Promoting a Kinder and More Just World: The Development of Prosocial, Moral, and Social Justice Behaviors in Adolescence

Editorial

07 January 2025

Editorial: Promoting a kinder and more just world: the development of prosocial, moral, and social justice behaviors in adolescence

Daniel Lapsley

Gustavo Carlo

Alexandra Davis

Richard Fabes

and

Deborah Laible

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Editors

Daniel Lapsley

University of Notre Dame

Gustavo Carlo

University of California, Irvine

Alexandra Davis

University of New Mexico

Richard Fabes

Arizona State University

Deborah June Laible

Lehigh University

Impact

Original Research

15 October 2024

The development of prosocial behavior from late childhood to adolescence: a longitudinal and multicultural study

Flavia Cirimele

, 22 more and

Jennifer E. Lansford

Introduction: Prosocial behavior (i.e., voluntary actions aimed at benefiting others, such as helping, comforting, and sharing) has proven beneficial for individuals' adjustment during the transition to adolescence. However, less is known about the role of the broader sociocultural context in shaping prosocial development across different cultures. Thus, the present study explored the longitudinal trajectory of prosocial behavior in the transition to adolescence (from ages 9 to 16) by examining the role of the Human Development Index (HDI) in relation to prosocial development.

Methods: A sample of 915 children (Time 1: 50.5% males; M_age = 9.24, SD = 0.69) across six countries (Colombia, Jordan, Italy, the Philippines, Thailand, and the United States) participated in the study. Over four time points covering 7 years, prosocial behavior was assessed using a self-report measure.

Results: A second-order Latent Growth Curve Model, controlling for child gender and family SES, showed that prosocial behavior remained stable in contexts with high HDI, whereas increases in prosocial behavior were evidenced as children moved into adolescence in contexts with low HDI. Moreover, cultural differences in the mean level of prosocial behavior were shown during late childhood and the earliest phase of adolescence, whereas the national development of a given context did not account for differences in prosocial behavior during late adolescence.

Discussion: Findings underscore that national life expectancy, education, and wealth play a role in age-related changes in other-oriented behaviors during adolescence. The role of sociocultural factors in shaping trajectories of prosocial behavior across six countries is discussed.

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1 citations

Original Research

15 May 2024

Change in prosocial development following adversity exposure among U.S. Mexican youth

Gustavo Carlo

, 5 more and

Nancy Gonzales

Introduction: Altruistic prosocial behaviors (i.e., actions primarily intended to benefit others with little to no regard for self-benefit) are of special interest to researchers interested in growth in character strengths following exposure to adversity and trauma (referred to as the altruism-born-of-suffering hypothesis). The present study was designed to examine this hypothesis. Changes in prosocial behaviors following trauma exposure and whether problem-focused coping and familism facilitated prosocial behaviors were investigated in U.S. Mexican youth.

Methods: A total of 749 Mexican-origin students (initial M age = 10.42 years, SD = 0.55; 48.9% girls) from the U.S. Southwest completed surveys from 5th grade to early adulthood.

Results: U.S. Mexican girls who reported earlier trauma exhibited increases in altruistic behaviors into young adulthood but only when they reported relatively high levels of familism values in middle adolescence. A similar trend pattern was found for U.S. Mexican boys but only when they expressed relatively high levels of problem-focused coping in middle adolescence. There was other evidence of significant relations between both familism and problem focused coping and prosocial behaviors in these youth.

Discussion: Findings demonstrate the potential for prosocial development across adolescence to young adulthood among trauma-exposed youth from a U.S. ethnic/racial minority background.

1,265 views

2 citations