The Influences of Family, Peers, School and Media in Children ’s Proso-cial Behaviors

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

惠菲

2014-01-01

Children’s skills of social interaction is a significant index of their following psychological development. Prosocial be-haviors which influenced by many factors are fundamental representatives of social interaction. Present essay illustrates an in-depth review of literature concerning the impacts of family,peers, school and media in Children ’s prosocial behaviors and also in-dicates the limitations of each research.

Using Social Network Methods to Test for Assortment of Prosociality among Korean High School Students

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Jun-Hong; Holman, Darryl J.; Goodreau, Steven M.

2015-01-01

Assortative interaction among altruistic individuals is a necessary condition for the evolution of cooperation. The requirement for assortment holds regardless of whether a meta-population is subdivided into distinct and isolated subgroups or has ephemeral boundaries with a high migration rate. The assumption, however, is rarely tested directly. In this paper, we develop a method to test for assortment of prosociality in network-structured data. The method is applied to a friendship network collected from 238 Korean students attending the same high school. A mixing matrix was used to explore the presence of assortative friendship among more prosocial individuals. An exponential random graph model of network structure that accounts for additional observed relational propensities (higher-than-expected number of people nominating no friends) and sampling constraints (upper bound on friendship nominations) found that individual prosociality predicted friendship propensity, and that individuals with higher prosocial scores had a higher probability of befriending other more prosocial individuals. The results reveal that a considerable level of assortment of prosociality characterizes this population. PMID:25915508

The effects of prosocial video games on prosocial behaviors: international evidence from correlational, longitudinal, and experimental studies.

Science.gov (United States)

Gentile, Douglas A; Anderson, Craig A; Yukawa, Shintaro; Ihori, Nobuko; Saleem, Muniba; Ming, Lim Kam; Shibuya, Akiko; Liau, Albert K; Khoo, Angeline; Bushman, Brad J; Rowell Huesmann, L; Sakamoto, Akira

2009-06-01

Although dozens of studies have documented a relationship between violent video games and aggressive behaviors, very little attention has been paid to potential effects of prosocial games. Theoretically, games in which game characters help and support each other in nonviolent ways should increase both short-term and long-term prosocial behaviors. We report three studies conducted in three countries with three age groups to test this hypothesis. In the correlational study, Singaporean middle-school students who played more prosocial games behaved more prosocially. In the two longitudinal samples of Japanese children and adolescents, prosocial game play predicted later increases in prosocial behavior. In the experimental study, U.S. undergraduates randomly assigned to play prosocial games behaved more prosocially toward another student. These similar results across different methodologies, ages, and cultures provide robust evidence of a prosocial game content effect, and they provide support for the General Learning Model.

The Effects of Prosocial Video Games on Prosocial Behaviors: International Evidence from Correlational, Longitudinal, and Experimental Studies

Science.gov (United States)

Gentile, Douglas A.; Anderson, Craig A.; Yukawa, Shintaro; Ihori, Nobuko; Saleem, Muniba; Ming, Lim Kam; Shibuya, Akiko; Liau, Albert K.; Khoo, Angeline; Bushman, Brad J.; Huesmann, L. Rowell; Sakamoto, Akira

2009-01-01

Although dozens of studies have documented a relation between violent video games and aggressive behaviors, very little attention has been paid to potential effects of prosocial games. Theoretically, games in which game characters help and support each other in nonviolent ways should increase both short-term and long-term prosocial behaviors. We report three studies conducted in three countries with three age groups to test this hypothesis. In the correlational study, Singaporean middle-school students who played more prosocial games behaved more prosocially. In the two longitudinal samples of Japanese children and adolescents, prosocial game play predicted later increases in prosocial behavior. In the experimental study, U.S. undergraduates randomly assigned to play prosocial games behaved more prosocially toward another student. These similar results across different methodologies, ages, and cultures provide robust evidence a prosocial game content effect, and provide support for the General Learning Model. PMID:19321812

Moral emotions associated with prosocial and antisocial behavior in school-aged children.

Science.gov (United States)

Ortiz Barón, María J; Etxebarria Bilbao, Itziar; Apodaca Urquijo, Pedro; Conejero López, Susana; Pascual Jimeno, Aitziber

2018-02-01

The present study aims to explore the main effects and interactive effects of empathy, guilt, shame, pride (authentic and hubristic), and moral pride, on prosocial and antisocial behavior in children. The sample group comprised 351 children aged between 10 and 14 selected from four schools in the Basque Country (Spain). Hierarchical multiple regression models were used in the statistical analyses. Prosocial behavior was found to be predicted by the additive interaction between empathy and moral pride, by guilt and, to a lesser extent and negatively, by shame. In relation to antisocial behavior, children with a strong disposition to guilt scored lower for antisocial behavior, regardless of their empathy levels. Nevertheless, the combination of low empathy and low guilt levels was associated with highest antisocial behavior scores. As regards shame, this emotion was moderately associated with antisocial behavior. By exploring interactions the present study provided a more nuanced view of the emotional factors associated with children´s prosocial and antisocial behavior.

Children’s motives for admitting to prosocial behavior

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Yayoi eWatanabe

2016-02-01

Full Text Available There has been extensive research on children’s moral evaluation of lying in prosocial situations. Current knowledge regarding the concept of lying has been derived from studies showing that cultural differences exist, whereby non-Western children tend to rate lie-telling more positively than Western children do. These findings suggest that there are different views about whether children should publicize their prosocial behaviors and that children have universal motivations when they admit to engaging in prosocial behavior. A gender difference has also been found in relation to prosocial behavior. However, previous studies did not investigate in detail children’s motivation for admission or non-admission to prosocial behavior, and if there is a gender difference. Therefore, this study examined the diversity in and development of motivations for admitting to engaging in prosocial behavior, with the aim of clarifying whether disclosing good deeds to teachers varies as function of children’s grade level in school, and how such motivations differ with age and gender. Questionnaires from 1,345 elementary and junior high school students in Japan were analyzed. Results showed that children’s communication tendency with regard to prosocial behavior reports peaked in the fourth grade of elementary school and gradually decreased thereafter. From the third grade of elementary school onwards, children reported that they refrained from this type of communication because they feared others’ negative evaluation and wanted to comply with modesty norms. Girls were more likely than boys were to believe that it is better to tell the truth about engaging in prosocial behavior, but boys and girls had largely the same motives for not owning up to performing a desirable deed.

Student prosocial behavior and academic achievement

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Spasenović Vera Z.

2004-01-01

Full Text Available The paper considers correlation between student prosocial behavior and academic achievement. Attention first focuses on the issue of prosocial behavior defining, making it operational and measuring it. Next consideration is given to the ways that prosocial behavior contributes to academic achievement. It is thought that prosocial behavior can produce indirect effects on student prosocial behavior because it is bound to certain academically relevant forms of behavior leading to successful learning and work. Also, correlation is interpreted by means of teacher’s preferences of prosocial students, which is reflected in teacher expectations and behavior towards students but in evaluating their work too. In addition, prosocial behavior may produce direct effects, for it is through peer prosocial interactions that positive intellectual exchange is performed, which contributes to more successful mastering of teaching content. The paper provides a survey of investigations whose results indicate that there exists correlation between student prosocial behavior and academic achievement. Also, consideration is given to possible methods and treatments for encouraging prosocial behavior in school context, especially the role of teacher in the process and the importance of the program for promoting student prosocial skills.

Prosocial behavior and academic motivation in Spanish High School Students

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Cándido J. Inglés

2011-05-01

Full Text Available This study analyzed the relationship between prosocial behaviour and academic goals in a sample of 2,022 Spanish compulsory secondary education students. The prosocial behaviour was measured with the Prosocial Behaviour scale of the Teenage Inventory of Social Skills (TISS and academic goals were measured with the Achievement Goal Tendencies Questionnaire (AGTQ. The results revealed that students with high prosocial behaviour presented higher significantly scores in learning and performance goals. The prosocial behaviour was a positive and statistically significant predictor of learning and performance goals. Furthermore, learning and performance goals were positive and statistically significant predictors of the prosocial behaviour, whereas social reinforcement goals were a negative and statisticallysignificant predictor of prosocial behaviour.

Motivation, Prosocial and Antisocial Behaviors of Juveniles in Compare to Wellbehaved Peers

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Hubert Kupiec

2013-12-01

Full Text Available The article contain results of research which participants were 104 juvenile delinquent and 294 adolescents from public schools. The statistic analyses show that juveniles have similar level of prosocial motivation as their well behaving peers from schools. However, gender is significant differentiation factor because girls have higher prosocial motivation and more frequently behave prosocially than boys in both compared groups. Juveniles exhibit less prosocial behavior than antisocial to relatives and friends, compared to their peers from schools, also. This paper include discussion of results and practical recommendations how we can develope motivation and prosocial behavior among juvenile delinquents.

Individual and Social Predictors of Prosocial Behavior among Chinese Adolescents in Hong Kong

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Lai, Frank H. Y.; Siu, Andrew M. H.; Shek, Daniel T. L.

2015-01-01

Based on the human ecological model, this study hypothesized that individual competence in empathy, prosocial moral reasoning, and social influence from parents, peers, and school are the key determinants of prosocial behavior among Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong. We recruited a sample of high school students who engaged in volunteering activities regularly (N = 580). They completed a self-administrated questionnaire designed to measure prosocial behavior and its hypothesized predictors using a number of standardized instruments. The results of multiple regression show that social influence factors, including peer, school, and parent influence, are strong predictors of helping intention and prosocial behavior, while individual competence factors like empathy and prosocial moral reasoning are not. Male participants had higher empathy scores and helping intention than females, perceived their parents as more helpful, and their schools as more supportive of prosocial behavior. However, the significant predictors of prosocial behavior and helping intention were similar across gender. The findings indicate that social influence is strongly linked to prosocial behavior. This implies that socialization and social support for prosocial norms and behavior can exert a powerful influence on the behavior of young people in a Chinese population. PMID:26029684

Individual and Social Predictors of Prosocial Behaviour among Chinese Adolescents in Hong Kong

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Frank H.Y. Lai

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Based on the human ecological model, this study hypothesized that individual competence in empathy, prosocial moral reasoning, and social influence from parents, peers, and school are the key determinants of prosocial behaviour among Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong. We recruited a sample of high school students who engaged in volunteering activities regularly (N = 580. They completed a self-administrated questionnaire designed to measure prosocial behaviour and its hypothesized predictors using a number of standardized instruments. The results of multiple regression show that social influence factors, including peer, school, and parent influence, are strong predictors of helping intention and prosocial behaviour, while individual competence factors like empathy and prosocial moral reasoning are not. Male participants had higher empathy scores and helping intention than males, perceived their parents as more helpful, and their schools as more supportive of prosocial behaviour. However, the significant predictors of prosocial behaviour and helping intention were similar across gender. The findings indicate that social influence is strongly linked to prosocial behaviour. This implies that socialization and social support for prosocial norms and behaviour can exert a powerful influence on the behaviour of young people in a Chinese population.

THE ATTITUDE OF TEACHERS TOWARDS PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOUR AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN SERBIA

OpenAIRE

Bisera S. Jevtić

2017-01-01

Analyzing the significance and the role of school and teachers in the encouragement of prosocial behaviour of the learners in secondary schools, the following problem appeared: the connection between the teachers’ encouragement of prosocial behaviour and the academic achievement in the secondary schools in Serbia through the following segments: procedures and activities used by teachers, and the interrelatedness of prosocial behaviour and academic achievement. A review of theoretical findings...

Prosocial behavior and academic motivation in Spanish High School Students

OpenAIRE

Inglés, Cándido J.; Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche; Martínez-González, Agustin E.; Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche; Valle, Antonio; Universidad de A Coruña; García-Fernández, José M.; Universidad de Alicante; Ruiz-Esteban, Cecilia; Universidad de Murcia

2010-01-01

This study analyzed the relationship between prosocial behaviour and academic goals in a sample of 2,022 Spanish compulsory secondary education students. The prosocial behaviour was measured with the Prosocial Behaviour scale of the Teenage Inventory of Social Skills (TISS) and academic goals were measured with the Achievement Goal Tendencies Questionnaire (AGTQ). The results revealed that students with high prosocial behaviour presented higher significantly scores in learning and performance...

Prosocial competencies among adolescent siblings of the physically disabled

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Lidia Perenc

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Background The current study examined possible prosocial benefits of having a disabled sibling. Until now research has mainly focused on the negative effects of having a sibling with a disability. We hypothesized that regular and frequent interactions with a disabled person should result in an increase of positive attitude and empathy toward other people who are in a disadvantageous situation. Participants and procedure A sample of 208 students from public secondary schools (middle and high schools completed the Polish version of the Prosocial Tendencies Measure (PTM in order to assess the tendencies to prosocial behaviors in different conditions. Participants were between 13 and 18 years old. Ninety-six adolescents had a disabled sibling (group T and 112 constituted the control group (group C. Results Results showed that group T generally scored higher than group C in the number of helping behaviors. Furthermore, girls scored higher than boys in anonymous prosocial behaviors. The older adolescents are more inclined to use helping behaviors both in anonymous and compliant situations than their younger colleagues. Conclusions Presence of disabled children in a family context may facilitate prosocial behavior in their non-disabled siblings. Older participants less frequently described themselves as prosocial in public situations. In contrast, younger adolescents reported weaker prosocial tendencies in anonymous and compliant situations. The effect of gender on prosocial tendencies was significant for public prosocial behavior, with a higher level achieved by males in this domain. Data analysis also showed significantly greater emotional and altruistic tendencies in females than in males.

Technology-Related Strategies Used by Educational Leaders to Increase Prosocial Behavior in K-12 Schools

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Beers, Jason Ronald

2017-01-01

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to identify technology-related strategies used by educational leaders to increase prosocial behavior in K-12 schools. Information and communication technology (ICT) is developing at a rapid rate and is becoming more ubiquitous among students. Discovering and understanding common technology-related strategies…

Moral Orientation and Relationships in School and Adolescent Pro-and Antisocial Behaviors : A Multilevel Study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wissink, Inge B.; Dekovic, Maja; Stams, Geert-Jan; Asscher, Jessica J.; Rutten, Esther; Zijlstra, Bonne J. H.

This multilevel study examined the relationships between moral climate factors and prosocial as well as antisocial behaviors inside and outside the school (school misconduct, delinquent behavior, and vandalism). The moral climate factors were punishment- and victim-based moral orientation,

Individual and Social Predictors of Prosocial Behavior among Chinese Adolescents in Hong Kong

OpenAIRE

Lai, Frank H. Y.; Siu, Andrew M. H.; Shek, Daniel T. L.

