Prosocial behaviour mediates the relation between empathy and aggression in primary school children

The Relationship Between Family Functioning and Defending Behaviors Among Junior High School Students: The Mediating Effect of Empathy and Moderating Effect of Gender

Bystanders play a role in school bullying; more specifically, the defending behaviors of bystanders play an important role in stopping bullying. This study explores the relationship between defending behaviors and family functioning in the context of school bullying from a family perspective. The role played by individual characteristics (empathy and gender) in this relationship was also focused on. The participants were 994 adolescents (average age = 13.34 ± 0.92 years) from the east of China. They completed the McMaster Family Assessment Device, the Basic Empathy Scale, and the Defending Behaviors subscale of the Participant Role Questionnaire. After controlling for residence and age, we found that family functioning significantly and positively influenced defending behaviors, and cognitive empathy rather than affective empathy mediated the relationship between family functioning and defending behaviors. In addition, family functioning influenced defending behaviors in boys more strongly than in girls. This study may increase the likelihood that bystanders will engage in defending behaviors by informing interventions for school bullying.

The Impact of Empathy on Prosocial Behavior Among College Students: The Mediating Role of Moral Identity and the Moderating Role of Sense of Security

To investigate the impact of empathy on prosocial behavior and the underlying psychological mechanisms among college students, this study surveyed 840 participants using the Empathy Scale, the Prosocial behavior Scale, the Moral Identity Scale, and the Sense of Security Scale. The results revealed that (1) empathy significantly and positively predicted prosocial behavior among college students; (2) moral identity partially mediated the relationship between empathy and prosocial behavior; (3) a sense of security moderated the relationship between moral identity and prosocial behavior. These findings offer important theoretical and practical implications, enriching the theoretical framework and providing educators and students with valuable guidance.

Dispositional mindfulness plays a major role in adolescents' active and passive responding to bully-victim dynamics

Past research on school bullying focused on the role of the bully, suggesting that this active perpetrator is characterized by low empathy, low self-regulation, and high moral disengagement (MD). Studies recently demonstrated a relationship between dispositional mindfulness and bullying as well. However, in the last 2 decades, research has broadened this perspective, suggesting that active and passive bystanders may play a major role in school bullying by either supporting or opposing bullying. In this research, we examined whether empathy, MD, self-regulation, and mindfulness are significantly associated with probullying, defending, and bystanding behaviors. A total of 429 middle and high school adolescents from Israel (mean age = 16.81 years, SD = 1.62) completed online questionnaires. Through structural equation modeling, we found that empathy was associated with both, self-regulation and defending behaviors. MD was associated with defending and probullying behaviors. Dispositional mindfulness was associated with all three roles we examined. All these relationships were significant and in the expected direction. As mindfulness is a disposition that can be cultivated, this finding may have further implications in programs that aim at reducing school bullying.

Theory of Mind and Young Children's Behaviour: Aggressive, Victimised, Prosocial, and Solitary

Theory of mind (ToM) undergoes significant developments during childhood, particularly between the ages of four and seven years. A growing body of research has indicated that children's social understanding may be related to their social behaviour with peers, in line with Theory Theory which proposes that children's social cognition is influenced by and influences their peer interactions. The current study examined the relationship between ToM and behaviour among 193 children aged 4-7 years. Children carried out a battery of ToM tasks, and teaching staff reported on children's aggressive, prosocial, and solitary behaviour and victimisation experiences. Aggression was not directly related to ToM; prosocial behaviour was positively associated with ToM for girls but not boys. Solitary behaviour and victimisation were negatively related to ToM. When this was broken down by gender, there was only a significant association between solitary behaviour and ToM for boys. When controlling for the relationship between behaviours, the only significant predictor of ToM was solitary behaviour for boys. ToM was also a significant predictor of solitary behaviour for boys, demonstrating that there is a bidirectional relationship at play. The findings highlight the importance of looking across these four behaviour types and understanding the relationship between behaviour profiles and ToM for boys and girls separately.

Prosocial Behavior and Aggression in the Daily School Lives of Early Adolescents

Research has not adequately addressed a possible mutual co-regulatory influence of prosocial and aggressive behaviors in adolescents' daily lives. This study explored bidirectional within-person associations between prosocial and aggressive behaviors in the daily school lives of early adolescents. The sample included 242 sixth-graders [M_age = 11.96 (SD = 0.18), 50% girls] and their teachers. Adolescents reported on daily prosocial behavior and reactive and proactive aggression for ten consecutive days. Teachers and adolescents reported on adolescents' overall prosocial behaviors. Across-day prosocial behaviors increased after days when adolescents exhibited more reactive aggression but not among self-reported low-prosocial adolescents. Increased prosocial behaviors did not mitigate aggression the next day. The findings suggest prosocial behaviors are a plausible compensatory strategy after daily aggressive reactions.

Metric Goodness and Measurement Invariance of the Italian Brief Version of Interpersonal Reactivity Index: A Study With Young Adults

The Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) is a widely used multidimensional measure to assess empathy across four main dimensions: perspective taking (PT) empathic concern (EC) personal distress (PD) fantasy (F). This study aimed to replicate the Italian validation process of the shortened IRI (Interpersonal Reactivity Index) scale in order to confirm its psychometric properties with a sample of young adults. The Gender Measurement Invariance of empathy in this age group was also an objective of the work in order to increase the data on this aspect. A total of 683 Italian university students participated in a non-probabilistic sampling. The 16-item version was confirmed in its four-factor structure but with changes to some items. The model showed good fits with both the CFA and the gender Measurement Invariance. The internal consistency measures were found to be fully satisfactory. Convergent validity was tested by the correlations with the Prosocialness Scale for Adults and The Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20. As hypothesized the measure proved good convergent validity with Prosocialness, i.e., the willingness to assist, help, share, care and empathy with others, and a relevant inverse association with the External Oriented Thinking, characterizing individuals with emotionally poor thinking. This research provided additional evidence for a link between alexithymia and poor empathic abilities in young adults.