In Event: Sunday Poster Session 7:45 am
  In Poster Session: Adolescence and Youth Development SIG Poster Session

Abstract

This study investigated the factors that influence whether youth decide to help peers in everyday contexts. Focus groups and interviews were conducted with 24 4th to 6th graders. They were shown scenarios involving a classmate in need of assistance and asked how they would decide to respond. Students discussed seven factors in their decisions: (1) convenience, (2) relationship to the other, (3) personal values, (4) personal cost, (5) sympathy for the other, (6) mood, and (7) peer models.

Authors

• Antonio J. Castro, University of Missouri

• Afiah Fozi, University of Missouri

• ChenYu Hung, American Institutes for Research

• Maureen Etoh, University of Missouri

• Christi Crosby Bergin, University of Missouri