2015-01-01

Based on the human ecological model, this study hypothesized that individual competence in empathy, prosocial moral reasoning, and social influence from parents, peers, and school are the key determinants of prosocial behavior among Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong. We recruited a sample of high school students who engaged in volunteering activities regularly (N = 580). They completed a self-administrated questionnaire designed to measure prosocial behavior and its hypothesized predictors usi...

D2.1 2nd User requirements for gamification of prosocial learning

OpenAIRE

Vuillier, Laura; Cook, Chrissy; Star, Kam; Dimaraki, Evangelia; Cobello, Stefano; Boniface, Michael; Parsons, Sarah

2016-01-01

The document describes the requirements for the gamification of prosocial learning. A conceptual framework is defined that is derived from multidisciplinary perspectives (pedagogy, psychology, teaching practitioners, game designers) of prosociality as the basis for understanding the technical and operational requirements for creating games to teach prosocial skills in schools. The conceptual framework provides the theoretical foundation for technical work developing a platform for prosocial g...

Violence Prevention and School Climate Reform. School Climate Brief, Number 5

Science.gov (United States)

Nader, Kathleen

2012-01-01

Research has demonstrated that a positive school climate is an essential part of violence prevention. Many factors influence the association between school climate and behavioral outcomes. Positive school climate alone cannot prevent all variables that may contribute to the expression of aggression. Nevertheless, positive school climates influence…

Vagal activity is quadratically related to prosocial traits, prosocial emotions, and observer perceptions of prosociality.

Science.gov (United States)

Kogan, Aleksandr; Oveis, Christopher; Carr, Evan W; Gruber, June; Mauss, Iris B; Shallcross, Amanda; Impett, Emily A; van der Lowe, Ilmo; Hui, Bryant; Cheng, Cecilia; Keltner, Dacher

2014-12-01

In the present article, we introduce the quadratic vagal activity-prosociality hypothesis, a theoretical framework for understanding the vagus nerve's involvement in prosociality. We argue that vagus nerve activity supports prosocial behavior by regulating physiological systems that enable emotional expression, empathy for others' mental and emotional states, the regulation of one's own distress, and the experience of positive emotions. However, we contend that extremely high levels of vagal activity can be detrimental to prosociality. We present 3 studies providing support for our model, finding consistent evidence of a quadratic relationship between respiratory sinus arrhythmia--the degree to which the vagus nerve modulates the heart rate--and prosociality. Individual differences in vagal activity were quadratically related to prosocial traits (Study 1), prosocial emotions (Study 2), and outside ratings of prosociality by complete strangers (Study 3). Thus, too much or too little vagal activity appears to be detrimental to prosociality. The present article provides the 1st theoretical and empirical account of the nonlinear relationship between vagal activity and prosociality.

Výchova k prosociálnímu chování na základních školách

OpenAIRE

Dykastová, Zuzana

2017-01-01

The Master thesis "Teaching Prosocial Skills at Primary Schools" deals with the theory related to the prosocial behaviour and further aims to describe present possibilities and methods of teaching prosocial skills at primary schools. The author, in the theoretical part, characterizes and analyses prosocial behaviour, according to its types and forms, outlines basic theories of prosocial behavior and its determinants. The author further gives examples of how schools are able to incorporate tea...

THE ATTITUDE OF TEACHERS TOWARDS PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOUR AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN SERBIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bisera S. Jevtić

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Analyzing the significance and the role of school and teachers in the encouragement of prosocial behaviour of the learners in secondary schools, the following problem appeared: the connection between the teachers’ encouragement of prosocial behaviour and the academic achievement in the secondary schools in Serbia through the following segments: procedures and activities used by teachers, and the interrelatedness of prosocial behaviour and academic achievement. A review of theoretical findings and a study conducted on the sample of 695 respondents are presented. The method of theoretical analysis and synthesis, the causal non-experimental method and the descriptive method are applied. The applied techniques include content analysis, scaling and evaluation. The results showed that teachers’ activities partly promoted prosocial behaviour. The results of the research pointed to certain pedagogical implications: the reform of the educational system in Serbia; a change of educational objectives and tasks; establishing a continuity between all levels of the educational system and raising cooperation with parents; educational professional services to teachers in the area of raising their interest in acquiring and applying strategies and skills directed at educating prosocially oriented personalities and improving the quality of their work.

School Climate Research Summary: August 2012. School Climate Brief, Number 3

Science.gov (United States)

Thapa, Amrit; Cohen, Jonathan; Higgins-D'Alessandro, Ann; Guffey, Shawn

2012-01-01

Over the past three decades, researchers and educators have increasingly recognized the importance of K-12 school climate. This summary report builds on previous school climate reviews and details how school climate is associated with and/or promotes safety, healthy relationships, engaged learning and teaching and school improvement efforts. In…

Understanding the school 'climate': secondary school children and climate change

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kovacs, Susan; Bernier, Sandrine; Blanchet, Aymeric; Derkenne, Chantal; Clement, Florence; Petitjean, Leslie

2012-01-01

This interdisciplinary study analyzes the production, circulation and reception of messages on climate change in secondary schools in France. The objective is to understand how political and educational policy initiatives influence the ways in which schools contribute to creating youngsters' perceptions and opinions about climate change. In order to study the conditions of production and reception of information about climate change, a survey was conducted in four French secondary schools, in the 'Bas Rhin' and 'Nord' departments, and local political actors in each department were interviewed. The cross disciplinary analytical and methodological approach uses the tools of sociological inquiry, information science, and political science: questionnaires and interviews were conducted with members of the educational and governmental communities of each school and department, semiotic and discursive analyses of corpuses of documents were carried out, in order to characterize documents used by students and teachers at school or in more informal contexts; the nature and extent of the relations between the political contexts and school directives and programs were also discussed. This interdisciplinary approach, combining sociological, communicational, and political methods, was chosen in response to the hypothesis that three types of variables (social, communicational and political) contribute to the structuring and production of messages about climate change in schools. This report offers a contextualized overview of activities developed within the four secondary schools to help sensitize children to the risks associated with climate change. A study of the networks of individuals (teachers, staff, members of associations, etc.) created in and around the school environment is presented. The degree of involvement of these actors in climate change programs is analyzed, as it is related to their motives and objectives, to the school discipline taught, and to the position

Prosocial norms as a positive youth development construct: a conceptual review.

Science.gov (United States)

Siu, Andrew M H; Shek, Daniel T L; Law, Ben

2012-01-01

Prosocial norms like reciprocity, social responsibility, altruism, and volunteerism are ethical standards and beliefs that youth development programs often want to promote. This paper reviews evolutionary, social-cognitive, and developmental theories of prosocial development and analyzes how young people learn and adopt prosocial norms. The paper showed that very few current theories explicitly address the issue of how prosocial norms, in form of feelings of moral obligations, may be challenged by a norm of self-interest and social circumstances when prosocial acts are needed. It is necessary to develop theories which put prosocial norms as a central construct, and a new social cognitive theory of norm activation has the potential to help us understand how prosocial norms may be applied. This paper also highlights how little we know about young people perceiving and receiving prosocial norms and how influential of school policies and peer influence on the prosocial development. Lastly, while training of interpersonal competence (e.g., empathy, moral reasoning, etc.) was commonly used in the youth development, their effectiveness was not systematically evaluated. It will also be interesting to examine how computer and information technology or video games may be used in e-learning of prosocial norms.

Prosocial Behavior Education in Children

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Mareš Jiří

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Introduction: It is paradoxical that more attention is currently paid to negative features in children’s and adolescents’ behavior (aggressive behavior, bullying than to the positive ones (helping, social support. Purpose: This literature review describes how children’s sensitivity to helping other people develops and how children acquire competences in helping. Methods: The literature search was conducted in databases using keywords “child”, “prosocial development” and “prosocial behavior”. Publications (papers or monographs published in English or Czech between 1989 and 2016 were retrieved. Conclusions: The study identified the following sources of prosocial behavior: use of fairy-tale motifs in the case of babies (e. g. the motif of good deeds and targeted family education with the use of direct and indirect procedures. Targeted education of children in preschool was accomplished by experienced teachers. Education in providing help and social support to schoolmates (including the socalled partnership and peer teaching at elementary school was identified as a special case.

Promoting Adolescents' Prosocial Behavior

Science.gov (United States)

Kidron, Yael; Fleischman, Steve

2006-01-01

Saying a kind word to a classmate, acknowledging other students' feelings, sharing books and advice, defending a victim of bullying--these are just a few of the prosocial behaviors that can enhance students' social and academic lives at school. Because children do not develop social values in a vacuum, educators, policymakers, and researchers are…

Prosocial Behavior and Childhood Trajectories of Internalizing and Externalizing Problems: The Role of Neighborhood and School Contexts

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Flouri, Eirini; Sarmadi, Zahra

2016-01-01

This study investigated the role of the interaction between prosocial behavior and contextual (school and neighborhood) risk in children's trajectories of externalizing and internalizing problems at ages 3, 5, and 7. The sample was 9,850 Millennium Cohort Study families who lived in England when the cohort children were aged 3. Neighborhood…

Aggressive and prosocial children's emotion attributions and moral reasoning.

Science.gov (United States)

Malti, Tina; Gasser, Luciano; Buchmann, Marlis

2009-01-01

Aggressive and prosocial children's emotion attributions and moral reasoning were investigated. Participants were 235 kindergarten children (M=6.2 years) and 136 elementary-school children (M=7.6 years) who were selected as aggressive or prosocial based on (kindergarten) teacher ratings. The children were asked to evaluate hypothetical rule violations, attribute emotions they would feel in the role of the victimizer, and justify their responses. Compared with younger prosocial children, younger aggressive children attributed fewer negative emotions and were more likely to provide sanction-oriented justifications when evaluating rule violations negatively. Furthermore, age-, gender- and context-effects in moral development occurred. The context-effects included both effects of transgression type (i.e., prosocial morality vs. fairness) on emotion attributions and moral reasoning and the effects of the context of moral evaluation and emotion attribution on moral reasoning. Findings are discussed in terms of the role of emotion attributions and moral reasoning as antecedents of children's aggressive and prosocial behavior. Copyright 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Adolescents' Aggressive and Prosocial Behavior: Associations with Jealousy and Social Anxiety

Science.gov (United States)

Culotta, Carmen M.; Goldstein, Sara E.

2008-01-01

The authors examined how relational aggression, physical aggression, and proactive prosocial behavior were associated with jealousy and social anxiety in a diverse sample of 60 middle school students. After the authors controlled for gender and race, jealousy predicted relational aggression and proactive prosocial behavior, but it did not predict…

Prosocial Norms as a Positive Youth Development Construct: A Conceptual Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrew M. H. Siu

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Prosocial norms like reciprocity, social responsibility, altruism, and volunteerism are ethical standards and beliefs that youth development programs often want to promote. This paper reviews evolutionary, social-cognitive, and developmental theories of prosocial development and analyzes how young people learn and adopt prosocial norms. The paper showed that very few current theories explicitly address the issue of how prosocial norms, in form of feelings of moral obligations, may be challenged by a norm of self-interest and social circumstances when prosocial acts are needed. It is necessary to develop theories which put prosocial norms as a central construct, and a new social cognitive theory of norm activation has the potential to help us understand how prosocial norms may be applied. This paper also highlights how little we know about young people perceiving and receiving prosocial norms and how influential of school policies and peer influence on the prosocial development. Lastly, while training of interpersonal competence (e.g., empathy, moral reasoning, etc. was commonly used in the youth development, their effectiveness was not systematically evaluated. It will also be interesting to examine how computer and information technology or video games may be used in e-learning of prosocial norms.

School Climate Improvement Action Guide for School Leaders. School Climate Improvement Resource Package

Science.gov (United States)

National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments, 2017

2017-01-01

Improving school climate takes time and commitment from a variety of people in a variety of roles. This document outlines key action steps that school leaders--including principals, assistant/vice principals, and building leaders--can take to support school climate improvements. Key action steps are provided for the following strategies: (1)…

School Climate Research

Science.gov (United States)

Thapa, Amrit

2013-01-01

School climate research is clearly evolving. The field demands rigorous and empirically sound research that focuses on relating specific aspects and activities of interventions to changes in specific components of school climate. We also need empirical evidence based on sound research techniques on how both interventions and climate affect…

Prosocial Signalling

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kahsay, Goytom Abraha

In contrast to the standard economic theory predictions, it seems clear that people do spend their time and resource to benefit others. Many lab and field experiment studies show that people display prosocial preferences such as altruism, reciprocity and conditional cooperation, fairness, etc....... Policy makers and charity organizations have tried to exploit this prosocial behaviour to foster supply of public goods and donations respectively. However, there is vast literature showing that incentives that aim to foster prosocial behaviour sometimes have reverse reactions, crowding out pre......’ behaviour in these circumstances and how incentives might interact with prosocial behaviour in everyday consumer goods. The aim of this thesis is to address these issues from theoretical and empirical perspectives. It proposes theoretical models to explain consumers’ prosocial behaviour in every day...

Effects of songs with prosocial lyrics on prosocial thoughts, affect, and behavior

OpenAIRE

2008-01-01

"Previous research has shown that exposure to violent media increased aggression-related affect and thoughts, physiological arousal, and aggressive behavior as well as decreased prosocial tendencies. The present research examined the hypothesis that exposure to prosocial media promotes prosocial outcomes. Three studies revealed that listening to songs with prosocial (relative to neutral) lyrics increased the accessibility of prosocial thoughts, led to more interpersonal empathy, and fostered ...

School Organizational Climate and School Improvement.

Science.gov (United States)

Dellar, Graham B.; Giddings, Geoffrey J.

The refinement and application of the School Organizational Climate Questionnaire (SOCQ), an instrument for measuring organizational climate, is described in this report. The instrument is a mechanism by which schools can direct their school improvement efforts. In two case studies, a small urban elementary and a large urban secondary school…

Cortical thickness and prosocial behavior in school-age children: A population-based MRI study.

