Poster #141 - Protective Roles of Prosocial Behaviors: A Longitudinal Study from Turkey

• In Event: 2-002 - Special Poster Session 05 with Continental Breakfast Reception
  In Poster Session: PS 05 - International Section

Integrative Statement

Prosocial behaviors are voluntary actions that intended to benefit others (Eisenberg, Spinrad, & Knafo-Noam, 2015). Helping, sharing, comforting, and cooperation are typical forms of prosocial behaviors. Parents, educators, and health professionals value prosocial behaviors because such actions are considered markers of moral development and related to positive developmental outcomes (see Carlo, 2014; Eisenberg et al., 2015). Studies yield evidence for the protective role of prosocial behaviors on antisocial and risky behaviors (Caprara et al., 2014; Ecless & Barber, 1999; Kokko, Tremblay, Lacourse, Nagin, & Vitaro, 2006). Engagement in early prosocial behaviors likely leads to affiliation with prosocial peers and avoidance of deviant peers. Furthermore, children who frequently exhibit prosocial behaviors show higher sociocognitive (e.g., moral reasoning) and socioemotive (e.g., empathy, emotion regulation) skills, better academic performance, warm relationships with their parents, which reduces antisocial tendencies (see Carlo, 2014). Despite these conceptual and research links, few researchers have examined the relations between early prosocial behavior and subsequent internalizing and externalizing problems especially in children from collectivist-oriented and predominantly Muslim societies. Research that demonstrates early protective effects of prosocial behaviors in children from these cultures could inform intervention programs designed to foster children’s subsequent healthy development. Thus, the present study was designed to test the longitudinal relations between Turkish children’s prosocial behaviors at age 4 and their internalizing and externalizing problems at age 6. Moreover, we examined whether these hypothesized relations could be accounted for by children’s emotion regulation and emotional lability skills at age 5.

The sample was 293 children (Mage=49.01 months, SD=3.86; 48.1% girls; 48% from public and 52% from private schools) and their mothers at Time 1 from Bolu and Ankara in Turkey. Mother reports of Prosocial Behavior Scale (PBS; Iannotti, 1985), Emotion Regulation Checklist (ERC; Shields & Cicchetti, 1999), and Child Behavior Check List (CBCL; Achenbach & Rescorla, 2000) were administered.

Descriptives and correlations among the main variables are shown in Table 1. Path analysis was conducted using maximum likelihood (ML) estimation in Mplus version 8.0 (Muthén & Muthén, 2017). Hypothesized model fit the data well, χ2(4) =3.929, RMSEA = .000; CFI=1.00; TLI=1.00; SRMR = .02. Results showed that children’s prosocial behaviors at age 4 was positively linked to their emotion regulation and negatively linked to their emotional lability at age 5. Children’s prosocial behaviors at age 4 were negatively linked to their internalizing and externalizing problems 2 years later. Emotion regulation at age 5 was negatively linked to internalizing; emotional lability was positively linked to internalizing and externalizing problems a year later. Of particular interest, emotion regulation and emotional lability significantly mediated the links. Further analyses will be conducted to examine the moderating role of gender. Discussion will emphasize the implications of the findings for traditional models of moral development and the generalizability of such models to a non-Western, predominantly Muslim culture. Additionally, discussion will focus on the protective roles of prosocial behaviors on internalizing and externalizing problems in early childhood.

Authors

• Zehra Gulseven, University of Missouri
  Presenting Author

• Gustavo Carlo, University of Missouri
  Non-Presenting Author

• Asiye Kumru, Ozyegin University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Bilge Yagmurlu, Koc University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Melike Sayil, TED University
  Non-Presenting Author