title: Parenting styles or practices? Parenting, sympathy, and prosocial behaviors among adolescents.
abstract: In the present study, the authors examined the relations among parenting styles, parental practices, sympathy, and prosocial behaviors in adolescents. The participants were 233 adolescents (M age = 16.7 years; 69% girls; mostly White) from public high schools in the Midwestern region of the United States who completed measures of prosocial behaviors, parenting styles, parenting practices, and sympathy. Overall, the authors found evidence that parenting practices were significantly associated with adolescents' prosocial behaviors. However, the associations between parenting practices and prosocial behaviors occurred mostly through the indirect relations with sympathy. The relations among parenting practices, sympathy, and prosocial behaviors varied as a function of the specific parenting practice and the specific prosocial behavior. Implications for future research on the study of prosocial development and parenting among adolescents are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Nebraska--Lincoln, 68588, USA. gcarlo1@unl.edu
authors.forename: Gustavo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Carlo
authors.forename: Meredith
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: McGinley
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hayes
authors.forename: Candice
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Batenhorst
authors.forename: Jamie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wilkinson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000533:Altruism; D004645:Empathy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D035863:Moral Development; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D010555:Personality Inventory; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D012737:Sex Factors; D012919:Social Behavior; D012931:Social Environment; D012951:Socialization