Science.gov (United States)

Thijssen, Sandra; Wildeboer, Andrea; Muetzel, Ryan L; Bakermans-Kranenburg, Marian J; El Marroun, Hanan; Hofman, Albert; Jaddoe, Vincent W V; van der Lugt, Aad; Verhulst, Frank C; Tiemeier, Henning; van IJzendoorn, Marinus H; White, Tonya

2015-01-01

Prosocial behavior plays an important role in establishing and maintaining relationships with others and thus may have important developmental implications. This study examines the association between cortical thickness and prosocial behavior in a population-based sample of 6- to 9-year-old children. The present study was embedded within the Generation R Study. Magnetic resonance scans were acquired from 464 children whose parents had completed the prosocial scale of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. To study the association between cortical thickness and prosocial behavior, we performed whole-brain surface-based analyses. Prosocial behavior was related to a thicker cortex in a cluster that covers part of the left superior frontal and rostral middle frontal cortex (p Gender moderated the association between prosocial behavior and cortical thickness in a cluster including the right rostral middle frontal and superior frontal cortex (p right superior parietal cortex, cuneus, and precuneus (p theory of mind (superior frontal cortex, rostral middle frontal cortex cuneus, and precuneus) and inhibitory control (superior frontal and rostral middle frontal cortex).

Long-term relations among prosocial-media use, empathy, and prosocial behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Prot, Sara; Gentile, Douglas A; Anderson, Craig A; Suzuki, Kanae; Swing, Edward; Lim, Kam Ming; Horiuchi, Yukiko; Jelic, Margareta; Krahé, Barbara; Liuqing, Wei; Liau, Albert K; Khoo, Angeline; Petrescu, Poesis Diana; Sakamoto, Akira; Tajima, Sachi; Toma, Roxana Andreea; Warburton, Wayne; Zhang, Xuemin; Lam, Ben Chun Pan

2014-02-01

Despite recent growth of research on the effects of prosocial media, processes underlying these effects are not well understood. Two studies explored theoretically relevant mediators and moderators of the effects of prosocial media on helping. Study 1 examined associations among prosocial- and violent-media use, empathy, and helping in samples from seven countries. Prosocial-media use was positively associated with helping. This effect was mediated by empathy and was similar across cultures. Study 2 explored longitudinal relations among prosocial-video-game use, violent-video-game use, empathy, and helping in a large sample of Singaporean children and adolescents measured three times across 2 years. Path analyses showed significant longitudinal effects of prosocial- and violent-video-game use on prosocial behavior through empathy. Latent-growth-curve modeling for the 2-year period revealed that change in video-game use significantly affected change in helping, and that this relationship was mediated by change in empathy.

School Climate as an Important Component in School Effectiveness

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dorina Rapti

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Expectations, values, faith, relationships with staff, the school leader, teachers and students behavior create school climate. The leader can promote or hinder a positive climate through his leadership model. The purpose of this study is to explore what are the climate types that appear in the school as well as to contribute to the expectations of different stakeholders on the school climate. The starting point for improving the performance of students and teachers is to improve school climate. Thus, this study will help leaders who for one reason or another have not been effective in keeping their responsibilities, and, as a result, did not work efficiently in improving school climate. It is assumed that a positive school climate enhances effective teaching, and as a result a better performance of student learning. This study will serve to further studies related to the expansion of the leaders’ roles on school climate. In conclusion, the research will assist policy makers in Albania to assess the content of the modules needed for training future managers and teachers to ensure they are equipped with the skills required to create a positive, open and collaborative climate in school. The school leader should be released from some managerial tasks, for paying more time to teachers and students.

School Climate and the National School Climate Standards

Science.gov (United States)

Ciccone, Patricia A.; Freibeg, Jo Ann

2013-01-01

Increasingly, more and more areas of educational practice are being guided by sets of national standards for content, leadership, professional ethics, family-school partnerships, and school accreditation, among others. Similarly, there is growing appreciation that standards are needed to effectively measure improvement in school climate. The…

School Climate in American Secondary Schools: A Psychometric Examination of PISA 2009 School Climate Scale

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Letao; Royal, Kenneth

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the quality of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2009 school climate survey instrument and evaluate perceptions of secondary school principals' located in the United States about school climate using an Item Response Theory (IRT) methodological approach. In particular, this study…

Predictors of children's prosocial lie-telling: Motivation, socialization variables, and moral understanding.

Science.gov (United States)

Popliger, Mina; Talwar, Victoria; Crossman, Angela

2011-11-01

Children tell prosocial lies for self- and other-oriented reasons. However, it is unclear how motivational and socialization factors affect their lying. Furthermore, it is unclear whether children's moral understanding and evaluations of prosocial lie scenarios (including perceptions of vignette characters' feelings) predict their actual prosocial behaviors. These were explored in two studies. In Study 1, 72 children (36 second graders and 36 fourth graders) participated in a disappointing gift paradigm in either a high-cost condition (lost a good gift for a disappointing one) or a low-cost condition (received a disappointing gift). More children lied in the low-cost condition (94%) than in the high-cost condition (72%), with no age difference. In Study 2, 117 children (42 preschoolers, 41 early elementary school age, and 34 late elementary school age) participated in either a high- or low-cost disappointing gift paradigm and responded to prosocial vignette scenarios. Parents reported on their parenting practices and family emotional expressivity. Again, more children lied in the low-cost condition (68%) than in the high-cost condition (40%); however, there was an age effect among children in the high-cost condition. Preschoolers were less likely than older children to lie when there was a high personal cost. In addition, compared with truth-tellers, prosocial liars had parents who were more authoritative but expressed less positive emotion within the family. Finally, there was an interaction between children's prosocial lie-telling behavior and their evaluations of the protagonist's and recipient's feelings. Findings contribute to understanding the trajectory of children's prosocial lie-telling, their reasons for telling such lies, and their knowledge about interpersonal communication. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Quick Guide on Making School Climate Improvements. School Climate Improvement Resource Package

Science.gov (United States)

National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments, 2016

2016-01-01

Students learn best when they are in environments in which they feel safe, supported, challenged, and accepted. In addition, environments that have strong school climates foster the social, emotional, and academic well-being of all students. Research shows that when schools and districts effectively focus on improving school climate, students are…

School Climate Improvement Action Guide for Working with Families. School Climate Improvement Resource Package

Science.gov (United States)

National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments, 2017

2017-01-01

Improving school climate takes time and commitment from a variety of people in a variety of roles. This document outlines how family members--including guardians of students--can support school climate improvements. Key action steps are provided for the following strategies: (1) Participate in planning for school climate improvements; (2) Engage…

Playing prosocial video games increases the accessibility of prosocial thoughts.

Science.gov (United States)

Greitemeyer, Tobias; Osswald, Silvia

2011-01-01

Past research has provided abundant evidence that playing violent video games increases aggressive tendencies. In contrast, evidence on possible positive effects of video game exposure on prosocial tendencies has been relatively sparse. The present research tested and found support for the hypothesis that exposure to prosocial video games increases the accessibility of prosocial thoughts. These results provide support to the predictive validity of the General Learning Model (Buckley & Anderson, 2006) for the effects of exposure to prosocial media on social tendencies. Thus, depending on the content of the video game, playing video games can harm but may also benefit social relations.

School Climate Improvement Action Guide for Working with Students. School Climate Improvement Resource Package

Science.gov (United States)

National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments, 2017

2017-01-01

Improving school climate takes time and commitment from a variety of people in a variety of roles. This document outlines key action steps to engage students in the school climate improvement process. Key action steps are provided for the following strategies: (1) Participate in planning for school climate improvements; (2) Engage stakeholders in…

Short-term compassion training increases prosocial behavior in a newly developed prosocial game

OpenAIRE

Leiberg, S.; Klimecki, O.; Singer, T.

2011-01-01

Compassion has been suggested to be a strong motivator for prosocial behavior. While research has demonstrated that compassion training has positive effects on mood and health, we do not know whether it also leads to increases in prosocial behavior. We addressed this question in two experiments. In Experiment 1, we introduce a new prosocial game, the Zurich Prosocial Game (ZPG), which allows for repeated, ecologically valid assessment of prosocial behavior and is sensitive to the influence of...

Effects of proactive and prosocial behavior on critical incidents of Lima schoolchildren

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jhon A. Holguin Alvarez

2017-08-01

Full Text Available The study focuses on the theoretical approaches of proactive and prosocial behavior of Covey (1996, Xifra (2009 and Roche-Olivar (2004, with the objective of analyzing the significant differences in the decrease of critical incidents in public school students And private schools in the district of San Juan de Lurigancho, for which two experimental workshops with quasiexperimental methodology were applied in three groups of 1st and 2nd high school students (G. Exp. (Proactivity = 17; G. Exp. Prosociality = 15; G. Control = 16; A behavior observation log and the PANIC instrument of Monereo and Monte (2011 were used. The results indicate significant differences with better effects in the workshop of proactive behavior (Hrp = 16.59, p <.05; A comparison of the verbal violence dimension in which better effects were obtained by the prosocial behavior workshop (Hrp = 14.12, p <.05; Finally, the limitations were that students in the proactivity workshop slowed down their critical incidents by demonstrating excessive personalism, and for later studies, it is suggested to work the above mentioned workshops, including assaulted students.

The Multidimensionality of Prosocial Behaviors and Evidence of Measurement Equivalence in Mexican American and European American Early Adolescents

Science.gov (United States)

Carlo, Gustavo; Knight, George P.; McGinley, Meredith; Zamboanga, Byron L.; Jarvis, Lorna Hernandez

2010-01-01

There is growing recognition of the need to examine distinct forms of prosocial behaviors and to conduct research on prosocial behaviors among ethnic minorities. Middle school students (mean age = 12.67 years; 54% girls; European American, n = 290; Mexican American, n = 152) completed a multidimensional measure of prosocial behavior and measures…

School Climate and Academic Achievement in Suburban Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Sulak, Tracey N.

2016-01-01

School climate research has indicated a relationship between the climate of a school and academic achievement. The majority of explanatory models have been developed in urban schools with less attention given to suburban schools. Due to the process of formation of suburban schools, there is a likelihood these campuses differ from the traditional…

The contribution of work characteristics and risk propensity in explaining pro-social rule breaking among teachers in Wakiso District, Uganda

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Waweru I. Kahari

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Orientation: This study explored the mechanisms that drive pro-social rule breaking among teachers in Ugandan private secondary schools. Research purpose: The main aim of this study was to examine the contribution of work characteristics and risk propensity in promoting pro-social rule breaking among teachers in one of the Ugandan districts that has a high number of private schools. Motivation for the study: As there is a scarcity of research on pro-social rule breaking in Uganda, this study sought to explore the concept and shed light on the mechanisms that influence this. Research design, approach and method: A quantitative research process formed the basis for this study. Two hundred and forty-two teachers from 15 private secondary schools in Wakiso District formed the targeted sample size. A response rate of 87% was registered. A hierarchical regression analysis was conducted in order to assess the influence of each of the variables on the dependent variable, by using Statistical Package for Social Sciences. Main findings: The regression results showed that work characteristics were a statistically significant predictor of pro-social rule breaking, but risk propensity was not. The results finally showed that there was no moderation effect of risk propensity on the relationship between work characteristics and pro-social rule breaking. Practical implications: The schools should expect more pro-social rule-breaking tendencies when the tasks given to the teachers are complex and when the teachers operate with autonomy. The environment in which the private secondary school teachers in Uganda work, motivates them to sometimes break rules in a bid to perform better or minimise the complexity associated with work. Contribution: This study expands on current theoretical knowledge on pro-social rule breaking and provides insights into the key drivers of the same among private secondary school teachers in the Ugandan context.

Prosocial self-schemas, self-awareness, and children's prosocial behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Froming, W J; Nasby, W; McManus, J

1998-09-01

Three studies examined the hypothesis that a child's prosocial self-schema predicts prosocial behavior. In Study 1, only self-aware boys showed a self-schema-behavior relation. Study 2 altered both salience of donating opportunity and relationship of recipient to donor. The hypothesized Self-Awareness x Self-Schema interaction was significant, and there were no gender differences. Study 3 systematically manipulated the salience of the donating opportunity. All participants were self-aware. For boys in high and low salience conditions, prosocial self-schema predicted donating behavior. For girls, prosocial self-schema predicted behavior only in the high salience condition. The findings demonstrate that self-schemas can regulate behavior when participants are self-aware. Girls, however, may require higher salience of the donating opportunity for the self-schema to affect their behavior.

The Gender Dimension in Children's Learning of Prosocial Competence in Early Educational Settings.

Science.gov (United States)

Hagglund, Solveig

1993-01-01

Examined the development of children's prosocial behavior by following 10 boys and 10 girls, along with their teachers, through their last year of preschool and first 2 years of school. Found that free play tended to be gender segregated, and that teachers, the majority of whom were female, considered girls to exhibit more prosocial behavior than…

School Climate Improvement Action Guide for Community Partners. School Climate Improvement Resource Package

Science.gov (United States)

National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments, 2017

2017-01-01

Improving school climate takes time and commitment from a variety of people in a variety of roles. This document outlines how community partners can support school climate improvements. Organizations and individuals can partner with schools in many different ways--from delivering or coordinating direct services to students and families inside or…

Implementation of a School-Wide Adolescent Character Education and Prevention Program: Evaluating the Relationships between Principal Support, Faculty Implementation, and Student Outcomes

Science.gov (United States)

Holtzapple, Carol K.; Griswold, J. Suzy; Cirillo, Kathleen; Rosebrock, Jim; Nouza, Noreen; Berry, Cami

2011-01-01

School-based character education and violence prevention programs focus on improving prosocial competencies and reducing negative behaviors in students. The Capturing Kids' Hearts Campus by Design model is a school-level intervention that impacts student behavior by enhancing school climate through improved relational and conflict management…

The Impact of School Environment and Grade Level on Student Delinquency: A Multilevel Modeling Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Lo, Celia C.; Kim, Young S.; Allen, Thomas M.; Allen, Andrea N.; Minugh, P. Allison; Lomuto, Nicoletta

2011-01-01

Effects on delinquency made by grade level, school type (based on grade levels accommodated), and prosocial school climate were assessed, controlling for individual-level risk and protective factors. Data were obtained from the Substance Abuse Services Division of Alabama's state mental health agency and analyzed via hierarchical linear modeling,…

School Climate and Leadership: Levers for School Improvement Efforts

Science.gov (United States)

Costa, Lois

2016-01-01

This qualitative study considers which aspects of school climate support or inhibit student achievement as each aspect relates to school leadership and school reform efforts. Due to the increased responsibility and accountability which schools face during these challenging times, school climate and the role of the school principal formed the basis…

Video game playing and its relations with aggressive and prosocial behaviour.

