Poster #78 - Relations of Teachers’ Values and Practices on Children’s Prosocial Behaviors toward ingroup and outgroup members

• In Event: 1-169 - Poster Session 04
  In Poster Session: PS 04 Section - Education, Schooling

Integrative Statement

Upon entering the education system, students spend nearly half of their waking hours surrounded by teachers (U.S. Department of Education, 2008), illustrating the significant role teachers play in children’s socialization. However, despite an abundance of research linking parental socialization to children’s prosocial development, often mediated by affective processes such as sympathy (Mussen & Eisenberg, 2001), little is known about teachers’ role in socializing students’ prosociality. Existing literature offers limited support for the relation between teacher caregiving and children’s prosocial development (Kienbaum & Volland Ulich, 2001), with only one study providing evidence that positive teacher-student relationships predict students’ prosocial development (Howes, Matheson, & Hamilton, 1994). Moreover, examinations of if and how teachers promote prosocial behavior in their classrooms are scant and findings are mixed (Caplan & Hay, 1989; Eisenberg et al., 1981). Thus, the goal of this study was to examine the mediating role of children’s sympathy in the relation between both student-teacher relationship quality and teachers’ prosocial value of diversity in children’s friendships, to children’s own prosocial behavior toward both ingroup and outgroup recipients.

Participants were teachers (N= 85) and their students (N=102) (age 5.34 – 8.56, M= 6.9, SD= .93, 53.9% female). Teachers reported their values of diversity for children’s friends (Martin, 2014), and their closeness with each student (Pianta, 1992). In addition, teachers reported on students’ global sympathy (measure adapted from Bryant, 1982) and students’ prosocial behavior toward various recipients, such as friends and outgroup members (i.e., different race/ethnicity, or country of origin; adapted from Padilla-Walker & Christensen, 2011).

Correlations and descriptive data are presented in Table 1. Using path-analyses we examined the relations of teacher-student closeness as well as teachers’ value of diversity for children’s friendships on prosocial behaviors toward friends or outgroups via child sympathy (Figure 2).We found that teacher-student closeness positively predicted children’s sympathy, which then positively predicted children’s prosocial behavior to both friends and outgroup members, showing a mediation effect. In addition, we found that teachers’ value of diversity for children’s friends marginally positively predicted children’s sympathy, which in turn positively predicted children’s prosocial behavior to friends and outgroup members.

Findings are discussed in terms of the significant role of teacher socialization in promoting children’s sympathy, inclusivity, and subsequent prosociality, specifically towards ethnic/racial minority children. In addition, implications for children who have not developed strong prosocial skills in their home and family environments are explored.

Authors

• Jayley Janssen, Arizona State University
  Presenting Author

• Ashley Fraser, Arizona State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jamie Lopez, Arizona State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Tracy Spinrad, Arizona State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Diana E. Gal, Arizona State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Nancy Eisenberg, Arizona State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sonya Xinyue Xiao, Arizona State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jingyi Xu, Arizona State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Wen Wang, Arizona State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Xiaoye Xu, Arizona State University
  Non-Presenting Author