title: The role of emotion regulation in situational empathy-related responding and prosocial behaviour in the presence of negative affect.
abstract: Empathy and prosocial behaviour are crucial factors for children's positive social adjustment. Contemporary models of empathy highlight the capacity to regulate vicariously experienced emotions as a precursor to empathy-related responses (e.g., prosocial behaviour). The goal of this study was to examine the role of emotion regulation (ER) in situational empathy-related responding and prosocial behaviour. A sample of 157 children (76 boys and 81 girls; Mage= 9.94 years) participated in a two-tiered interview procedure that utilised vignettes to assess empathy and prosocial behaviour. Between both phases of the interview, a negative affect was induced to investigate the influence of ER on the change between the two phases. Results from a latent change model showed that ER strategies positively predicted change scores, that is, children with higher abilities to regulate emotions showed a higher increase in empathy and prosocial behaviour. Implications for the promotion of social-emotional learning in school are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Psychological, Health, and Learning Sciences, College of Education, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Sascha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hein
authors.affiliation: Department of Education, Institute for Special Education, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
authors.forename: Mandy
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Röder
authors.affiliation: Department of Education, Institute for Special Education, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fingerle
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D004645:Empathy / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012919:Social Behavior
keywords: Emotion regulation; Empathy; Latent change model; Negative affect; Prosocial behaviour