Suchergebnisse

AbstractGenerally, research on children's anger and prosocial outcomes has been inconsistent, perhaps because researchers have overlooked nuances in children's anger, such as whether the emotion is situational versus dispositional or is in response to blocked goals versus violations of moral principles (e.g., unfairness). Additionally, mixed findings may be due to potential moderators such as shyness. In this study, we investigated the unique relations of children's (n = 192, 54.7% boys; Mage = 41.75 months) dispositional and situational anger in response to unfairness at 42 months old to their prosocial behavior toward strangers a year later. Further, we examined whether children's shyness moderated the relations. Longitudinal models controlling for stability of the constructs showed that dispositional anger was unrelated to prosocial behavior whereas situational anger positively predicted later prosocial behavior. Further, children's shyness moderated the relation between situational anger (but not dispositional anger) and prosocial behavior. For shy children, prosocial behavior toward strangers was low, regardless of anger; for those who were low or average in shyness, situational anger positively predicted prosocial behavior. The findings suggest that when children are not too shy to approach strangers, anger in response to unfairness may be an important precursor for later other‐oriented moral tendencies.

Building upon two complimentary theoretical frameworks related to group relations (i.e., Intergroup Contact Theory and Peer Exposure), we examined how emerging adults' friendships with men and women were related to their hostile sexism, benevolent sexism, and sexual objectification attitudes. Participants were 212 college students ( M age = 20.20 years, SD = 2.08; 62% female; 58% White) from a large southwestern university. Results provided support for Intergroup Contact Theory and for a Peer Exposure effect, but only for men. Specifically, for men, having female friends was negatively associated with hostile sexism, and having male friends was positively related to hostile sexism; neither friendship type related to benevolent sexism. For women, no significant relations between friends and attitudes were found; this is likely due to the assessed attitudes being about women (their own group). The findings suggest a promising pathway to mitigate gender-based prejudice for men through cross-gender friendships.

AbstractThe purpose of this article was to analyze change over time in a specific aspect of prosocial behavior, emotional support toward friends, using two different methodologies. We examined how emotional support changes during the transition to adulthood and whether gender‐based group comparisons yield different gender patterns than person‐centered growth mixture models. We hypothesized that emotional helping toward friends would increase over time and that person‐centered analyses would not show gender differences as large as those indicated by group comparison models. Participants were 466 young adults (ages 18–21). Findings indicated that important intragroup variance was masked when analyses focused on comparisons between gender groups. Person‐centered analyses indicated two mixed‐gender groups with different prosocial trajectories. We discuss how the methods and outcomes of person‐centered analyses are more congruent with current theories of "gender similarities" as well as empirical evidence of the small gender difference in social behaviors such as emotional support.

AbstractObjectiveWe examined the associations among parenting, children's moral emotions, and children's prosocial behaviors toward Black peers and White peers.BackgroundParenting practices inform children's prosocial behaviors; however, the contextual and individual factors that predict children's differentiated prosocial behaviors have been understudied.MethodParticipants were 190 White children (5.4 to 8.91 years old, 45.8% female) and their primary parents. Parents reported parenting practices. Children's prosocial behaviors were assessed through distribution tasks; children's sympathy and empathic anger were observed in response to films that depicted injustice toward others.ResultsNurturant parenting positively predicted, whereas restrictive parenting negatively predicted, children's prosocial behaviors toward diverse others. Additionally, parenting predicted children's prosocial behaviors toward Black peers only when children expressed low levels of empathic anger toward victimized Black peers.ConclusionsOverall, nurturant parenting is positively related, and restrictive parenting is negatively related, to children's prosocial behaviors toward different targets. Children's target‐specific empathic anger moderated the relation of specific parenting practices to children's prosocial behaviors toward racial outgroup peers.ImplicationsWhite parents should understand the way that restrictive parenting might impede children's generosity toward diverse others and engage in nurturant parenting, especially when children do not naturally feel concerned about distressed outgroup members.