title: The development of prosocial behaviors in young children: a prospective population-based cohort study.
abstract: Researchers know relatively little about the normative development of children's behaviors aimed at alleviating distress or discomfort in others. In this article, the authors aim to describe the continuity and discontinuity in the degree to which young children in the general population are reported to exhibit specific prosocial behaviors. Data came from the Québec Longitudinal Study of Child Development. Consistent with Hay's model of prosocial development, the results show that there were about as many children who stopped exhibiting prosocial behaviors between 29 and 41 months of age as there were children who started doing so during this period. Further, gender differences (girls > boys) in prosocial behaviors are either emerging or at least increasing in magnitude, with girls being more likely to start and boys being more likely to stop exhibiting these behaviors between 29 and 41 months of age. Consistent with the early-onset hypothesis, children who exhibit prosocial behaviors at 17 months of age are less likely to stop exhibiting the same behaviors between 29 and 41 months of age. Otherwise, if they did not exhibit prosocial behaviors at 29 months of age, they are also more likely to start doing so in the following year.
authors: University of Ottawa, Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.Canada. raymond.baillargeon@uottawa.ca
authors: Raymond H
authors: RH
authors: Baillargeon
authors: Alexandre
authors: A
authors: Morisset
authors: Kate
authors: K
authors: Keenan
authors: Claude L
authors: CL
authors: Normand
authors: Suganthiny
authors: S
authors: Jeyaganth
authors: Michel
authors: M
authors: Boivin
authors: Richard E
authors: RE
authors: Tremblay
mesh_terms: D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004645:Empathy; D005260:Female; D006379:Helping Behavior; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D010552:Personality Assessment; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011792:Quebec; D012016:Reference Values; D012737:Sex Factors; D012919:Social Behavior; D012951:Socialization