This 3-wave longitudinal study investigated the developmental trajectories of instrumental helping, sharing and empathic helping across toddlerhood, and how socialisation processes (i.e., parents' and teachers' practices) contribute to these developments. Participants were 50 18-months-olds and 62 24-months-olds, their parents, and daycare…

Early childhood aggression is a ubiquitous and developmentally normal behavior; however, different report sources (e.g., child self-report vs. teacher) often yield markedly different interpretations. The current study examined how typical demographic and cognitive factors that have been previously found to explain child behavior (e.g., SES,…

This research explores how decision-making autonomy and social distance impact young children's sharing behaviour. In Study 1, findings from 159 Chinese children (total N = 159, 72 boys, aged 3-6 years) revealed that children aged 5-6 exhibited significantly more sharing behaviours in the controlled condition, however 3-4 years-olds showed no…

Research Findings: The present study investigated the potential mediating role of maternal parenting in the intergenerational effects of maternal childhood traumatic experiences (CTEs) on prosocial behaviors of their offspring and examined whether the offspring's sensory processing sensitivity (SPS) moderates this association using a 1-year…

Infants can help and share in the second year of life. However, there is limited knowledge as to variability in these behaviors as a function of target (e.g., caregiver vs. unfamiliar adult) and the influence of caregiver support on infant prosocial behavior. Infants (N = 268, 124 female) at 1-2 years of age (M = 1.47, SD = 0.27) and again at 2-3…

Advantageous inequity aversion emerges relatively late in child development, yet the mechanisms explaining its late emergence are poorly understood. Here, we ask whether children begin to reject advantageous inequity, a costly form of fairness, once reputational concerns are in place. Specifically, we examine the role of peer monitoring in…

This article explores conflicts among toddlers in kindergarten and the impact of toys in these conflicts. The author describes these interactions as part of how children develop and express their citizenship, and argues that staff members should hesitate before interfering with rules in order to prevent such conflicts. This is based on Mouffe's…

Parenting behaviors and children's prosociality (i.e., voluntary behaviors intended to benefit others) are linked across development. Contextual risk and environmental stressors may undermine parenting behaviors known to promote children's prosocial behavior. The COVID-19 pandemic provides a unique context in which to examine how stress and…

Across psychology, there is increasing recognition that the experiences of children from minoritized racial and ethnic groups are underrepresented. Research on prosocial behavior exemplifies this systemic bias. This paper suggests that measures of prosocial behavior should be revised to be more culturally equitable, in order to reflect the…

The aim of the present study was to explore how maternal reminiscing relates to socioemotional development during middle childhood. Specifically, analyses explored the link between maternal reminiscing and children's internalizing (emotional problems and peer problems), externalizing (hyperactivity and conduct problems) and prosocial behavior…

In this deeply insightful work, nationally renowned bullying expert Elizabeth Kandel Englander offers sensible perspectives on student social behavior and equips educators and parents with effective strategies to identify and address bullying. This second edition of "Bullying and Cyberbullying" reveals how enormous social changes,…

Amid protracted conflict, children are raised in divided contexts that shape the development of their intergroup attitudes and behaviors. Social identity development theory (SIDT) suggests that in-group preference may contribute to more negative out-group attitudes and behaviors in middle childhood. In such contexts, in-group favoritism may shape…

This article describes a quasi-experimental design study comparing a sample of divorcing parents who attended a divorce education program to a sample of divorcing parents who did not attend a divorce education program. The data were analyzed using four child outcomes (emotional symptoms, conduct problems, peer problems, prosocial behaviors), with…

Aggressive, violent, and disruptive behaviour among Belize youth is disproportionately high. The present study evaluated a school-based positive youth development program (Positive Action) using a clustered RCT. The aim of the study sought to examine post-treatment positive youth development competencies (i.e. social-emotional character…

We assessed the psychometric properties of the Social Behavior Questionnaire (SBQ), a 30-item questionnaire evaluating social (e.g., disruptive behaviors, bullying) and emotional problems (e.g., anxiety, depression) among children aged 3.5-12 years. Children (n = 1,950, 50.21% boys) were drawn from the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child…