Children's Sympathy, Guilt, and Moral Reasoning in Helping, Cooperation, and Sharing: A 6-Year Longitudinal Study

This study examined the role of sympathy, guilt, and moral reasoning in helping, cooperation, and sharing in a 6-year, three-wave longitudinal study involving 175 children (M_age 6.10, 9.18, and 12.18 years). Primary caregivers reported on children's helping and cooperation; sharing was assessed behaviorally. Child sympathy was assessed by self- and teacher reports, and self-attributed feelings of guilt-sadness and moral reasoning were assessed by children's responses to transgression vignettes. Sympathy predicted helping, cooperation, and sharing. Guilt-sadness and moral reasoning interacted with sympathy in predicting helping and cooperation; both sympathy and guilt-sadness were associated with the development of sharing. The findings are discussed in relation to the emergence of differential motivational pathways to helping, cooperation, and sharing.

Psychological processes in young bullies versus bully-victims

Some children who bully others are also victimized themselves ("bully-victims") whereas others are not victimized themselves ("bullies"). These subgroups have been shown to differ in their social functioning as early as in kindergarten. What is less clear are the motives that underlie the bullying behavior of young bullies and bully-victims. The present study examined whether bullies have proactive motives for aggression and anticipate to feel happy after victimizing others, whereas bully-victims have reactive motives for aggression, poor theory of mind skills, and attribute hostile intent to others. This "distinct processes hypothesis" was contrasted with the "shared processes hypothesis," predicting that bullies and bully-victims do not differ on these psychological processes. Children (n = 283, age 4-9) were classified as bully, bully-victim, or noninvolved using peer-nominations. Theory of mind, hostile intent attributions, and happy victimizer emotions were assessed using standard vignettes and false-belief tasks; reactive and proactive motives were assessed using teacher-reports. We tested our hypotheses using Bayesian model selection, enabling us to directly compare the distinct processes model (predicting that bullies and bully-victims deviate from noninvolved children on different psychological processes) against the shared processes model (predicting that bullies and bully-victims deviate from noninvolved children on all psychological processes alike). Overall, the shared processes model received more support than the distinct processes model. These results suggest that in early childhood, bullies and bully-victims have shared, rather than distinct psychological processes underlying their bullying behavior.

The role of cross-group friendship and emotions in adolescents' attitudes towards inclusion

BACKGROUND

Most countries have started to educate students with special educational needs (SEN) in mainstream schools, but it remains unclear how inclusive attitudes towards students with SEN can be promoted.

AIMS

This study investigated the role of adolescents' friendships and socio-moral competencies for their attitudes towards the inclusion of students with SEN. Specifically, we studied whether adolescents without SEN would develop more inclusive attitudes if they had close friendships with SEN students and if they expressed negative emotions about social exclusion.

METHODS

Adolescents' inclusive attitudes and their emotions were gathered from survey data of 1225 Swiss students aged 11-13. Social network data were collected to assess adolescents' friendship relationships.

RESULTS

The results indicated that adolescents' friendship closeness with SEN students positively related to their inclusive attitudes. However, this was only true for adolescents who anticipated more negative than positive emotions if a student with SEN was excluded.

IMPLICATIONS

These findings highlight the role of friendship relationships between adolescents with and without SEN and adolescents' socio-moral experiences for their attitudes towards the inclusion of peers with SEN. Thus, inclusive education may benefit from promoting friendships among students with and without SEN as well as adolescents' socio-moral competencies.

Dual Trajectories of Reactive and Proactive Aggression from Mid-childhood to Early Adolescence: Relations to Sensation Seeking, Risk Taking, and Moral Reasoning

