Understanding Prosocial Behavior, Classroom Contexts, and Children’s Social Relationships: A Social Network Analysis

• In Event: Social Network Approaches to Understanding Peer Relationships and Positive Behaviors

Abstract

Children’s prosocial behavior is important for creating and maintaining social relationships. Previous social network research examining the associations between prosocial behavior and social relationships suggests that children may form more social relationships when they have higher levels of prosocial behavior (e.g., Kim et al., 2015) and that children may be more likely to have social relationships with peers who have a similar level of prosocial behavior to themselves (e.g., homophily of prosocial behavior; Logis et al., 2013). However, much of the prior research uses mostly homogenous samples of White, middle-class participants and focuses on social networks in adolescence. Furthermore, there is evidence that contextual factors such as classroom norms of prosocial behavior (Torrente et al., 2014) and teacher practices (class organization, supportive class emotional climate; Luckner & Pianta, 2011) may influence the associations between children’s prosocial behavior and social relationships. The present study uses social network analyses to examine the associations between children’s prosocial behavior and classroom social relationships, homophily of prosocial behavior in these relationships, and the potential moderating effects of classroom norms and teacher practices.

Our sample includes African American children (98.4%) from high-poverty, inner-urban city neighborhoods. In total, the study includes data from 257 children and their teachers in 12 second through fourth grade classrooms. We collected social network data using cognitive social structures (Krackhardt, 1987), classroom norms using peer nominations, and teacher practices using classroom observations. We first estimated a series of exponential random graph models (ERGMs) for each of the 12 classrooms. The ERGMs predicted the presence of social relationships using prosocial behavior and homophily of prosocial behavior as primary predictors as well as gender, gender homophily, and transitivity (e.g., the phenomenon that children are more likely to have social relationships with peers who are ‘a friend of a friend’) as covariates. Next, we meta-analyzed the ERGM results using a multi-level meta-analysis technique to examine the effects of prosocial behavior and homophily of prosocial behavior on social relationships across the 12 classrooms. This technique also allowed us to examine the moderating effects of prosocial norms and teacher practices.

Our results revealed a significant effect of prosocial behavior, b = 0.0464, se = 0.01, [p < 0.001, 95% CI: 0.03 – 0.06], suggesting that children with higher levels of prosocial behavior were more likely to have more social relationships (see Figure 1). We also saw a significant effect of homophily of prosocial behavior, b = -0.0238, se = 0.01, [p < 0.05, 95% CI: -0.045 – -0.002], suggesting that the more similar children were in terms of prosocial behavior, the more likely they were to have a social relationship (see Figure 2). Our results did not show any significant moderating effects of prosocial norms or teacher practices. Our findings highlight the importance of prosocial behavior in children’s social relationships and have implications for fostering children’s social relationships and improving their well-being.

Authors

• Jenna Hyatt Beffel, Michigan State University
  Presenting Author

• Jennifer Watling Neal, Michigan State University