Longitudinal paths between parents' use of rewards and young adolescents' moral traits and prosocial behaviors.

BACKGROUND: Although prior research shows supportive evidence that parental practices are associated with adolescents' prosocial behaviors, limited evidence exists on the effects of parents' use of social and material rewards on distinct forms of prosocial behaviors, and the mediating effects of sociocognitive and socioemotive traits in these relations. AIMS: The present study was designed to examine the longitudinal relations among parents' use of social and material rewards, youth prosocial traits, and prosocial behaviors. MATERIALS & METHODS: Participants were 417 adolescents (M age = 14.70 years; 225 girls) from Valencia, Spain who completed surveys on parents' use of social and material reward practices, prosocial moral reasoning, empathic concern, and six types of prosocial behaviors. RESULTS: Path analyses showed that parents' use of social rewards was indirectly, positively related to emotional, dire, altruistic, public (negatively), and compliant prosocial behaviors via empathic concern. The use of social rewards was also indirectly positively linked to altruistic prosocial behaviors via both empathic concern and prosocial moral reasoning. In contrast, parents' use of material rewards predicted less prosocial moral reasoning, which in turn, was linked to more altruistic, prosocial behaviors. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: The implications for parental socialization and self-determination theories of prosocial and moral development are discussed.

Psychometric Evidence of a Multidimensional Measure of Prosocial Behaviors for Spanish Adolescents.

Prior theories and scholars rarely distinguished between distinct forms of prosocial behaviors (i.e., actions intended to benefit others) and most scholars operationalize prosocial behaviors as a global construct. Furthermore, stringent tests of psychometric properties of prosocial behavior measures are rare, especially in countries other than the United States. The present study was designed to examine the structure and functions of a multidimensional measure of prosocial behaviors in youth from Spain. Six hundred and 66 adolescents (46% girls; M age = 15.33 years, SD = 0.47 years) from Valencia, Spain, completed the Prosocial Tendencies Measure-Revised (PTM-R), measures of sympathy, perspective taking, and a global measure of prosocial behavior. Results showed that the hypothesized 6-factor structure of the PTM-R had good fit, the best fit model as compared to alternative models, and that there were several unique patterns of relations between specific forms of prosocial behaviors and sympathy, perspective taking, and the global measure of prosocial behavior. Furthermore, although there were significant gender differences in some forms of prosocial behaviors, the structure of the PTM-R was equivalent across gender. Discussion focuses on the implications for theories and measurement of prosocial behaviors.