We examined the roles of sensation seeking, risk taking, and moral reasoning in the development of reactive and proactive aggression. Data were drawn from a multiethnic, longitudinal study of children from Switzerland (N = 1571; 52 % male; assessed annually over 6 years; 7-years-old at Time 1). At all 6 time points, teachers reported children's reactive and proactive aggression via questionnaire. Children's sensation seeking (at Time 1) and risk taking (at Time 2) were assessed with two interactive computer tasks and their moral reasoning was assessed at Time 2 in response to four hypothetical vignettes depicting moral transgressions. Parallel process Latent Class Growth Analysis (PP-LCGA) identified six dual trajectories of reactive and proactive aggression. Children with either childhood-limited or adolescent-onset aggression showed high sensation seeking. Children with persistent, high levels of both reactive and proactive aggression across time showed high levels of sensation seeking and risk taking, as well as low levels of moral reasoning. Children with only high risk taking were more likely to display moderate levels of aggression across time. These findings highlight the shared and differential roles of sensation seeking, risk taking, and moral reasoning in the dual development of reactive and proactive aggression from mid-childhood to early adolescence. We discuss implications for common and tailored strategies to combat these aggression subtypes.

Toward Dynamic Adaptation of Psychological Interventions for Child and Adolescent Development and Mental Health

Children's and adolescents' mental health needs emphasize the necessity of a new era of translational research to enhance development and yield better lives for children, families, and communities. Developmental, clinical, and translational research serves as a powerful tool for managing the inevitable complexities in pursuit of these goals. This article proposes key ideas that will strengthen current evidence-based intervention practices by creating stronger links between research, practice, and complex systems contexts, with the potential of extending applicability, replicability, and impact. As exemplified in some of the articles throughout this special issue, new research and innovative implementation models will likely contribute to better ways of assessing and dynamically adapting structure and intervention practice within mental health systems. We contend that future models for effective interventions with children and adolescents will involve increased attention to (a) the connection of research on the developmental needs of children and adolescents to practice models; (b) consideration of informed contextual and cultural adaptation in implementation; and (c) a rational model of evidence-based planning, using a dynamic, inclusive approach with high support for adaptation, flexibility, and implementation fidelity. We discuss future directions for translational research for researchers, practitioners, and administrators in the field to continue and transform these ideas and their illustrations.

A Non-bipartite Propensity Score Analysis of the Effects of Teacher-Student Relationships on Adolescent Problem and Prosocial Behavior

Previous research suggests a link between the quality of teacher-student relationships and the students' behavioral outcomes; however, the observational nature of past studies makes it difficult to attribute a causal role to the quality of these relationships. In the current study, therefore, we used a propensity score analysis approach to evaluate whether students who were matched on their propensity to experience a given level of relationship quality but differed on their actual relationship quality diverged on their concurrent and subsequent problem and prosocial behavior. Student/self, teacher, and parent- (only waves 1-3) reported data from 8 waves of the Zurich Project on the Social Development of Children and Youths (z-proso), a longitudinal study of Swiss youth among a culturally diverse sample of 7- to 15-year-olds were utilized. The initial sample included 1483 (49.4 % female) students for whom information relevant for this study was available. The sample represented families from around 80 different countries, from across all the continents; with approximately 42 % of the female primary caregivers having been born in Switzerland. Following successful matching, we found that students who reported better relationships with their teachers and whose teachers reported better relationships with them evidenced fewer problem behaviors concurrently and up to 4 years later. There was also evidence for an analogous effect in predicting prosocial behavior. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to prevention and intervention practices.

Good Enough? Interventions for Child Mental Health: From Adoption to Adaptation-From Programs to Systems

This special issue examines essential challenges and successes for developing, implementing, and disseminating evidence-based psychological interventions for child and adolescent development and mental health. The main aims are to identify what evidence is "good enough" for roll-out, if and how interventions need to be adapted to developmental diversity and contextual variation, and how they relate to complex systemic contexts. Themes of the special issue are twofold and first include questions about adoption versus adaptation, in terms of both developmental tailoring and cultural adaptation of existing intervention programs. Second, the issue tackles questions about what systems of support are needed to ensure the system readiness for child and adolescent mental health interventions. We argue that moving from simple adoption to dynamic adaptation and from programs to collaborative systems offers new perspectives for developing and implementing flexible protocols and strategies that allow adapted intervention. The special issue raises broader questions of whether current intervention programs and practices are good enough in moving us from mere adoption to innovation in system readiness, or whether we need to do more before we can claim that interventions are good enough for roll-out.