Science.gov (United States)

Wiegman, O; van Schie, E G

1998-09-01

In this study of 278 children from the seventh and eighth grade of five elementary schools in Enschede, The Netherlands, the relationship between the amount of time children spent on playing video games and aggressive as well as prosocial behaviour was investigated. In addition, the relationship between the preference for aggressive video games and aggressive and prosocial behaviour was studied. No significant relationship was found between video game use in general and aggressive behaviour, but a significant negative relationship with prosocial behaviour was supported. However, separate analyses for boys and girls did not reveal this relationship. More consistent results were found for the preference for aggressive video games: children, especially boys, who preferred aggressive video games were more aggressive and showed less prosocial behaviour than those with a low preference for these games. Further analyses showed that children who preferred playing aggressive video games tended to be less intelligent.

Intelligence and Prosocial Behavior

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Han, Ru; Shi, Jiannong; Yong, W.

2012-01-01

Results of prev ious studies of the relationship between prosocial behav ior and intelligence hav e been inconsistent. This study attempts to distinguish the dif f erences between sev eral prosocial tasks, and explores the way s in which cognitiv e ability inf luences prosocial behav ior. In Study...... One and Two, we reexamined the relationship between prosocial behav ior and intelligence by employ ing a costly signaling theory with f our games. The results rev ealed that the prosocial lev el of smarter children is higher than that of other children in more complicated tasks but not so in simple...... tasks. In Study Three, we tested the moderation ef f ect of the av erage intelligence across classes, and the results did not show any group intelligence ef f ect on the relationship between intelligence and prosocial behav ior....

School Climate: Historical Review, Instrument Development, and School Assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Zullig, Keith J.; Koopman, Tommy M.; Patton, Jon M.; Ubbes, Valerie A.

2010-01-01

This study's purpose is to examine the existing school climate literature in an attempt to constitute its definition from a historical context and to create a valid and reliable student-reported school climate instrument. Five historically common school climate domains and five measurement tools were identified, combined, and previewed by the…

Mesotocin influences pinyon jay prosociality.

Science.gov (United States)

Duque, J F; Leichner, W; Ahmann, H; Stevens, J R

2018-04-01

Many species exhibit prosocial behaviour, in which one individual's actions benefit another individual, often without an immediate benefit to itself. The neuropeptide oxytocin is an important hormonal mechanism influencing prosociality in mammals, but it is unclear whether the avian homologue mesotocin plays a similar functional role in birds. Here, we experimentally tested prosociality in pinyon jays ( Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus ), a highly social corvid species that spontaneously shares food with others. First, we measured prosocial preferences in a prosocial choice task with two different pay-off distributions: Prosocial trials delivered food to both the subject and either an empty cage or a partner bird, whereas Altruism trials delivered food only to an empty cage or a partner bird (none to subject). In a second experiment, we examined whether administering mesotocin influenced prosocial preferences. Compared to choices in a control condition, we show that subjects voluntarily delivered food rewards to partners, but only when also receiving food for themselves (Prosocial trials), and administration of high levels of mesotocin increased these behaviours. Thus, in birds, mesotocin seems to play a similar functional role in facilitating prosocial behaviours as oxytocin does in mammals, suggesting an evolutionarily conserved hormonal mechanism for prosociality. © 2018 The Author(s).

Prospective associations between prosocial behavior and social dominance in early childhood: are sharers the best leaders?

Science.gov (United States)

Ostrov, Jamie M; Guzzo, Jamie L

2015-01-01

A short-term longitudinal study during early childhood (N = 96; M = 42.80; SD = 7.57) investigated the concurrent and prospective association between prosocial behavior and social dominance. Time-intensive school-based focal child sampling with continuous recording observations of prosocial behavior to peers were conducted and teacher-reports of social dominance were collected. The study documents significant prospective links between prosocial behavior to peers and increases in social dominance over time. Social dominance was not associated with changes in prosocial behavior. The findings extend past empirical work in early childhood and future directions are discussed.

School Climate for Academic Success: A Multilevel Analysis of School Climate and Student Outcomes

Science.gov (United States)

Kwong, Darren; Davis, Jonathan Ryan

2015-01-01

This multilevel study examined the relationship between school climate and academic achievement. Using the Educational Longitudinal Survey (ELS, 2002), and a sample of 16,258 students and 1954 schools nationwide, we found that student-level perception of school climate--especially the student learning environment--was highly predictive of academic…

The impact of perception of consistency and inconsistency in parenting style on pro-social motives of adolescents

OpenAIRE

Karmakar R.

2017-01-01

Adolescence is the most dynamic and eventful period of human development. During this crucial period of life, adolescents encounter challenges in life and constantly adapting to the relationship dynamics with friends, family, school and society. There is tendency of adolescents to engage in antisocial or pro-social behaviour. Adolescents’ relationship with parents and guardian significantly influence their antisocial and prosocial behavior. Pro-social behavior is defined as a behavior that is...

Short-Term Compassion Training Increases Prosocial Behavior in a Newly Developed Prosocial Game

Science.gov (United States)

Leiberg, Susanne; Klimecki, Olga; Singer, Tania

2011-01-01

Compassion has been suggested to be a strong motivator for prosocial behavior. While research has demonstrated that compassion training has positive effects on mood and health, we do not know whether it also leads to increases in prosocial behavior. We addressed this question in two experiments. In Experiment 1, we introduce a new prosocial game, the Zurich Prosocial Game (ZPG), which allows for repeated, ecologically valid assessment of prosocial behavior and is sensitive to the influence of reciprocity, helping cost, and distress cues on helping behavior. Experiment 2 shows that helping behavior in the ZPG increased in participants who had received short-term compassion training, but not in participants who had received short-term memory training. Interindividual differences in practice duration were specifically related to changes in the amount of helping under no-reciprocity conditions. Our results provide first evidence for the positive impact of short-term compassion training on prosocial behavior towards strangers in a training-unrelated task. PMID:21408020

Socialization of prosocial behavior

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kok, Rianne; Prinzie, Peter; Bakermans-Kranenburg, Marian J.

2018-01-01

 = 162), moderated mediation was tested for the relation between parental sensitivity and child prosocial behavior via brain volume, in boys and girls. Both maternal and paternal sensitivity were repeatedly observed between 1 and 4 years of age. Brain volume was assessed using magnetic resonance imaging......-by-brain interaction was found, illustrating that daughters of sensitive parents were more prosocial and that less prosocial behavior was reported for girls with a larger total brain volume. Child gender significantly moderated the indirect effect of parental sensitivity on prosocial behavior via total brain volume...

Authoritative school climate and high school dropout rates.

Science.gov (United States)

Jia, Yuane; Konold, Timothy R; Cornell, Dewey

2016-06-01

This study tested the association between school-wide measures of an authoritative school climate and high school dropout rates in a statewide sample of 315 high schools. Regression models at the school level of analysis used teacher and student measures of disciplinary structure, student support, and academic expectations to predict overall high school dropout rates. Analyses controlled for school demographics of school enrollment size, percentage of low-income students, percentage of minority students, and urbanicity. Consistent with authoritative school climate theory, moderation analyses found that when students perceive their teachers as supportive, high academic expectations are associated with lower dropout rates. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Observing Emotional Interactions between Teachers and Students in Elementary School Classrooms

Science.gov (United States)

Yan, Elizabeth M.; Evans, Ian M.; Harvey, Shane T.

2011-01-01

Fostering emotional skills in the elementary (primary) school classroom can lead to improved learning outcomes, more prosocial behavior, and positive emotional development. Incorporating emotional skill development into the naturalistic and implicit teaching environment is a key feature of what is meant by the emotional climate of the classroom.…

Reference Manual on Making School Climate Improvements. School Climate Improvement Resource Package, 2017

Science.gov (United States)

Yoder, N.; Darling-Churchill, K.; Colombi, G. D.; Ruddy, S.; Neiman, S.; Chagnon, E.; Mayo, R.

2017-01-01

This reference manual identifies five overarching sets of activities for improving school climate, with the goal of improving student outcomes (e.g., achievement, attendance, behaviors, and skills). These sets of activities help to initiate, implement, and sustain school climate improvements. For each activity set, the manual presents a clear…

School Climate Measurement and Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Faster, Darlene; Lopez, Daisy

2013-01-01

Today, school climate assessment has become an increasingly important and valued aspect of district, state, and federal policy. Recognizing that effective school climate improvement efforts are grounded in valid and reliable data, the Federal Department of Education launched the Safe and Supportive Schools grant in 2010 to provide 11 states with…

School Climate Improvement Action Guide for Instructional Staff. School Climate Improvement Resource Package

Science.gov (United States)

National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments, 2017

2017-01-01

Improving school climate takes time and commitment from a variety of people in a variety of roles. This document outlines key action steps that instructional staff--including teachers, paraprofessionals, and others in the classroom who provide instruction or assistance--can take to support school climate improvements. Key action steps are provided…

School Climate Improvement Action Guide for District Leaders. School Climate Improvement Resource Package

Science.gov (United States)

National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments, 2017

2017-01-01

Improving school climate takes time and commitment from a variety of people in a variety of roles. This document outlines key action steps that district leaders--including superintendents, assistant superintendents, directors of student support services, or others--can take to support school climate improvements. Key action steps are provided for…

Measuring School Climate: Using Existing Data Tools on Climate and Effectiveness to Inform School Organizational Health

Science.gov (United States)

Durham, Rachel E.; Bettencourt, Amie; Connolly, Faith

2014-01-01

Despite--or perhaps due to--the lack of consensus on its definition, there is abundant interest in and research on school climate. Researchers have determined that improving school climate is one way to increase academic achievement, school safety, school completion, teacher retention, healthy social interactions, and student well-being (Cohen,…

Student prosocial behavior and academic achievement

OpenAIRE

Spasenović Vera Z.

2004-01-01

The paper considers correlation between student prosocial behavior and academic achievement. Attention first focuses on the issue of prosocial behavior defining, making it operational and measuring it. Next consideration is given to the ways that prosocial behavior contributes to academic achievement. It is thought that prosocial behavior can produce indirect effects on student prosocial behavior because it is bound to certain academically relevant forms of behavior leading to successful lear...

Educators' perceptions of school climate and health in selected primary schools

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stephanus Pretorius

2009-02-01

Full Text Available The aims in this research were to determine the perceptions of school climate held by educators of primary schools in the southern Cape. Six primary schools with a staff complement of 178 educators participated in the investigation. Two instruments were used: the Organisational Climate Description Questionnaire Rutgers Elementary (OCDQ-RE and Dimensions of Organisational Health Inventory of Elementary Schools (OHI-E. The results indicated that primary school educators in the southern Cape perceived their relations with their principals as closed, while educator-educator relations were perceived as more open. An engaged school climate was taken as the typical prototype for the relevant primary schools. Average health profiles were drawn for the overall organisational health of primary schools. A significant relationship was found between primary schools' perceptions of organisational climate and organisational health. A significant difference was found between perceptions held by educators from different primary schools regarding the various dimensions of organisational climate and health. These findings have significant implications for the implementation of change in schools, educators' job satisfaction, motivation, productivity, well-being, and learner achievement.

Searching for the Prosocial Personality: A Big Five Approach to Linking Personality and Prosocial Behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Habashi, Meara M; Graziano, William G; Hoover, Ann E

2016-09-01

The search for the prosocial personality has been long and controversial. The current research explores the general patterns underlying prosocial decisions, linking personality, emotion, and overt prosocial behavior. Using a multimethod approach, we explored the links between the Big Five dimensions of personality and prosocial responding. Across three studies, we found that agreeableness was the dimension of personality most closely associated with emotional reactions to victims in need of help, and subsequent decisions to help those individuals. Results suggest that prosocial processes, including emotions, cognitions, and behaviors, may be part of a more general motivational process linked to personality. © 2016 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.

Working While in Middle School: Student Perceptions of School Climate & Connectedness

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, Sabrena

2016-01-01

Does working during the school year result in lowered perceptions of school climate and connectedness for middle school students? According to outcomes from a Rocky Mountain Region School District's (RMRSD) school climate survey, 20% of their middle school student population works during the school year. Existing literature on youth employment…

Sexual risk behavior among youth: modeling the influence of prosocial activities and socioeconomic factors.

Science.gov (United States)

Ramirez-Valles, J; Zimmerman, M A; Newcomb, M D

1998-09-01

Sexual activity among high-school-aged youths has steadily increased since the 1970s, emerging as a significant public health concern. Yet, patterns of youth sexual risk behavior are shaped by social class, race, and gender. Based on sociological theories of financial deprivation and collective socialization, we develop and test a model of the relationships among neighborhood poverty; family structure and social class position; parental involvement; prosocial activities; race; and gender as they predict youth sexual risk behavior. We employ structural equation modeling to test this model on a cross-sectional sample of 370 sexually active high-school students from a midwestern city; 57 percent (n = 209) are males and 86 percent are African American. We find that family structure indirectly predicts sexual risk behavior through neighborhood poverty, parental involvement, and prosocial activities. In addition, family class position indirectly predicts sexual risk behavior through neighborhood poverty and prosocial activities. We address implications for theory and health promotion.

Comportamiento agresivo y prosocial de escolares residentes en entornos con altos niveles de pobreza

OpenAIRE

William Martínez, José; Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud de la Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira. Pereira, Colombia. Médico cirujano, PhD; Tovar Cuevas, José Rafael; Escuela de Estadística, Universidad del Valle Santiago de Cali, Colombia. PhD en estadística; Ochoa Muñoz, Andrés Felipe; Grupo de Investigación Salud y Calidad de Vida, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana. Cali, Colombia. estadístico.

2016-01-01

Objetives. To assess the levels of direct and indirect aggression and prosocial behaviors among schoolchildren at public schools located in 13 municipalities of an intermediate region of Colombia. Materials and Methods. A total of 2,785 children aged 3–11 years were assessed using an instrument validated for the Colombian population that measures aggression and prosocial behavior via direct observations of schoolteachers. Results. Boys predominantly exhibited behaviors associated with direct ...

Trauma-Inspired Prosocial Leadership Development

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, Jenifer Wolf; Allen, Stuart

2015-01-01

Though trauma survivors sometimes emerge as leaders in prosocial causes related to their previous negative or traumatic experiences, little is known about this transition, and limited guidance is available for survivors who hope to make prosocial contributions. To understand what enables trauma-inspired prosocial leadership development, the…

Aging, Empathy, and Prosociality

Science.gov (United States)

Sheehan, Alexander H.; Dahlben, Brian; Gutchess, Angela H.

