title: Adolescents' empathy and prosocial behavior in the family context: a longitudinal study.
abstract: Children's empathy and prosocial behavior play an important role in their social competence. Of the influential factors, research has demonstrated that parental behaviors and the quality of the parent-child relationship are important correlates of children's development of empathy and prosocial behavior. The current study examined the associations between different types of parental behaviors (i.e., parental knowledge, parental solicitation, and parental psychological control), "balanced connectedness" in the parent-child relationship, which allows for both closeness and autonomy, and empathy and prosocial behavior in adolescents. The participants were 335 married couples (more than 80 % European American) and their adolescent child (49.0 % female; 10-13 years). Data were collected at three time points for parental behaviors, balanced parent-child connectedness, and adolescents' empathy and prosocial behavior, respectively. The results of structural equation modeling suggested that adolescents' perceptions of parental solicitation and parental psychological control may be associated with their empathy and prosocial behavior through their perceived balanced connectedness with parents. These findings suggest that enhancing balanced connectedness in the parent-child relationship may contribute to promoting empathy and prosocial behavior in adolescents over time. Further, this study suggests that parental solicitation may play a role in adolescents' empathic and prosocial development, possibly depending on the quality of the parent-child relationship.
authors.affiliation: Human Development and Family Science, The Ohio State University, 135 Campbell Hall, 1787 Neil Ave., Columbus, OH, 43210, USA, yoo.161@buckeyemail.osu.edu.
authors.forename: Hana
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yoo
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.forename: Randal D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Day
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D004645:Empathy; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D012919:Social Behavior