The Development of Prosocial Behaviors in Young Children: A Prospective Population-Based Cohort Study

Researchers know relatively little about the normative development of children's behaviors aimed at alleviating distress or discomfort in others. In this article, the authors aim to describe the continuity and discontinuity in the degree to which young children in the general population are rep...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of genetic psychology 2011-07, Vol.172 (3), p.221-251
Main Authors: Baillargeon, Raymond H., Morisset, Alexandre, Keenan, Kate, Normand, Claude L., Jeyaganth, Suganthiny, Boivin, Michel, Tremblay, Richard E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age differences
Behavior
Biological and medical sciences
Child
Child Development
Child, Preschool
Children & youth
Cohort Studies
Developmental psychology
early-onset hypothesis
Empathy
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Gender differences
Hay's model of prosocial development
Helping Behavior
Humans
Individuality
Linear Models
Male
Motivation
Newborn. Infant
Personality Assessment
Prospective Studies
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Quebec
Québec Longitudinal Study of Child Development
Reference Values
Sex Factors
Social Behavior
Socialization
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Summary:Researchers know relatively little about the normative development of children's behaviors aimed at alleviating distress or discomfort in others. In this article, the authors aim to describe the continuity and discontinuity in the degree to which young children in the general population are reported to exhibit specific prosocial behaviors. Data came from the Québec Longitudinal Study of Child Development. Consistent with Hay's model of prosocial development, the results show that there were about as many children who stopped exhibiting prosocial behaviors between 29 and 41 months of age as there were children who started doing so during this period. Further, gender differences (girls > boys) in prosocial behaviors are either emerging or at least increasing in magnitude, with girls being more likely to start and boys being more likely to stop exhibiting these behaviors between 29 and 41 months of age. Consistent with the early-onset hypothesis, children who exhibit prosocial behaviors at 17 months of age are less likely to stop exhibiting the same behaviors between 29 and 41 months of age. Otherwise, if they did not exhibit prosocial behaviors at 29 months of age, they are also more likely to start doing so in the following year.
ISSN:0022-1325
1940-0896
DOI:10.1080/00221325.2010.533719