2015-01-01

Objectives. Although empathy is a well-established motivation in younger adults for helping others, it is not known whether this extends to aging. Prioritization of socioemotional goals with age may increase the salience of helping others (i.e., prosocial behavior), but older adults also experience decreased cognitive empathy. Thus, we investigated age-related differences in relationships among empathy and prosocial behavior. Method. Participants were 24 younger (M = 19.8 years) and 24 older (M = 77.9 years) healthy adults. Whereas participants believed the study involved playing the dictator game, in reality, state emotional empathy was induced implicitly through a note from an opponent describing their experience with cancer. Prosocial behavior was measured by participants’ monetary offers to that opponent. Results. Older adults showed greater prosocial behavior due to the empathy induction than younger adults. There was a positive association between state emotional empathy ratings and prosocial behavior in older, but not in younger adults, and preliminary evidence for higher state emotional empathy levels in older adults with higher trait cognitive empathy. Discussion. This suggests that in contexts relevant to socioemotional goals, older adults may be more motivated than younger adults to help others and state emotional empathy may be a potential mechanism for greater prosocial behavior in aging. PMID:24115776

The impact of perception of consistency and inconsistency in parenting style on pro-social motives of adolescents

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karmakar R.

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Adolescence is the most dynamic and eventful period of human development. During this crucial period of life, adolescents encounter challenges in life and constantly adapting to the relationship dynamics with friends, family, school and society. There is tendency of adolescents to engage in antisocial or pro-social behaviour. Adolescents’ relationship with parents and guardian significantly influence their antisocial and prosocial behavior. Pro-social behavior is defined as a behavior that is primarily aimed at benefiting others. Some pro-social behaviour is extrinsically motivated whereas some are intrinsically motivated. The present study investigated the nature of prosocial behaviour among adolescents and impact of consistency and inconsistency of parenting style on prosocial behaviour. A group of 610 adolescents (310 boys and 300 girls aged between 16—18 years (mean = 17.07 and standard deviation = 1.02 was selected for the present study. Pro-social Motivation Questionnaire and Parental Authority Questionnaire were used to measure pro-social motive and parenting style, respectively. The results indicate that adolescents generally show higher level of intrinsic pro-social motive. Adolescent girls prefer to display internalised and empathetic pro-social motives whereas adolescent boys tend to gain others’ approval by displaying heroic activities. Consistency in parenting style facilitates intrinsic pro-social motive only when both parents are authoritative in nature. The result interestingly reveals that inconsistent parenting style is not always bad. Authoritative and permissive dyad facilitates intrinsic pro-social motive among adolescents. Implications for parental socialisation in families and pro-social motive among adolescents are discussed.

Social Capital and Bystander Behavior in Bullying: Internalizing Problems as a Barrier to Prosocial Intervention.

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Jenkins, Lyndsay N; Fredrick, Stephanie Secord

2017-04-01

Theory and research suggests that individuals with greater social capital (i.e., resources and benefits gained from relationships, experiences, and social interactions) may be more likely to be active, prosocial bystanders in bullying situations. Therefore, the goal of the current study was to examine the association of social capital (social support and social skills) with prosocial bystander behavior, and the role of internalizing problems as a potential barrier to this relation among 299 students (45.8% girls, 95% White) in sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. Results indicate a positive relation between social capital and prosocial bystander behavior. In addition, internalizing problems were a significant risk factor that may hinder youth-particularly girls-from engaging in defending behavior. Prosocial bystanders are an essential component to prevent and reduce bullying and further research is needed to better understand how to foster prosocial behavior in bullying situations, perhaps by utilizing social capital, related to school bullying.

The teacher: A facilitator of prosociality

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Jevtić Bisera S.

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Even though behaviours we call prosocial are significant for achieving individual competency in almost all spheres of life, they are still a neglected area of investigation and study. However, in light of considerable spread of aggressive and other negative behaviours, there is a pronounced need for countermeasures in the form of positive behaviours such as helping, sharing, solidarity and understanding. The most important factor in the development of prosocial behaviour in students and moral dimension of competency in schools are certainly teachers. This is the reason why this paper deals with the role of teachers in the development of moral dimension of competency in personality of young people. The findings of the investigation raise the following pedagogic implication: the objectives and outcomes of education and upbringing should be adapted so that greater emphasis should be placed on individuals as well as on the development of values leading to better human relations and students' quality of life.

School climate: perceptual differences between students, parents, and school staff

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Ramsey, Christine M.; Spira, Adam P.; Parisi, Jeanine M.; Rebok, George W.

2016-01-01

Research suggests that school climate can have a great impact on student, teacher, and school outcomes. However, it is often assessed as a summary measure, without taking into account multiple perspectives (student, teacher, parent) or examining subdimensions within the broader construct. In this study, we assessed school climate from the perspective of students, staff, and parents within a large, urban school district using multilevel modeling techniques to examine within- and between-school variance. After adjusting for school-level demographic characteristics, students reported worse perceptions of safety and connectedness compared to both parent and staff ratings (all p climate ratings within a school. Understanding how perceptions differ between informants can inform interventions to improve perceptions and prevent adverse outcomes. PMID:28642631

The Tripod School Climate Index: An Invariant Measure of School Safety and Relationships.

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Phillips, Sarah Fierberg; Rowley, Jacob F S

2016-03-01

Recently revised standards for social work practice in schools encourage data-informed school climate interventions that implicitly require invariant measures of school climate. Invariant measures have the same meaning, scale, and origin across different groups of respondents. Although noninvariant measures bias statistical analyses and can lead users to erroneous conclusions, most school climate measures have not been tested for invariance. This study examines the invariance of the Tripod School Climate Index. Exploratory, confirmatory, and multiple-group confirmatory factor analyses were conducted on data collected from 66,531 students across 222 schools. Results indicate that the index is an excellent fit for the data and invariant by student grade level, demographic background, prior achievement, and dropout risk. Results imply that student responses can be validly aggregated to create school-level scores. The index will not bias studies of school climate interventions or bivariate analyses comparing perceptions of school climate across subgroups of students attending the same school. Given the centrality of school climate interventions to social work practice in schools and the consequences of noninvariance, the development of an index with these properties is an important contribution to the field.

Inequalities in School Climate in California

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Jain, Sonia; Cohen, Alison K.; Huang, Kevin; Hanson, Thomas L.; Austin, Gregory

2015-01-01

Purpose: School climate, or the physical and social conditions of the learning environment, has implications for academic achievement. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/Methodology/Approach: The authors examine how school climate varies by school-level characteristics in California using administrative data and the California School…

Personality and Prosocial Behavior

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hilbig, Benjamin E; Glöckner, Andreas; Zettler, Ingo

2014-01-01

Concerning the dispositional determinants of prosocial behavior and cooperation, work based on the classic 5 personality factors, and especially Agreeableness, has turned out somewhat inconsistent. A clearer picture has emerged from consideration of the HEXACO model of personality-though supported......-Humility (and certain aspects of five-factor Agreeableness) account for prosocial behavior-thus explaining previous inconsistencies and providing a more nuanced understanding of the links between basic personality and prosocial or cooperative behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved)....

The development of prosocial moral reasoning and a prosocial orientation in young adulthood: concurrent and longitudinal correlates.

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Eisenberg, Nancy; Hofer, Claire; Sulik, Michael J; Liew, Jeffrey

2014-01-01

We examined stability and change in prosocial moral reasoning (PRM) assessed longitudinally at ages 20/21, 22/23, 24/25, 26/27, and 31/32 years (N = 32; 16 female) using a pencil-and-paper measure of moral reasoning and examined relations of PRM and prosocial behavior with one another and with empathy, sympathy measured with self- and friend reports in adulthood, self- and mother reports of prosocial tendencies in adolescence, and observed prosocial behavior in preschool. Proportions of different types of PRM (hedonistic, approval, stereotypic, internalized) exhibited high mean-level stability across early adulthood, although stereotypic PMR increased with age and hedonistic PRM (a less sophisticated type of PRM) declined over time for males. More sophisticated PMR was positively related to friends' reports of a prosocial orientation concurrently and at age 24/25, as well as self-reports of sympathy in adolescence. Specific modes of PMR related to spontaneous or compliant sharing in preschool. Women used more sophisticated PMR than men across the entire study period. Self-reported and friend-reported prosociality at age 27/28 and 31/32 (combined) was related to numerous prior measures of a prosocial orientation, including spontaneous, relatively costly prosocial behavior in preschool (for self-reports and friend-reported sympathy/consideration for others). Donating/volunteering at T13/T14 was related to concurrent self- and friend-reported prosociality and to self-reported prosocial orientation in earlier adulthood and mother-reported helping in adolescence. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Ostracism and prosocial behavior: A social dilemm analysis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Balliet, D.P.; Ferris, D. L.

2013-01-01

Prior research has yielded mixed findings regarding the relation of ostracism to prosocial behavior, with studies indicating ostracism leads people to become less prosocial, more prosocial, or that prosocial behavior is unaffected by workplace ostracism. By conceptualizing prosocial behavior at work

Transforming School Climate: Educational and Psychoanalytic Perspectives: Introduction

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Cohen, Jonathan

2009-01-01

School climate refers to the character and quality of school life. It is based on these patterns and reflects norms, goals, values, interpersonal relationships, teaching, learning, leadership practices, and organizational structures. School climate is at the nexus of individual and group experience. School climate is based on the individual's…

Does observability affect prosociality?

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Bradley, Alex; Lawrence, Claire; Ferguson, Eamonn

2018-03-28

The observation of behaviour is a key theoretical parameter underlying a number of models of prosociality. However, the empirical findings showing the effect of observability on prosociality are mixed. In this meta-analysis, we explore the boundary conditions that may account for this variability, by exploring key theoretical and methodological moderators of this link. We identified 117 papers yielding 134 study level effects (total n = 788 164) and found a small but statistically significant, positive association between observability and prosociality ( r = 0.141, 95% confidence interval = 0.106, 0.175). Moderator analysis showed that observability produced stronger effects on prosociality: (i) in the presence of passive observers (i.e. people whose role was to only observe participants) versus perceptions of being watched, (ii) when participants' decisions were consequential (versus non-consequential), (iii) when the studies were performed in the laboratory (as opposed to in the field/online), (iv) when the studies used repeated measures (instead of single games), and (v) when the studies involved social dilemmas (instead of bargaining games). These effects show the conditions under which observability effects on prosociality will be maximally observed. We describe the theoretical and practical significance of these results. © 2018 The Authors.

Reducing School Violence: School-Based Curricular Programs and School Climate

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Greene, Michael B.

2008-01-01

This article examines two different, but interrelated approaches to reduce school violence: school-based curricular programs and efforts to change school climate. The state of the research for each is reviewed and the relationship between them is explored.

Elementary Student Perceptions of School Climate and Associations with Individual and School Factors

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La Salle, Tamika P.; Zabek, Faith; Meyers, Joel

2016-01-01

School climate has increasingly been recognized as an essential component of school improvement owing to the established associations between a positive school climate and academic outcomes for students. Our study examines associations among a brief measure of school climate assessing elementary student perceptions and the College and Career Ready…

Authoritative School Climate and High School Dropout Rates

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Jia, Yuane; Konold, Timothy R.; Cornell, Dewey

2016-01-01

This study tested the association between school-wide measures of an authoritative school climate and high school dropout rates in a statewide sample of 315 high schools. Regression models at the school level of analysis used teacher and student measures of disciplinary structure, student support, and academic expectations to predict overall high…

Measuring Prosocial Tendencies in Germany: Sources of Validity and Reliablity of the Revised Prosocial Tendency Measure

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Rodrigues, Johannes; Ulrich, Natalie; Mussel, Patrick; Carlo, Gustavo; Hewig, Johannes

2017-01-01

The prosocial tendencies measure (PTM; Carlo and Randall, 2002) is a widely used measurement for prosocial tendencies in English speaking participants. This instrument distinguishes between six different types of prosocial tendencies that partly share some common basis, but also can be opposed to each other. To examine these constructs in Germany, a study with 1067 participants was conducted. The study investigated the structure of this German version of the PTM-R via exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, correlations with similar constructs in subsamples as well as via measurement invariance test concerning the original English version. The German translation showed a similar factor structure to the English version in exploratory factor analysis and in confirmatory factor analysis. Measurement invariance was found between the English and German language versions of the PTM and support for the proposed six-factor structure (altruistic, anonymous, compliant, dire, emotional and public prosocial behavior) was also found in confirmatory factor analysis. Furthermore, the expected interrelations of these factors of prosocial behavior tendencies were obtained. Finally, correlations of the prosocial behavior tendencies with validating constructs and behaviors were found. Thus, the findings stress the importance of seeing prosocial behavior not as a single dimension construct, but as a factored construct which now can also be assessed in German speaking participants. PMID:29270144

Bullying climate and school engagement in ninth-grade students.

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Mehta, Sharmila B; Cornell, Dewey; Fan, Xitao; Gregory, Anne

2013-01-01

Many authorities agree that bullying has a widespread impact on school climate, affecting bystanders as well as victims. This study tested the contention that a climate of bullying can have a schoolwide impact on student engagement in school. Hierarchical linear modeling assessed the relations between student perception of bullying climate and student engagement at the individual and school level in a statewide sample of 7058 ninth graders randomly selected from 289 schools participating in the Virginia High School Safety Study. Student engagement was assessed by self-report scales measuring commitment to school and involvement in school activities. Individual differences in perception of school climate characterized by bullying were associated with lower commitment to school, but not less involvement in school activities. School-level differences in student perceptions of bullying climate were associated with both lower commitment to school and less involvement in school activities, after controlling for the effects of gender, race, school size, proportion of ethnic minority students in the school, and individual-level perception of bullying climate. Efforts to improve student engagement should consider the schoolwide impact of bullying on all students. © 2013, American School Health Association.

Advocating for Safe Schools, Positive School Climate, and Comprehensive Mental Health Services

Science.gov (United States)

Cowan, Katherine C.; Vaillancourt, Kelly

2013-01-01

The tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Newtown, CT (USA) has brought the conversation about how to reduce violence, make schools safer, improve school climate, and increase access to mental health services to the forefront of the national conversation. Advocating for comprehensive initiatives to address school safety, school climate, and…

A Meta-Analysis of Prosocial Media on Prosocial Behavior, Aggression, and Empathic Concern: A Multidimensional Approach

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Coyne, Sarah M.; Padilla-Walker, Laura M.; Holmgren, Hailey G.; Davis, Emilie J.; Collier, Kevin M.; Memmott-Elison, Madison K.; Hawkins, Alan J.

