Poster #154 - Mothers’ and Fathers’ Parenting Behavior in Relation to Children’s Prosocial Behavior: A Meta-Analysis

• In Event: 1-061 - Poster Session 02
  In Poster Session: PS 02 Section - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Integrative Statement

Introduction:
Prosocial behavior in early childhood is related to important developmental outcomes, including peer acceptance, school performance, and low levels of loneliness and aggression (e.g. Eisenberg, Spinrad, & Knafo-Noam, 2015). Prosocial behavior can be defined as voluntary behavior intended to benefit another individual (i.e. helping, sharing, cooperating, and donating) in response to emotional distress, material desire, or instrumental need (Dunfield & Kuhlmeier, 2013; Eisenberg, 2003). Sensitive parenting can foster prosocial behavior by promoting reciprocity in caring behaviors between parent and child (Grusec & Davidov, 2010). When investigating the specific roles parents can play in stimulating children’s prosocial behavior, most studies have restricted their focus to mothers. The role of fathers is often neglected or overlooked (e.g. Garner, Dunsmore, & Southam‐Gerrow, 2008; Pastorelli et al., 2016). This is quite unfortunate, given that recent studies have suggested that fathers in particular may affect children’s prosocial behavior, acting as "bridges to the outside world” (e.g. Dumont & Paquette, 2013; Grossman et al., 2002; Paquette, 2014). The few recent studies that were able to compare findings for fathers and mothers yield equivocal results (e.g. Lauren & Wade, 2017; Putnick, Bornstein, Lansford, & Malone, 2015). Thus, whether and to what extent fathers’ parenting plays an important role in children’s prosocial behavior, taking into account the role of mothers, remains unclear.
Aim: The aim of the current paper is to synthesize the current literature on the impact of parental behaviors of mother and fathers on children’s prosocial behavior.
Methods: In our preliminary search using the database PsycInfo with the keywords “father”, “child”, and “prosocial” in the title or abstract 183 studies were detected. Eligible studies used direct measures of parenting (e.g., warmth, sensitivity, and parental control) of both mothers and fathers within the same family, and incorporated measures of prosocial behavior of children either through laboratory behavioral tasks, observations, or questionnaires.
Results: Seventeen studies were thus far eligible for inclusion with a total of 10,499 children and their parents. The studies represent a well-balanced distribution of longitudinal versus cross-sectional studies, self-report versus child or parent report on both the dependent and independent variables, survey versus observational data, and a large range of child developmental phases, including early childhood to adolescence. In the following months, we will finalize our literature search, apply our inclusion and exclusion criteria, code the included studies and conduct our meta-analysis.
Discussion: Our meta-analysis will reveal whether and to what extent fathers’ behavior influences children’s prosocial behavior and whether and to what extent the impact of fathers’ behavior is stronger compared to that of mothers.

Authors

• Lisa van der Storm, Erasmus University Rotterdam
  Presenting Author

• Nicole Lucassen, Erasmus University Rotterdam
  Non-Presenting Author

• Katrien Helmerhorst, Erasmus University Rotterdam
  Non-Presenting Author

• Renske Keizer, Erasmus University Rotterdam
  Non-Presenting Author