School-Based Interventions to Promote Empathy-Related Responding in Children and Adolescents: A Developmental Analysis

Empathy has been identified as a core component of social and emotional functioning across development. Various prevention and intervention programs have utilized components of empathy-related responding to promote the development of children's and adolescents' social-emotional functioning and impede their aggression in school contexts. In this article, we assess the effectiveness of select school-based empathy interventions and the extent to which they align with developmental theory and research. First, we review current conceptualizations of empathy-related responding, identify its components, outline its normative development, and describe the need for developmentally tailored interventions. We then identify and assess the effectiveness and developmental sensitivity of 19 school-based programs with strong empirical support that target empathy-related responding across childhood and adolescence. Although the majority of these programs showed some degree of developmental differentiation between grades, none considered developmental differences within grades. Commencing interventions earlier in development and targeting higher numbers of empathy-related constructs were, in part, associated with larger effects. We discuss how future research can bridge the gap between basic developmental research and the design of developmentally tailored interventions to promote empathy-related responding.

Group Music Training and Children's Prosocial Skills

We investigated if group music training in childhood is associated with prosocial skills. Children in 3^rd or 4^th grade who attended 10 months of music lessons taught in groups were compared to a control group of children matched for socio-economic status. All children were administered tests of prosocial skills near the beginning and end of the 10-month period. Compared to the control group, children in the music group had larger increases in sympathy and prosocial behavior, but this effect was limited to children who had poor prosocial skills before the lessons began. The effect was evident even when the lessons were compulsory, which minimized the role of self-selection. The results suggest that group music training facilitates the development of prosocial skills.

Developmental Trajectories of Peer-Reported Aggressive Behavior: The Role of Friendship Understanding, Friendship Quality, and Friends' Aggressive Behavior

OBJECTIVE

To investigate developmental trajectories in peer-reported aggressive behavior across the transition from elementary-to-middle school, and whether aggressive behavior trajectories were associated with friendship quality, friends' aggressive behavior, and the ways in which children think about their friendships.

METHOD

Participants included a community sample of 230 5th grade children who were assessed when they made a transition from elementary-to-middle school (6th grade). Peer nominations were used to assess the target child's and friend's aggressive behavior. Self- and friend reports were used to measure friendship quality; friendship understanding was assessed via a structured interview.

RESULTS

General Growth Mixture Modeling (GGMM) revealed three distinct trajectories of peer-reported aggressive behavior across the school transition: low-stable, decreasing, and increasing. Adolescents' understanding of friendship formation differentiated the decreasing from the low-stable aggressive behavior trajectories, and the understanding of friendship trust differentiated the increasing from the low-stable aggressive and decreasing aggressive behavior trajectories.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings indicated that a sophisticated understanding of friendship may serve as a protective factor for initially aggressive adolescents as they transition into middle school. Promoting a deepened understanding of friendship relations and their role in one's own and others' well-being may serve as an important prevention and intervention strategy to reduce aggressive behavior.

The developmental relation between aggressive behaviour and prosocial behaviour: A 5-year longitudinal study

BACKGROUND

Past research has shown links between both children's aggressive behaviour and a lack of prosocial behaviour to later maladaptation. Both types of behaviours have also been identified as crucial in children's social and emotional development and later (mal)adaptation. However, little is known about the way they predict each other over time.

METHODS

We utilised a large, ethnically diverse, longitudinal population sample of girls and boys (N = 1,334) to examine the bidirectional cross-lagged links between aggressive and prosocial domains of behaviour from age seven to eleven. Teacher, parent and child self-reports were utilised to assess aggressive behaviour and prosocial behaviour.

RESULTS

The results revealed that aggressive behaviour measured one year predicted decreases in prosocial behaviour in the following year. Conversely, prosocial behaviour did not predict changes in aggressive behaviour in the subsequent year. Furthermore, peer difficulties were examined and found to be an important mediator of the link between aggressive and prosocial behaviour. Specifically, peer difficulties mediated the links between aggressive behaviour and prosocial behaviour one year later, particularly during the first three years of school attendance.

CONCLUSIONS

Implications of the findings for the design of intervention strategies to reduce children's aggressive behaviour are discussed.

