Values and Sharing Behavior in Middle Childhood: A Longitudinal Study

• In Event: Values and Behaviors: A Developmental Perspective on the Origins of Character

Abstract

Do children direct their pro-social behavior using moral principles, already at the beginning of middle childhood? We operationalize moral principles as values, abstract goals that guide people's behavior (Schwartz, 1992), and perception of right versus wrong (Schwartz, 2007). Previous studies established an association in middle-childhood between values and pro-social behavior in general (Benish-Weisman, Daniel, Sneddon, & Lee, 2019), and sharing specifically (Abramson, Daniel, & Knafo-Noam, 2018).
Experimental adult studies (e.g. Arieli, Grant, & Sagiv, 2014; Sagiv, Sverdlik, & Schwarz, 2011), and longitudinal adolescent investigations, point to a directional association, with values related to later behavior more than vice-versa (Benish-Weisman, 2015; Vecchione, Döring, Alessandri, Marsicano, & Bardi, 2016). However, values are taking shape during middle childhood (Döring, Daniel, & Knafo-Noam, 2016; Shachnai & Daniel, 2020), thus may not have a similar role in guiding behavior.
This study will examine values-sharing behavior associations longitudinally among children between ages 6-9, in a sample of N = 174 Israeli children, mean age = 95.42 months, SD = 7.98, 55.1% female. The children were studied twice annually. Sharing behavior was measured using a resource allocation task. Children were requested to divide stickers between themselves and a same-sex child (Abramson et al., 2018; Fehr, Bernhard, & Rockenbach, 2008). In costly sharing behavior, the prosocial option resulted in the child getting less than a maximal amount of stickers. In non-costly sharing behavior, the child's number of stickers was not affected by the prosocial choice. Values were measured using the Picture-Based Value Survey for Children (Döring, Blauensteiner, Aryus, Drögekamp, & Bilsky, 2010). We calculated a score for self-transcendence versus self-enhancement values by averaging the relevant items. This value score indicates the level of concern for others, even at the expense of personal success and dominance.
To test the hypotheses about the longitudinal relations between values and sharing behavior, we performed cross-lagged panel path analyses in Mplus 8.0 (Muthén & Muthén, 2018) for costly and non-costly sharing behavior separately. We conducted multi-group model analyses to test for gender differences. Models restricted to equality of associations between genders fit the data similarly to models in which associations were left to vary freely (costly: χ2 (6) = 3.89, p = .69; non-costly: χ2 (6) = 3.83, p = .70). We therefore report the restricted models.
Continuity was found in sharing behavior and self-transcendence versus self-enhancement values. Values and behaviors were associated at T1. Furthermore, T1 values were associated with later costly sharing behavior, but not vice versa. That is, it appears that values are related to the development of sharing behavior over time, while behavior did not promote value development. This effect was not found in non-costly pro-social behavior.
The results present the first investigation of value-behavior associations over time in such a young age. While they replicate past within-time associations (Abramson et al., 2018; Benish-Weisman et al., 2019), they enhance our understanding by adding the directional factor. Provocatively, they suggest that already at the beginning for middle childhood, values may serve as organizing and guiding motivations in children’s life.

Authors

• Anat Chomsky, Tel Aviv University
  Presenting Author

• Ella Daniel, Tel Aviv University
  Non-Presenting Author