This program guide was written to help teach young people effective anger management skills. Geared toward adolescents of middle school age and intended for in-class use, the sessions are readily adaptable for use in small group or individual contexts. The main goal is to help youngsters gain the awareness and skills to manage their anger so that…

How participation in extracurricular activity participation (EAP) encourages prosocial behavior is investigated. A sense of connection to prosocial entities is understood to influence youth behavior. This study tests the hypothesis that the impact of EAP is mediated by a youth's sense of connection to the school. Using a diverse sample of…

Three experiments analyze correspondence training as a chain of five events consisting of a promise, a series of behaviors leading from the promise to its nonverbal fulfillment (called "intermediate behavior"), a nonverbal behavior that fulfills the promise, a verbal report, and a nonverbal (or reported) behavior. Eight three- to…

Research relevant to the development of internal control of altruism is reviewed, and the need for integrating the various approaches to the study of altruism into one model is noted. (MP)

Two studies explored the possibility that a set of behaviors that could be characterized as helping would be exhibited by young children. (Author/RH)

Children were given an opportunity to share a valuable commodity with an attractive or unattractive peer. Moments later, the peer appeared to fall from a chair. Results indicated older children shared more of their resources; sharing and responses to the emergency were positively correlated with empathic test scores. (Author/RC)

Modeling and direct instruction were used to train children to cooperate rather than compete. Children in treatment conditions showed significantly more cooperation than did control groups after immediate assessment. Seven weeks later age but not treatment differences were observed in generalization of training. (Author/DB)

Investigates the hypothesis that willingness to help another person depends on the cause of the person's need and that the relationship between attribution and helping is mediated by affect and expectancy of future need. Subjects were 40 male and 40 female undergraduate students. (Author/SS)

The effect of two types of role-taking training experiences on role taking, empathy, altruism, and aggression was investigated in 30 six- and 30 nine-year-old boys. (SS)

Questionnaires were given to second, third, and fourth graders examining relationships between television viewing habits and prosocial behavior. Results indicated the fewer programs watched and the more prosocial their content, the more likely a child was to exhibit prosocial behavior. Each variable accounted for about one percent of the variance.…

Investigates the development of politeness in speech in preschool children as it relates to their I.Q., chronological age, social adjustment, and social class and concludes that such behavior relates to their social sensitivity toward adult expectations. (MH)

Examined 245 third- through sixth-graders' relational aggression, overt aggression, prosocial behavior, and social adjustment at three points during the academic year. Found that individual differences in relational aggression were relatively stable over time, and that relational aggression and prosocial behavior contributed to the prediction of…

Evaluates the effectiveness of a brief program to prevent physical, psychological, and sexual aggression in dating relationships. The program consisted of an educational video followed by a discussion led by either a female presenter or male/female co-presenters. Participants endorsed more prosocial attitudes about dating aggression immediately…

Quantifies sexual, violent, sexually violent, and prosocial behaviors in a sample of R-rated and X-rated videocassettes. Finds the predominant behavior in both X- and XXX-rated videos is sexual. Finds the predominant behavior in R-rated videos was violence followed by prosocial behavior. (RS)

Examined the relation between 72 mothers' attitudes and practices regarding the use of rewards and their second- through fifth-grade children's susceptibility to the undermining effects of rewards. It was suggested that children's responses to rewards depend in part on their experiences with rewards. (RJC)