title: The Differential role of parenting, peers, and temperament for explaining interindividual differences in 18-months-olds' comforting and helping.
abstract: This study analyzes temperamental and social correlates of 18-month-olds' (N=58) instrumental helping (i.e., handing over out-of-reach objects) and comforting (i.e., alleviating experimenter's distress). While out-of-reach helping as a basic type of prosocial behavior was not associated with any of the social and temperamental variables, comforting was associated with maternal responsible parenting, day care attendance, and temperamental fear, accounting for 34% of the total variance in a corresponding regression model. The data of the present study suggest that, while simple instrumental helping seems to be a robust developmental phenomenon, comforting is associated with specific social experiences and child temperament that constitute interindividual differences and thereby help to explain the domain-specific development of prosociality.
authors.affiliation: Department of Developmental Psychology, University of Münster, Germany. Electronic address: nils.schuhmacher@uni-muenster.de.
authors.forename: Nils
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Schuhmacher
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Jenny
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Collard
authors.affiliation: Department of Developmental Psychology, University of Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: Joscha
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kärtner
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005239:Fear / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006379:Helping Behavior; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D010379:Peer Group; D013694:Temperament / Q000502:physiology
keywords: Comforting; Domain-specificity; Instrumental helping; Parenting styles; Peers; Prosocial behavior; Prosociality; Siblings; Toddlers