Children’s trust and the development of prosocial behavior

This study examined the role of children’s trust beliefs and trustworthiness in the development of prosocial behavior using data from four waves of a longitudinal study in a large, ethnically-diverse sample of children in Switzerland (mean age = 8.11 years at Time 1, N = 1,028). Prosocial behavior directed towards peers was measured at all assessment points by teacher reports. Children’s trust beliefs and their trustworthiness with peers were assessed and calculated by a social relations analysis at the first assessment point using children’s reports of the extent to which classmates kept promises. In addition, teacher reports of children’s trustworthiness were assessed at all four assessment points. Latent growth curve modeling yielded a decrease in prosocial behavior over time. Peer- and teacher-reported trustworthiness predicted higher initial levels of prosocial behavior, and peer-reported trustworthiness predicted less steep decreases in prosocial behavior over time. Autoregressive cross-lagged analysis also revealed bidirectional longitudinal associations between teacher-reported trustworthiness and prosocial behavior. We discuss the implications of the findings for research on the role of trust in the development of children’s prosocial behavior.

The impact of onlooking and including bystander behaviour on judgments and emotions regarding peer exclusion

We investigated judgments and emotions in contexts of social exclusion that varied as a function of bystander behaviour (N = 173, 12- and 16-year-olds). Adolescents responded to film vignettes depicting a target excluded by a group with no bystanders, onlooking bystanders, or bystanders who included the target. Adolescents were asked to judge the behaviour and attribute emotions to the excluding group, the excluded target, and the bystanders. Younger adolescents judged the behaviour of the excluding group as more wrong than older adolescents when there were no bystanders present, indicating that the presence of bystanders was viewed as lessening the negative outcome of exclusion by the younger group. Yet, bystanders play a positive role only when they are includers, not when they are silent observers. This distinction was revealed by the findings that adolescents rated the behaviour of onlooking bystanders as more wrong compared with the behaviour of including bystanders. Moreover, all adolescents justified the inclusive behaviour more frequently with empathy than the onlooking behaviour. Adolescents also anticipated more empathy to including bystanders than to onlooking bystanders, as well as anticipated more guilt to onlooking bystanders than including bystanders. The findings are discussed in light of the role of group norms and group processes regarding bystanders' roles in social exclusion peer encounters.

“Who is worthy of my generosity?” Recipient characteristics and the development of children’s sharing

Previous research has shown that the majority of 8-year-old children share valuable resources equally with others, whereas 4-year-olds are more likely to favor themselves in their sharing allocations. In this study, we examine whether these patterns of sharing behavior are affected by the needs of the recipient or by the recipient’s previous moral or immoral actions. One-hundred and sixty 4- and 8-year-old children had the opportunity to share stickers with hypothetical recipients who were assigned varying characteristics. For both age groups, sharing increased when recipients were needy (i.e., feels sad or has few toys) and morally deserving (i.e., shares with other children and does not push). The differentiation of sharing based on recipient characteristics increased between 4 and 8 years of age, with 8-year-olds also demonstrating decreased sharing when recipients were morally undeserving (i.e., pushes other children and does not share). Our findings provide evidence that children show increased sharing with recipients who are morally deserving and those who demonstrate need. This suggests that children indirectly reciprocate others’ past moral behavior and behave more altruistically towards those with higher need.

Moral judgments and emotions in contexts of peer exclusion and victimization

Morality is at the core of social development. How individuals treat one another, develop a sense of obligation toward others regarding equality and equity, and understand the emotions experienced by victims and victimizers, are essential ingredients for healthy development, and for creating a just and civil society. In this chapter, we review research on two forms of social exclusion, intergroup exclusion and interpersonal victimization, from a moral development perspective, identifying distinctions as well as areas of overlap and intersections. Intergroup exclusion (defined as exclusion based on group membership, such as gender, race, ethnicity, and nationality) is most often analyzed at the group level in contrast to interpersonal victimization (defined as the repeated infliction of physical and psychological harm on another) which is most often analyzed at the individual level. In this chapter, we assert that research needs to examine both group-level and individual-level factors for intergroup and interpersonal exclusion and that moral development provides an important framework for investigating these phenomena.