Positive parenting and children's prosocial behavior in eight countries.
Research supports the beneficial role of prosocial behaviors on children's adjustment and successful youth development. Empirical studies point to reciprocal relations between negative parenting and children's maladjustment, but reciprocal relations between positive parenting and children's prosocial behavior are understudied. In this study reciprocal relations between two different dimensions of positive parenting (quality of the mother-child relationship and the use of balanced positive discipline) and children's prosocial behavior were examined in Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States.



Mother-child dyads (N = 1105) provided data over 2 years in two waves (Mage of child in wave 1 = 9.31 years, SD = 0.73; 50% female).



A model of reciprocal relations between parenting dimensions, but not among parenting and children's prosocial behavior, emerged. In particular, children with higher levels of prosocial behavior at age 9 elicited higher levels of mother-child relationship quality in the following year.



Findings yielded similar relations across countries, evidencing that being prosocial in late childhood contributes to some degree to the enhancement of a nurturing and involved mother-child relationship in countries that vary widely on sociodemographic profiles and psychological characteristics. Policy and intervention implications of this study are discussed.
Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Concetta
C
Pastorelli
Center for Child and Family Policy, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
Jennifer E
JE
Lansford
Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Bernadette Paula
BP
Luengo Kanacri
Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA.
Patrick S
PS
Malone
Interuniversity Centre for Research in the Genesis and Development of Prosocial and Antisocial Motivations, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Laura
L
Di Giunta
Department of Psychology, Second University of Naples, Caserta, Italy.
Dario
D
Bacchini
Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Anna Silvia
AS
Bombi
Department of Education Sciences, Foro Italico University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Arnaldo
A
Zelli
Department of Psychology, Second University of Naples, Caserta, Italy.
Maria Concetta
MC
Miranda
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Marc H
MH
Bornstein
Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Sombat
S
Tapanya
Facultad de Psicologia, Universidad San Buenaventura, Medellin, Colombia.
Liliana Maria
LM
Uribe Tirado
Department of Psychology, Ateneo de Manila University, Metropolitan Manila, Philippines.
Liane Pena
LP
Alampay
Department of Special Education, Hashemite University, Zarqa, Jordan.
Suha M
SM
Al-Hassan
Department of Educational Psychology, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
Lei
L
Chang
Department of Psychology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA.
Kirby
K
Deater-Deckard
Center for Child and Family Policy, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
Kenneth A
KA
Dodge
Department of Educational Psychology, Maseno University, Maseno, Kenya.
Paul
P
Oburu
Center for Child and Family Policy, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
Ann T
AT
Skinner
Department of Psychology, University West, Trollhättan, Sweden.
Emma
E
Sorbring
D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000208:ethnology*; D003105:Colombia / Q000208:ethnology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000208:ethnology; D007597:Jordan / Q000208:ethnology; D007630:Kenya / Q000208:ethnology; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations / Q000208:ethnology*; D016487:Parenting / Q000208:ethnology*; D010679:Philippines / Q000208:ethnology; D012919:Social Behavior; D013548:Sweden / Q000208:ethnology; D013785:Thailand / Q000208:ethnology; D014481:United States / Q000208:ethnology
Prosocial behavior; cross-national; late childhood; parenting