2018-01-01

Studies examining the effects of exposure to prosocial media on positive outcomes are increasing in number and strength. However, existing meta-analyses use a broad definition of prosocial media that does not recognize the multidimensionality of prosocial behavior. The aim of the current study is to conduct a meta-analysis on the effects of…

Determinants of prosocial behavior in included versus excluded contexts

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Esther eCuadrado

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Prosocial behavior is increasingly becoming necessary as more and more individuals experience exclusion. In this context it is important to understand the motivational determinants of prosocial behavior. Here we report two experiments which analyzed the influence of dispositional (prosocialness; rejection sensitivity and motivational variables (prosocial self-efficacy; prosocial collective efficacy; trust; anger; social affiliation motivation on prosocial behavior under neutral contexts (Study 1, and once under inclusion or exclusion conditions (Study 2. Both studies provided evidence for the predicted mediation of prosocial behavior. Results in both neutral and inclusion and exclusion conditions supported our predictive model of prosocial behavior. In the model dispositional variables predicted motivational variables, which in turn predicted prosocial behavior. We showed that the investigated variables predicted prosocial behavior; this suggests that to promote prosocial behavior one could (1 foster prosocialness, prosocial self and collective efficacy, trust in others and affiliation motivation and (2 try to reduce negative feelings and the tendency to dread rejection in an attempt to reduce the negative impact that these variables have on prosocial behavior. Moreover, the few differences that emerged in the model between the inclusion and exclusion contexts suggested that in interventions with excluded individuals special care emphasis should be placed on addressing rejection sensitivity and lack of trust.

Analyzing Prosocial Content on T.V.

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Davidson, Emily S.; Neale, John M.

To enhance knowledge of television content, a prosocial code was developed by watching a large number of potentially prosocial television programs and making notes on all the positive acts. The behaviors were classified into a workable number of categories. The prosocial code is largely verbal and contains seven categories which fall into two…

Measuring parent perceptions of school climate.

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Schueler, Beth E; Capotosto, Lauren; Bahena, Sofía; McIntyre, Joseph; Gehlbach, Hunter

2014-03-01

Parents' attitudes about their children's schools matter. Their views can shape their children's attitudes about school, affect their levels of family-school engagement, and influence their residential and school enrollment decisions. In this article, we describe the development of a survey scale to assess parent perceptions of the climate of their child's school. Our comprehensive scale development process incorporated feedback from academics and potential respondents from the outset of the design process to enhance scale quality. We conducted 3 studies with national samples of parents (n = 385; n = 253; n = 266) to gather evidence of scale score reliability and valid score inferences based on convergent and discriminant validity. Through confirmatory factor analysis, we identified a theoretically grounded factor structure that fit the data well but found no evidence that parental response patterns distinguish between academic and social elements of school climate. Furthermore, we found that parents of younger children, on average, had a more positive perception of the school's climate than did parents of older children. We conclude by discussing how researchers and Pre-K-12 schools and districts can use the scale to aid school improvement efforts. 2014 APA

Bullying and School Climate: Associations and Group Differences

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Biernbaum, Mark A.; Lotyczewski, Bohdan S.

2015-01-01

Bullying is an international public health problem that school climate could help prevent or promote. The present paper contains an analysis of an anonymous school climate survey, completed by 9554 students, in grades 5-12 (response rate 87%). Links in the literature between school climate and bullying lack specificity. We examined associations…

Insights into Intraspecies Variation in Primate Prosocial Behavior: Capuchins (Cebus apella Fail to Show Prosociality on a Touchscreen Task

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Lindsey A. Drayton

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Over the past decade, many researchers have used food donation tasks to test whether nonhuman primates show human-like patterns of prosocial behavior in experimental settings. Although these tasks are elegant in their simplicity, performance within and across species is difficult to explain under a unified theoretical framework. Here, we attempt to better understand variation in prosociality by examining the circumstances that promote and hinder the expression of prosocial preferences. To this end, we tested whether capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella—a species that has previously demonstrated prosocial preferences—would behave prosocially using a novel touchscreen task. In contrast to previous studies, we found that capuchins as a group did not prosocially deliver food to a partner. Importantly however, data from control conditions revealed that subjects demonstrated limited understanding of the reward contingencies of the task. We also compared individuals’ performance in the current study with their performance in a previously published prosociality study. We conclude by discussing how continuing to explore intraspecies variation in performance on prosocial tasks may help inform debates regarding the existence of other-regarding preferences in nonhuman species.

Impact of Experience Corps(®) participation on school climate.

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Parisi, Jeanine M; Ramsey, Christine M; Carlson, Michelle C; Xue, Qian-Li; Huang, Jin; Romani, William A; McGill, Sylvia; Seeman, Teresa E; Tanner, Elizabeth K; Barron, Jeremy; Tan, Erwin J; Gruenewald, Tara L; Diibor, Ike; Fried, Linda P; Rebok, George W

2015-07-01

We examined the impact of the Experience Corps(®) (EC) program on school climate within Baltimore City public elementary schools. In this program, teams of older adult volunteers were placed in high intensity (>15 h per week), meaningful roles in public elementary schools, to improve the educational outcomes of children as well as the health and well-being of volunteers. During the first year of EC participation, school climate was perceived more favorably among staff and students in EC schools as compared to those in comparison schools. However, with a few notable exceptions, perceived school climate did not differ for staff or students in intervention and comparison schools during the second year of exposure to the EC program. These findings suggest that perceptions of school climate may be altered by introducing a new program into elementary schools; however, research examining how perceptions of school climate are impacted over a longer period is warranted.

Impact of Experience Corps® Participation on School Climate

Science.gov (United States)

Parisi, Jeanine M.; Ramsey, Christine M.; Carlson, Michelle C.; Xue, Qian-Li; Huang, Jin; Romani, William A.; McGill, Sylvia; Seeman, Teresa E.; Tanner, Elizabeth K.; Barron, Jeremy; Tan, Erwin; Gruenewald, Tara L.; Diibor, Ike; Fried, Linda P.; Rebok, George W.

2015-01-01

We examined the impact of the Experience Corps® (EC) program on school climate within Baltimore City public elementary schools. In this program, teams of older adult volunteers were placed in high intensity (>15 hours per week), meaningful roles in public elementary schools, to improve the educational outcomes of children as well as the health and well-being of volunteers. During the first year of EC participation, school climate was perceived more favorably among staff and students in EC schools as compared to those in comparison schools. However, with a few notable exceptions, perceived school climate did not differ for staff or students in intervention and comparison schools during the second year of exposure to the EC program. These findings suggest that perceptions of school climate may be altered by introducing a new program into elementary schools; however, research examining how perceptions of school climate are impacted over a longer period is warranted. PMID:25708453

Connection between participation in sport and pro-social orientation and aggression of adolescents: Differences according to gender

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Gašić-Pavišić Slobodanka Ž.

2007-01-01

Full Text Available Former researches on the contribution of organized sport to antisocial and pro-social behavior of the young have yielded discordant and contradictory results. However, in the majority of researches, it was determined that active practice of sport has a different effect on psycho-social development of male and female participants. We have undertaken the research with the aim of examining whether there is a connection between the participation of the pupils of secondary school age in organized sport activities and their pro-social value orientation and aggressiveness, and, if there is, whether there are gender differences in that connection. The sample consisted of 300 pupils of secondary school (Mathematical High School in Belgrade, out of which 150 (49 female and 101 male regularly practice sport for more than two years, and 150 pupils (84 male and 66 female do not practice organized sport. The indicators of practicing sport are: the length of practicing sport activities, regularity and intensity of training, participation in contests and the kind of sport (individual or team sport. The following variables of pro-social orientation were examined: readiness for cooperation, caring for other people, social responsibility and empathy. Aggressiveness was examined through aggressive tendencies towards others. All variables were examined by the application of appropriate questionnaires and evaluation scales which were answered by the pupils themselves. The results have shown significant (although low, positive correlations between practicing sport and pro-social values, as well as the negative (low correlation between practicing sport and aggression, for both genders of students. Statistically significant differences were found between boys and girls regarding pro-social orientation (higher level in girls, as well as aggressiveness (higher levels in boys. Significant correlations were lower and more numerous in male than in female respondents.

Prosocial motivation and physicians' work attitudes. Effects of a triple synergy on prosocial orientation in a healthcare organization.

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Kim, Young Shin

2015-01-01

Employees work attitudes are key determinants to organizational performance. This article proposes a model integrating servant leadership, prosocial motivation, and corporate social responsibility (CSR) in order to explain a mechanism through which prosocial motivation plays a central role in enhanding physicians' work attitudes. A cross sectional survey from a sample of physicians indicates that (1) prosocial motivation can be shaped from servant leadership when physicians perceive high value fit with their supervisors, (2) prosocial motivation improves physicians' job satisfaction. Its effects is strengthened when physicians perceive high CSR, and (3) job satisfaction improves organizational commitment. The results provide meaningful insights that a triple synergy of prosocial orientation among physicians, supervisors and organization enhances physicians' work attitudes.

Sibling influences on prosocial behavior.

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Hughes, Claire; McHarg, Gabrielle; White, Naomi

2018-04-01

Sibling relationships are characterized by familiarity and emotional intensity. Alongside frequent shared play, sibling interactions feature complementary interactions (e.g. teaching, caregiving) reflecting age-related asymmetries in socio-cognitive skills. These aspects may underpin sibling influences on prosocial behavior: theoretical accounts of social influences on prosocial behavior highlight emotion sharing, goal alignment, the intrinsically rewarding nature of social interaction, and scaffolding of social norms. Taking a fine-grained approach to prosocial behavior, we examine these processes in relation to sibling influences on children's comforting, sharing, and helping. Emergent themes include: developmental change in the nature of sibling influences on prosocial behavior, the need to consider sibling influences in the wider family context, and the importance of individual differences in the quality of sibling relationships. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Empatía en la adolescencia. Relaciones con razonamiento moral prosocial, conducta prosocial y agresividad

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Ana Tur-Porcar

Full Text Available Resumen Este estudio persigue un doble objetivo: i analizar las relaciones entre empatía, conducta prosocial y razonamiento moral prosocial y sus diferencias en función del sexo; ii analizar el valor predictor de dichas variables en la empatía, como variable dependiente. La población evaluada está compuesta por 1557 adolescentes de 12 a 15 años (M = 13.13, DT = .86, 47.4 % chicas, 52.6 % chicos. Los análisis muestran diferencias significativas entre chicos y chicas. Las chicas obtienen mayores índices de empatía, conducta prosocial, razonamiento moral prosocial, en las dimensiones de interiorizado, orientado hacia la necesidad y estereotipado. Los chicos, por su parte, muestran mayores índices en agresividad física y verbal, razonamiento moral hedonista y orientado a la aprobación. Las variables predictoras en la explicación de la empatía, tanto en chicos como en chicas, son la conducta prosocial (en positivo y el razonamiento hedonista (en negativo. En el colectivo de varones aparecen, además, otras variables predictoras de la empatía. Éstas se refieren al razonamiento moral prosocial interiorizado y al orientado hacia la necesidad de forma positiva, y a la agresividad en negativo. Los resultaos aportan nuevas ideas para establecer programas de intervención.

Peer Victimization and Authoritative School Climate: A Multilevel Approach

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Cornell, Dewey; Shukla, Kathan; Konold, Timothy

2015-01-01

School climate is widely recognized as an important influence on peer victimization in schools. The purpose of this study is to examine how authoritative school climate theory provides a framework for conceptualizing 2 key features of school climate--disciplinary structure and student support--that are associated with 3 measures of peer…

Relationships between Character Education and School Climate

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Karaburk, Hasan

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between character education and school climate based on the lived experiences and beliefs of teachers. The research was conducted in a public middle school to explore understandings and beliefs of teachers about character education and its perceived impact on school climate. Social…

Classroom disciplinary climate of schools and gender

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sortkær, Bent; Reimer, David

2018-01-01

Classroom disciplinary climate has emerged as a crucial factor with regard to student achievement. However, most previous studies have not explored potential gender differences in both students’ perceptions of the classroom disciplinary climate and the association between classroom disciplinary...... and students’ mathematics performance across countries. On the basis of an analysis of a pooled sample consisting of all 5 Nordic countries, we found that the correlation between classroom disciplinary climate of schools and maths achievement is significantly stronger for boys than for girls. Further analyses...... showed that this finding may partly be attributable to gender differences in the perception of the disciplinary climate of schools, whereby boys seemed to perceive the classroom disciplinary climate of schools more positively than girls....

A Review of School Climate Research

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Thapa, Amrit; Cohen, Jonathan; Guffey, Shawn; Higgins-D'Alessandro, Ann

2013-01-01

For more than a century, there has been a growing interest in school climate. Recently, the U.S. Department of Education, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Institute for Educational Sciences, a growing number of State Departments of Education, foreign educational ministries, and UNICEF have focused on school climate reform as an…

School Climate in Middle Schools: A Cultural Perspective

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Schneider, Stephanie H.; Duran, Lauren

2010-01-01

In 2007-08 and 2008-09, 2,500 randomly-selected middle school students completed an annual survey on school climate and character development. In examining differences based upon grade, gender, race/ethnicity, school, and length of program participation, significant differences were found for all but length of program participation. Responses of…

Parenting Styles or Practices? Parenting, Sympathy, and Prosocial Behaviors among Adolescents

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Carlo, Gustavo; McGinley, Meredith; Hayes, Rachel; Batenhorst, Candice; Wilkinson, Jamie

2007-01-01

In the present study, the authors examined the relations among parenting styles, parental practices, sympathy, and prosocial behaviors in adolescents. The participants were 233 adolescents (M age = 16.7 years; 69% girls; mostly White) from public high schools in the Midwestern region of the United States who completed measures of prosocial…

The influence of school culture and school climate on violence in schools of the Eastern Cape Province

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Kalie Barnes

2012-01-01

Full Text Available This article reports on research undertaken about the influence of school culture and school climate on violence at schools in the Eastern Cape. An adapted California School Climate and Survey - Short Form (CSCSS-SF, which was used as the data-collection instrument, was completed by 900 Grade 10 to 12 learners. With the assistance of Pearson's product moment correlation coefficient, it was found that the better the school culture and school climate are at a school, the lower the levels of school violence. On the other hand, a lack of school safety contributed to learners experiencing higher levels of violence at schools. The results of hierarchy regression analyses indicated that school culture and school climate can be used to explain a significant percentage of variance in school violence. The f² values indicate that, with the exception of two aspects of the variance physical and verbal harassment, the results did not have any practical value. The article concludes with a few suggestions on how the results can be used to address school violence.

