Sharing behavior in early childhood: Development, consistency over time, and links to other types of prosociality

• In Event: The Development of Prosocial Behavior in Early Childhood

Abstract

The emergence of prosocial behavior in toddlerhood has gained considerable interest in recent years (Davidov et al., 2016). However, there is limited research on the stability of prosocial behavior across age, especially in early childhood. The three most common forms of prosociality in early childhood (Bowrnel, 2013), are sharing behavior (of limited resource), instrumental helping (helping a non-distressed other to complete a pragmatic goal), and compassionate helping (helping/comforting another in distress). The current study examined the stability over time of these different types of prosocial behavior, from 18-36 months (N=151; 138 children participated at both ages; 51% girls), with a focus on the sharing of limited resources with a distressed other.
At each age, five prosociality tasks were administered: two instrumental helping tasks (out-of-reach, finding a lost object; averaged at each age); two compassionate helping tasks toward another in distress (distress simulations of mother and experimenter; averaged at each age); and one task of sharing a limited resource (beloved snack) with a sad experimenter. The sharing task assessed both the amount of snack shared, and the stage at which sharing was shown (how many communicative cues were needed for the child to share).
We hypothesized that individual differences in prosociality will be stable over time, from 18 to 36 months, as was found in older children (Schachner, Newton, Thompson & Goodman-Wilson, 2018). In addition, we expected partial convergence between the different types of prosocial behavior, with stronger associations within type than across different types of prosociality.
First, we examined the consistency of sharing behavior across age. The stage at which the toddler shared at 18-months was related to the degree of sharing at 36-months (ꭕ2(9)=17.19, p=.046). Specifically, toddlers who shared spontaneously were likely to behave similarly at 36-months (Z=2.7, p=.007), and those who shared after being given a non-verbal cue also tended to later become spontaneous sharers (Z=1.9, p=.057). However, toddlers who shared only after a direct request (compliance) did not become spontaneous sharers by 36 months (Z=-2.1, p=.036), implying a different motivation for this behavior. Moreover, at both ages, children who shared only following a request tended to share smaller quantities than children who shared more willingly.
Similar to previous studies, we found partial convergence between different types of prosociality within age, at both 18 and 36 months (see Table 1). Moreover, when examining longitudinal correlations over time, associations were stronger within the same type of prosociality (e.g., between instrumental helping at the two ages) than across types (see Table 2). The only exception was the amount of snack shared at 36-months, which was linked to all prosociality types at 18-months.
To conclude, consistency across age in prosocial behavior is higher within (vs. between) prosociality tasks. Thus, the different types of prosociality appear to be distinct, although related, in early childhood.
 

Authors

• Yael Paz, University of Pennsylvania
  Presenting Author

• Maayan Davidov, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
  Non-Presenting Author

• Tal Orlitsky, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
  Non-Presenting Author

• Ronit Roth-Hanania, The Academic College of Tel Aviv Yaffo
  Non-Presenting Author

• Carolyn Zahn-Waxler, University of Wisconsin - Madison
  Non-Presenting Author