Poster #67 - Prosocial Development Throughout the Toddlerhood: A Person-Centered Approach

• In Event: Poster Session 18

Abstract

Over the past few decades, there has been a growing debate over whether it is possible to identify reliable individual differences in prosocial tendencies among young children (i.e., prosocial personality types) (e.g., Eisenberg et al., 2015; Dunfield, 2014; Padilla-Walker & Carlo, 2014). While most studies have supported a multi-dimensional view of early prosocial development (indicated by low correlations across behaviors such as instrumental helping, sharing, and empathic helping), other studies have begun to identify groups of children who show consistent prosocial tendencies across all or some of these early prosocial behaviors (Newton et al., 2016; Schachner et al., 2018). The current study builds on these findings to investigate in a longitudinal study of toddlers, whether such tendencies can be identified, are stable, and whether temperament traits can predict these differences.
The current study employed a person-centered approach (latent profile analysis) to investigate toddlers’ profiles of instrumental helping, sharing, and empathic helping at 22, 28, and 34 months of age, and the role of toddler’s temperament (including anger/frustration, impulsivity, and inhibitory control) in explaining these profiles. A total of 93 Dutch toddlers and their parents participated in this study. At each wave, their three prosocial behaviors towards strangers (i.e., experimenter) were observed in the standardized behavioral assessments (Aknin et al., 2012; Svetlova et al., 2010). In addition, at wave 1, their parents rated these toddler’s anger/frustration, impulsivity, and inhibitory control using the subscales of the Early Children’s Behavior Questionnaire Short Form (ECBQ-SF; Putnam & Rothbart, 2006; Putnam et al., 2010).
Results revealed 3 three profiles at 22 months, including high prosocial (n = 28, 30.11%), low-to-moderate prosocial (n = 20, 21.50%), and instrumental helpers (n = 45, 48.39%). At 28 months, three profiles were identified, including high prosocial (n = 52, 55.91%), moderate prosocial (n = 28, 30.11%), and low prosocial (n = 13, 13.98%). At 34 months, two profiles were found, including high prosocial (n = 40, 43.01%) and moderate prosocial (n = 53, 56.99%). In addition, four longitudinal groups were identified based on how they were classified into profiles across the three waves, including a stable high prosocial profile (n =34, 37%), (2) a stable moderate prosocial profile (n = 30, 32%), (3) an increasing prosocial profile (n =27, 29%), and (4) an unstable profile (n = 2, 2%). When children were 34-month-olds (wave 3), those in the high prosocial profile were rated by their parents to have lower levels of impulsivity at 22 months than their peers in the moderate prosocial profile.
As a compliment and extension to the previous studies, this study indicates reliable individual differences across three prosocial behaviors at early ages, delineates developmental profiles, and pinpoints impulsivity as a potential contributor to individual differences. In conclusion, even in toddlerhood, we can find a small group of children who may have dispositions to be more prosocial than others, and toddlers' temperament is a promising predictor of prosocial tendencies.

Authors

• Yue Song, Nanjing Normal University
  Presenting Author

• Judith Semon Dubas, Utrecht University