Prosocial behavior and gender

Science.gov (United States)

Espinosa, María Paz; Kovářík, Jaromír

2015-01-01

This study revisits different experimental data sets that explore social behavior in economic games and uncovers that many treatment effects may be gender-specific. In general, men and women do not differ in “neutral” baselines. However, we find that social framing tends to reinforce prosocial behavior in women but not men, whereas encouraging reflection decreases the prosociality of males but not females. The treatment effects are sometimes statistically different across genders and sometimes not but never go in the opposite direction. These findings suggest that (i) the social behavior of both sexes is malleable but each gender responds to different aspects of the social context; and (ii) gender differences observed in some studies might be the result of particular features of the experimental design. Our results contribute to the literature on prosocial behavior and may improve our understanding of the origins of human prosociality. We discuss the possible link between the observed differential treatment effects across genders and the differing male and female brain network connectivity, documented in recent neural studies. PMID:25926783

Prosocial behaviour and gender

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Maria Paz eEspinosa

2015-04-01

Full Text Available This study revisits different experimental data sets that explore social behavior in economic games and uncovers that many treatment effects may be gender-specific. In general, men and women do not differ in neutral baselines. However, we find that social framing tends to reinforce prosocial behavior in women but not men, whereas encouraging reflection decreases the prosociality of males but not females. The treatment effects are sometimes statistically different across genders and sometimes not but never go in the opposite direction. These findings suggest that (i the social behavior of both sexes is malleable but each gender responds to different aspects of the social context, and (ii gender differences observed in some studies might be the result of particular features of the experimental design. Our results contribute to the literature on prosocial behavior and may improve our understanding of the origins of human prosociality. We discuss the possible link between the observed differential treatment effects across genders and the differing male and female brain network connectivity, documented in recent neural studies.

The Racial School Climate Gap: Within-School Disparities in Students' Experiences of Safety, Support, and Connectedness.

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Voight, Adam; Hanson, Thomas; O'Malley, Meagan; Adekanye, Latifah

2015-12-01

This study used student and teacher survey data from over 400 middle schools in California to examine within-school racial disparities in students' experiences of school climate. It further examined the relationship between a school's racial climate gaps and achievement gaps and other school structures and norms that may help explain why some schools have larger or smaller racial disparities in student reports of climate than others. Multilevel regression results problematized the concept of a "school climate" by showing that, in an average middle school, Black and Hispanic students have less favorable experiences of safety, connectedness, relationships with adults, and opportunities for participation compared to White students. The results also show that certain racial school climate gaps vary in magnitude across middle schools, and in middle schools where these gaps are larger, the racial achievement gap is also larger. Finally, the socioeconomic status of students, student-teacher ratio, and geographic location help explain some cross-school variation in racial climate gaps. These findings have implications for how school climate in conceptualized, measured, and improved.

December 2012 Policy Update: School Climate and Bully Prevention Trends State-by-State Assessment. School Climate Brief, Number 6

Science.gov (United States)

Bellizio, Dan

2012-01-01

This December 2012 Brief updates NSCC's 2011 report "State Policies on School Climate and Bully Prevention Efforts: Challenges and Opportunities for Deepening State Policy Support for Safe and Civil School"s (www.schoolclimate.org/climate/papers-briefs.php). This Brief provides a summary of State level: (1) anti-bullying legislation; (2)…

Charter School Discipline: Examples of Policies and School Climate Efforts from the Field

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Kern, Nora; Kim, Suzie

2016-01-01

Students need a safe and supportive school environment to maximize their academic and social-emotional learning potential. A school's discipline policies and practices directly impact school climate and student achievement. Together, discipline policies and positive school climate efforts can reinforce behavioral expectations and ensure student…

Authoritative School Climate, Aggression toward Teachers, and Teacher Distress in Middle School

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Berg, Juliette K.; Cornell, Dewey

2016-01-01

Aggression toward teachers is linked to burnout and disengagement from teaching, but a positive school climate may reduce aggression and associated teacher distress. Using authoritative school climate theory, the study examined whether schools with high disciplinary structure and student support were associated with less aggression and less…

SCHOOL CLIMATE AND TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS ON CLIMATE FACTORS:

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İlhan GÜNBAYI

2006-12-01

Full Text Available This study examined the difference in the levels of the variables related to the schoolclimate factors among the teachers teaching social science courses, the teachers teaching natural science courses,and the teachers teaching art, music and physical education. The data collected from a sample of 204 teachersfrom 9 urban schools serving general high school education in the centre of Afyon and Usak cities in Turkey bymeans of the questionnaire developed by the researcher in the academic year of 2001-2002. The questionnaireasked the participants to report the perceived school climate levels of the variables related to the organizationalclimate factors - organizational clarity and standards, team commitment, autonomy, intimacy and support,member conflict, rewards, and risk - on the open-to-closed continuum. The data collected were analyzed by t-testfor Equality of Means and Analysis of Variance and Tukey post hoc tests. As a result of the analyzes, all theteachers reported open climate in relation to the factors of team commitment, organizational clarity andstandards, intimacy and support , autonomy, member conflict, medium climate in relation to the factors of riskand in reward. Additionally, the teachers teaching art, music and physical education reported higher open schoolclimate than others, man than women, single teachers than married ones, the teachers with more degree ofeducation than the ones with a lower degree of education, older teachers than younger ones, and the teacherswith less seniority than the ones with more seniority. Finally, some ideas were suggested about what should bedone in helping teachers to work in a more desirable open school climate

Collaborating To Teach Prosocial Skills.

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Allsopp, David H.; Santos, Karen E.; Linn, Reid

2000-01-01

This article describes a collaborative prosocial skills program. Steps of the intervention include forming teams of educators, targeting necessary prosocial skills, developing an instructional plan, determining the setting and collaborative roles, delivery instruction, and providing opportunities for student practice, reinforcement, and…

Efficacy of the Aussie Optimism Program: Promoting Pro-social Behavior and Preventing Suicidality in Primary School Students. A Randomised-Controlled Trial

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Clare M. Roberts

2018-02-01

Full Text Available The efficacy of an enhanced version of the Aussie Optimism Program (AOP was investigated in a cluster randomized controlled trial. Grade 6 students aged 10–11 years of age (N = 2288 from 63 government primary schools in Perth, Western Australia, participated in the pre, post, and follow-up study. Schools were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: Aussie Optimism with teacher training, Aussie Optimism with teacher training plus coaching, or a usual care condition that received the regular Western Australian Health Education Curriculum. Students in the Aussie Optimism conditions received 20, 1-h lessons relating to social and interpersonal skills and optimistic thinking skills over the last 2 years of primary school. Parents in the active conditions received a parent information booklet each year, plus a self-directed program in Grade 7. Students and parents completed the Extended Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Students who scored in the clinical range on the Emotional Symptoms Scale were given The Diagnostic Interview for Children and Adolescents IV, to assess suicidal ideation and behavior, and depressive and anxiety disorders. Results indicated that Aussie Optimism with teacher training plus coaching was associated with the best outcomes: a significant increase in student-reported pro-social behavior from pre-test to post-test 1 (maintained at post-test 2 and significantly lower incidence rates from suicidal ideation at post-test 2 and follow-up. No significant intervention effects on anxiety and depressive disorders, and total difficulties were reported. These findings suggest that the AOP with teacher training along with coaching may have the potential to positively impact on suicidality and pro-social behavior in the pre-adolescent years.

Applying Corporate Climate Principles to Dental School Operations.

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Robinson, Michelle A; Reddy, Michael S

2016-12-01

Decades of research have shown that organizational climate has the potential to form the basis of workplace operations and impact an organization's performance. Culture is related to climate but is not the same. "Culture" is the broader term, defining how things are done in an organization, while "climate" is a component of culture that describes how people perceive their environment. Climate can be changed but requires substantial effort over time by management and the workforce. Interest has recently grown in culture and climate in dental education due to the humanistic culture accreditation standard. The aim of this study was to use corporate climate principles to examine how organizational culture and, subsequently, workplace operations can be improved through specific strategic efforts in a U.S. dental school. The school's parent institution initiated a climate survey that the dental school used with qualitative culture data to drive strategic planning and change in the school. Administration of the same survey to faculty and staff members three times over a six-year period showed significant changes to the school's climate occurred as a new strategic plan was implemented that focused on reforming areas of weakness. Concentrated efforts in key areas in the strategic plan resulted in measurable improvements in climate perception. The study discovered that culture was an area previously overlooked but explicitly linked to the success of the organization.

Prosocial effects of entertainment television in India.

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Brown, W J

1990-01-01

The study examines the prosocial effects of Hum Log (We People), India's 1st long running television soap opera. Hum Log was a prosocial TV program that was designed to promote women's status in Indian society. Regression analysis was used to measure the degree to which exposure to Hum Log affected viewers' (1) awareness of certain prosocial beliefs promoted by the series, (2) level of TV dependency, (3) involvement with the characters of Hum Log, and (4) adherence to 3 prosocial beliefs promoted by Hum Log. Exposure to Hum Log was positively associated with viewer's awareness of the program's prosocial messages, TV dependency, and involvement with TV characters in the series. Viewers who were more exposed to Hum Log were also more likely to believe in women's equality and women's freedom of choice, but not in family planning. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of present and future research on the use of prosocial TV programs for development in Asia.

The influence of anonymous peers on prosocial behavior.

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Soowon Park

Full Text Available Peer influence on students' maladaptive behaviors has been well documented; however, the influence on positive development is less acknowledged.The purpose of this study was to examine anonymous peer influence on college students' prosocial behavior, specifically behavior for the improvement of society (i.e., donating money or participating in social campaigns via an experimental approach. The effects of indirect peer influence (IP and direct peer influence (DP on college students' prosocial behavior were examined.A total of 125 college students participated in an online survey and laboratory experiment. Self-reported helping behavior, social concern goals, and empathy were measured by the online survey. In the laboratory experiments, reading of a prosocial paragraph (IP and confederates' prosocial behavior (DP were manipulated. Participation in a signature campaign and money donation for illness were observed. Furthermore, 19 participants among those who donated were asked about their reasons for participating in such prosocial behavior.Prosocial behavior of anonymous peers (confederates exerts a profound influence on college students' participation in a signature campaign and money donation, whereas the reading of a prosocial paragraph has no effect. Furthermore, no participants reported peer influence as a reason for engaging in prosocial behavior.This finding supports and extends recent research examining the positive impacts of anonymous peers on prosocial behavior. Prosocial behavior is not only a foundational and consistent aspect of personality, as previous studies report, but is also highly malleable and unstable in response to immediate situations.

The influence of anonymous peers on prosocial behavior

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Shin, Jongho

2017-01-01

Background Peer influence on students’ maladaptive behaviors has been well documented; however, the influence on positive development is less acknowledged. Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine anonymous peer influence on college students’ prosocial behavior, specifically behavior for the improvement of society (i.e., donating money or participating in social campaigns) via an experimental approach. The effects of indirect peer influence (IP) and direct peer influence (DP) on college students’ prosocial behavior were examined. Methods A total of 125 college students participated in an online survey and laboratory experiment. Self-reported helping behavior, social concern goals, and empathy were measured by the online survey. In the laboratory experiments, reading of a prosocial paragraph (IP) and confederates’ prosocial behavior (DP) were manipulated. Participation in a signature campaign and money donation for illness were observed. Furthermore, 19 participants among those who donated were asked about their reasons for participating in such prosocial behavior. Results Prosocial behavior of anonymous peers (confederates) exerts a profound influence on college students’ participation in a signature campaign and money donation, whereas the reading of a prosocial paragraph has no effect. Furthermore, no participants reported peer influence as a reason for engaging in prosocial behavior. Conclusion This finding supports and extends recent research examining the positive impacts of anonymous peers on prosocial behavior. Prosocial behavior is not only a foundational and consistent aspect of personality, as previous studies report, but is also highly malleable and unstable in response to immediate situations. PMID:29016612

Television Literacy: Amplifying the Cognitive Level Effects of Television's Prosocial Fare through Curriculum Intervention.

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Abelman, Robert; Courtright, John

1983-01-01

An in-school mediation strategy focused on teaching children to watch television critically and to recognize the prosocial content of commercial television programs. Changes in children's attitudes and understanding that resulted from the strategy are discussed. (PP)

The role of emotion regulation in situational empathy-related responding and prosocial behaviour in the presence of negative affect.

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Hein, Sascha; Röder, Mandy; Fingerle, Michael

2016-12-15

Empathy and prosocial behaviour are crucial factors for children's positive social adjustment. Contemporary models of empathy highlight the capacity to regulate vicariously experienced emotions as a precursor to empathy-related responses (e.g., prosocial behaviour). The goal of this study was to examine the role of emotion regulation (ER) in situational empathy-related responding and prosocial behaviour. A sample of 157 children (76 boys and 81 girls; M age = 9.94 years) participated in a two-tiered interview procedure that utilised vignettes to assess empathy and prosocial behaviour. Between both phases of the interview, a negative affect was induced to investigate the influence of ER on the change between the two phases. Results from a latent change model showed that ER strategies positively predicted change scores, that is, children with higher abilities to regulate emotions showed a higher increase in empathy and prosocial behaviour. Implications for the promotion of social-emotional learning in school are discussed. © 2016 International Union of Psychological Science.

Dimensions of Peer Influences and Their Relationship to Adolescents' Aggression, Other Problem Behaviors and Prosocial Behavior.

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Farrell, Albert D; Thompson, Erin L; Mehari, Krista R

2017-06-01

Although peers are a major influence during adolescence, the relative importance of specific mechanisms of peer influence on the development of problem behavior is not well understood. This study investigated five domains of peer influence and their relationships to adolescents' problem and prosocial behaviors. Self-report and teacher ratings were obtained for 1787 (53 % female) urban middle school students. Peer pressure for fighting and friends' delinquent behavior were uniquely associated with aggression, drug use and delinquent behavior. Friends' prosocial behavior was uniquely associated with prosocial behavior. Friends' support for fighting and friends' support for nonviolence were not as clearly related to behavior. Findings were generally consistent across gender. This study highlights the importance of studying multiple aspects of peer influences on adolescents' behavior.

Multilevel Multi-Informant Structure of the Authoritative School Climate Survey

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Konold, Timothy; Cornell, Dewey; Huang, Francis; Meyer, Patrick; Lacey, Anna; Nekvasil, Erin; Heilbrun, Anna; Shukla, Kathan

2014-01-01

The Authoritative School Climate Survey was designed to provide schools with a brief assessment of 2 key characteristics of school climate--disciplinary structure and student support--that are hypothesized to influence 2 important school climate outcomes--student engagement and prevalence of teasing and bullying in school. The factor structure of…

Group Music Training and Children's Prosocial Skills.

