Helping Yourself Helps Others: Linking Children's Emotion Regulation to Prosocial Behavior Through Sympathy and Trust

Although emotionally well-regulated children are more likely to behave prosocially, the psychological processes that connect their emotion regulation abilities and prosocial behavior are less clear. We tested if other-oriented sympathy and trust mediated the links between emotion regulation capaciti...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Emotion (Washington, D.C.) D.C.), 2018-06, Vol.18 (4), p.518-527
Main Authors: Song, Ju-Hyun, Colasante, Tyler, Malti, Tina
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Assistance (Social Behavior)
Child
Childhood Development
Emotional Regulation
Emotions - physiology
Female
Human
Humans
Male
Prosocial Behavior
Respiratory System
Sadness
Sadness - psychology
Social Behavior
Sympathy
Test Construction
Trust (Social Behavior)
Trust - psychology
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Summary:Although emotionally well-regulated children are more likely to behave prosocially, the psychological processes that connect their emotion regulation abilities and prosocial behavior are less clear. We tested if other-oriented sympathy and trust mediated the links between emotion regulation capacities (i.e., resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia [RSA], negative emotional intensity, and sadness regulation) and prosocial behavior in an ethnically diverse sample of 4- and 8-year-olds (N = 131; 49% girls). Resting RSA was calculated from children's electrocardiogram data in response to a nondescript video. Sympathy was child and caregiver reported, whereas negative emotional intensity, sadness regulation, trust, and prosocial behavior were caregiver reported. Regardless of age, higher resting RSA was linked to higher sympathy, which was associated with higher prosocial behavior. The positive link between sadness regulation and prosocial behavior was mediated by higher sympathy and trust. Children's other-oriented psychological processes may play important roles in translating certain emotion regulation capacities into prosocial behavior.
ISSN:1528-3542
1931-1516
DOI:10.1037/emo0000332