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Schellenberg, E Glenn; Corrigall, Kathleen A; Dys, Sebastian P; Malti, Tina

2015-01-01

We investigated if group music training in childhood is associated with prosocial skills. Children in 3rd or 4th 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.

Principals' Response to Change in Schools and Its Effect on School Climate

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Busch, Steve; Johnson, Shirley; Robles-Piña, Rebecca; Slate, John R.

2009-01-01

In this study, the researchers examined principal behaviors related with change in school climate. That is, the manner in which principals managed change within their schools and the impact of these change behaviors on the school climate was investigated. Through use of the Leadership Profile (Johnson, 2003) and the Organizational Health Inventory…

School Climate Improvement Action Guide for Noninstructional Staff. School Climate Improvement Resource Package

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National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments, 2017

2017-01-01

Improving school climate takes time and commitment from a variety of people in a variety of roles. This document outlines key action steps that noninstructional staff--including guidance counselors, social workers, school psychologists, office staff, bus drivers, maintenance and facility staff, and food service staff--can take to support school…

The role of principal in optimizing school climate in primary schools

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Murtedjo; Suharningsih

2018-01-01

This article was written based on the occurrence of elementary school changes that never counted because of the low quality, became the school of choice of the surrounding community with the many national achievements ever achieved. This article is based on research data conducted in primary schools. In this paper focused on the role of school principals in an effort to optimize school climate. To describe the principal’s role in optimizing school climate using a qualitative approach to the design of Multi-Site Study. The appointment of the informant was done by snowball technique. Data collection through in-depth interviews, participant observation, and documentation. Data credibility checking uses triangulation techniques, member checks, and peer discussions. Auditability is performed by the auditor. The collected data is analyzed by site analysis and cross-site analysis. The result of the research shows that the principal in optimizing the conducive school climate by creating the physical condition of the school and the socio-emotional condition is pleasant, so that the teachers in implementing the learning process become passionate, happy learners which ultimately improve their learning achievement and can improve the school quality.

Measuring school climate in high schools: a focus on safety, engagement, and the environment.

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Bradshaw, Catherine P; Waasdorp, Tracy E; Debnam, Katrina J; Johnson, Sarah Lindstrom

2014-09-01

School climate has been linked to multiple student behavioral, academic, health, and social-emotional outcomes. The US Department of Education (USDOE) developed a 3-factor model of school climate comprised of safety, engagement, and environment. This article examines the factor structure and measurement invariance of the USDOE model. Drawing upon 2 consecutive waves of data from over 25,000 high school students (46% minority), a series of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses examined the fit of the Maryland Safe and Supportive Schools Climate Survey with the USDOE model. The results indicated adequate model fit with the theorized 3-factor model of school climate, which included 13 subdomains: safety (perceived safety, bullying and aggression, and drug use); engagement (connection to teachers, student connectedness, academic engagement, school connectedness, equity, and parent engagement); environment (rules and consequences, physical comfort, and support, disorder). We also found consistent measurement invariance with regard to student sex, grade level, and ethnicity. School-level interclass correlation coefficients ranged from 0.04 to .10 for the scales. Findings supported the USDOE 3-factor model of school climate and suggest measurement invariance and high internal consistency of the 3 scales and 13 subdomains. These results suggest the 56-item measure may be a potentially efficient, yet comprehensive measure of school climate. © 2014, American School Health Association.

Perceived parenting, school climate and positive youth development ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

For this purpose, 400 female high school students of Kerman responded to the scale of parenting style perception, school climate perception, and positive youth development. The results of correlation analysis indicated a positive and significant correlation between school climate dimensions (teacher support, autonomy ...

Educators\\' perceptions of school climate and health in selected ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

A significant relationship was found between primary schools' perceptions of ... for the implementation of change in schools, educators' job satisfaction, motivation, ... organisational climate; organisational health; productivity; school climate; ...

Group Music Training and Children's Prosocial Skills.

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E Glenn Schellenberg

Full Text Available We investigated if group music training in childhood is associated with prosocial skills. Children in 3rd or 4th 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.

The Association of School Climate, Depression Literacy, and Mental Health Stigma Among High School Students.

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Townsend, Lisa; Musci, Rashelle; Stuart, Elizabeth; Ruble, Anne; Beaudry, Mary B; Schweizer, Barbara; Owen, Megan; Goode, Carly; Johnson, Sarah L; Bradshaw, Catherine; Wilcox, Holly; Swartz, Karen

2017-08-01

Although school climate is linked with youth educational, socioemotional, behavioral, and health outcomes, there has been limited research on the association between school climate and mental health education efforts. We explored whether school climate was associated with students' depression literacy and mental health stigma beliefs. Data were combined from 2 studies: the Maryland Safe Supportive Schools Project and a randomized controlled trial of the Adolescent Depression Awareness Program. Five high schools participated in both studies, allowing examination of depression literacy and stigma measures from 500 9th and 10th graders. Multilevel models examined the relationship between school-level school climate characteristics and student-level depression literacy and mental health stigma scores. Overall school climate was positively associated with depression literacy (odds ratio [OR] = 2.78, p stigma (Est. = -3.822, p = .001). Subscales of engagement (OR = 5.30, p stigma (Est. = -6.610, p < .001), (Est. = -2.742, p < .001). Positive school climate was associated with greater odds of depression literacy and endorsement of fewer stigmatizing beliefs among students. Our findings raise awareness regarding aspects of the school environment that may facilitate or inhibit students' recognition of depression and subsequent treatment-seeking. © 2017, American School Health Association.

Family and School Influences on Youths' Behavioral and Academic Outcomes: Cross-Level Interactions between Parental Monitoring and Character Development Curriculum.

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Top, Namik; Liew, Jeffrey; Luo, Wen

2017-01-01

The authors examined the joint (interactive) roles of the Second Step curriculum (a validated social-emotional learning and bullying prevention program; Committee for Children, Seattle, WA) and parenting practices on students' behavioral and academic outcomes in Grades 5-8. Participants were 763 parents and their children from 22 schools (8 control and 14 treatment). A 2-level random coefficient model was conducted to assess the effect of parental monitoring on school outcomes, as well as the interaction between character development curriculum and parental monitoring. Results indicated that parental monitoring was a significant predictor of school behaviors and school grades. Furthermore, the Second Step curriculum moderated the relationship between parental monitoring and problem behaviors, prosocial behaviors, and grades at school. Specifically, in schools without the Second Step curriculum parental monitoring predicted higher school grades but had no impact on students' school behaviors. By contrast, in schools with the Second Step curriculum, parental monitoring predicted fewer problem behaviors as well as more prosocial behaviors. The study results highlight the joint influences of the family and the school in children's behavioral and academic trajectories. Results have implications for education and intervention, including improving the school climate, student behaviors, and learning or achievement.

Facilitators to promoting health in schools: is school health climate the key?

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Lucarelli, Jennifer F; Alaimo, Katherine; Mang, Ellen; Martin, Caroline; Miles, Richard; Bailey, Deborah; Kelleher, Deanne K; Drzal, Nicholas B; Liu, Hui

2014-02-01

Schools can promote healthy eating in adolescents. This study used a qualitative approach to examine barriers and facilitators to healthy eating in schools. Case studies were conducted with 8 low-income Michigan middle schools. Interviews were conducted with 1 administrator, the food service director, and 1 member of the coordinated school health team at each school. Barriers included budgetary constraints leading to low prioritization of health initiatives; availability of unhealthy competitive foods; and perceptions that students would not eat healthy foods. Schools had made improvements to foods and increased nutrition education. Support from administrators, teamwork among staff, and acknowledging student preferences facilitated positive changes. Schools with a key set of characteristics, (presence of a coordinated school health team, nutrition policies, and a school health champion) made more improvements. The set of key characteristics identified in successful schools may represent a school's health climate. While models of school climate have been utilized in the educational field in relation to academic outcomes, a health-specific model of school climate would be useful in guiding school health practitioners and researchers and may improve the effectiveness of interventions aimed at improving student dietary intake and other health behaviors. © 2014, American School Health Association.

Psychological school climate: on the structure of the notion

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Fedunina N.Y.

2015-03-01

Full Text Available The article regards the structure of the notion "school structure". The traditionally singled out components of school climate — structure and culture — are amended by the notion of an "individual", which becomes central for the concept of school security and in fact takes a domineering position in estimation and correction of school climate. The article discusses the need in elaboration of a balanced model of a school climate, able to take into account three main constituents: structural, cultural and individual.

Adolescent Narcissism, Aggression, and Prosocial Behavior: The Relevance of Socially Desirable Responding.

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Barry, Christopher T; Lui, Joyce H L; Anderson, Alexandra C

2017-01-01

An important threat to validity in personality research pertains to an individual's motivation to respond in a socially desirable manner on self-report inventories. This issue was examined in this study in the context of narcissism, aggression, and prosocial behavior in a sample of at-risk adolescents. Participants were 161 adolescents (128 males, 29 females, 4 not reported) ranging in age from 16 to 19 years who were attending a residential program for youth who have dropped out of school. Overall, socially desirable response tendencies were negatively correlated with vulnerable narcissism and self-reported aggression. Moreover, low socially desirable responses strengthened the relation between narcissism and self-reported aggression. Socially desirable responding was not associated with self- or peer-reported prosocial behavior and did not moderate the relation between narcissism and prosocial behavior. These findings indicate that the relation between narcissism and aggression is attenuated by concerns with social desirability. However, further work is needed in broader samples of adolescents to more closely examine whether social desirability concerns actually mitigate aggression among some youth or signify underreporting of one's problem behaviors.

Relationships between bullying, school climate, and student risk behaviors.

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Klein, Jennifer; Cornell, Dewey; Konold, Timothy

2012-09-01

This study examined whether characteristics of a positive school climate were associated with lower student risk behavior in a sample of 3,687 high school students who completed the School Climate Bullying Survey and questions about risk behavior from the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey (YRBS). Confirmatory factor analyses established fit for 20 items with three hypothesized school climate scales measuring (1) prevalence of bullying and teasing; (2) aggressive attitudes; and (3) student willingness to seek help. Structural equation modeling established the relationship of these measures with student reports of risk behavior. Multigroup analyses identified differential effects across gender and race. A positive school climate could be an important protective factor in preventing student risk behavior.

The Link between Peer Relations, Prosocial Behavior, and ODD/ADHD Symptoms in 7-9-Year-Old Children.

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Paap, Muirne C S; Haraldsen, Ira R; Breivik, Kyrre; Butcher, Phillipa R; Hellem, Frøydis M; Stormark, Kjell M

2013-01-01

Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are characterized by symptoms that hinder successful positive interaction with peers. The main goal of this study was to examine if the presence of symptoms of ODD and ADHD affects the relationship between positive social behavior and peer status found in 7-9-year-old children who show symptoms typical of ADHD and/or ODD. Furthermore, the possible interaction with sex was investigated. We used data collected in the first wave of The Bergen Child Study of mental health (BCS), a prospective longitudinal total population study of children's developmental and mental health. The target population consisted of children in the second to the fourth, in all public, private, and special schools in Bergen, Norway, in the fall of 2002 (N = 9430). All 79 primary schools in Bergen participated in the study. Both teacher (8809 complete cases) and parent (6253 complete cases) report were used in the analyses. ADHD and ODD scores were estimated using the Swanson Noland and Pelham rating scale version IV (SNAP-IV), and peer problems and prosocial behavior were assessed using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). We replicated the relationship between peer problems and prosocial behavior found previously in typically developing children. Our results showed that the relationship between peer problems and prosocial behavior became weaker as the ODD symptoms increased in number and severity. For ADHD this effect was only found in the teacher report of the children. A sex effect for ODD symptoms was found only using the parent report: boys with ODD symptoms showed less prosocial behavior than girls with similar levels of ODD symptoms. Since this effect was not found using the teacher data, it may imply a situational effect (school/home) for girls with high levels of ODD. The moderator effect of ODD/ADHD was comparable for boys and girls. Our findings suggest that even if children with

Cognitive aspects of prosocial behavior in nonhuman primates

OpenAIRE

Cronin, K.

2012-01-01

Definition Prosocial behavior is any behavior performed by one individual that results in a benefit for another individual. Prosocial motivations, prosocial preferences, or other-regarding preferences refer to the psychological predisposition to behave in the best interest of another individual. A behavior need not be costly to the actor to be considered prosocial, thus the concept is distinct from altruistic behavior which requires that the actor incurs some cost when providing a benefit to ...

Bullying victimization and student engagement in elementary, middle, and high schools: Moderating role of school climate.

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Yang, Chunyan; Sharkey, Jill D; Reed, Lauren A; Chen, Chun; Dowdy, Erin

2018-03-01

Bullying is the most common form of school violence and is associated with a range of negative outcomes, including traumatic responses. This study used hierarchical linear modeling to examine the multilevel moderating effects of school climate and school level (i.e., elementary, middle, and high schools) on the association between bullying victimization and student engagement. Participants included 25,896 students in 4th to 12th grades from 114 schools. Results indicated that, after controlling for student and school demographic factors, positive school climate was associated with higher behavioral/cognitive and emotional engagement of students across all grades. This highlights the critical and fundamental role of positive school climate in bullying prevention and intervention, among students across all grade levels, including those with frequent bullying victimization experience. Results also showed that negative associations between student-level bullying victimization and engagement were intensified in more positive school climates. This finding suggests that, in comparison with students in schools with less positive school climates, the engagement of bullying victims in schools with a more positive school climate might be more negatively influenced by their victimization experience. Additionally, the relation between student-level bullying victimization and emotional engagement was significantly different across middle and high schools. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

The Association of School Climate, Depression Literacy, and Mental Health Stigma among High School Students

Science.gov (United States)

Townsend, Lisa; Musci, Rashelle; Stuart, Elizabeth; Ruble, Anne; Beaudry, Mary B.; Schweizer, Barbara; Owen, Megan; Goode, Carly; Johnson, Sarah L.; Bradshaw, Catherine; Wilcox, Holly; Swartz, Karen

2017-01-01

Background: Although school climate is linked with youth educational, socioemotional, behavioral, and health outcomes, there has been limited research on the association between school climate and mental health education efforts. We explored whether school climate was associated with students' depression literacy and mental health stigma beliefs.…

Peer Influence, Peer Status, and Prosocial Behavior: An Experimental Investigation of Peer Socialization of Adolescents' Intentions to Volunteer.

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Choukas-Bradley, Sophia; Giletta, Matteo; Cohen, Geoffrey L; Prinstein, Mitchell J

2015-12-01

Peer influence processes have been documented extensively for a wide range of maladaptive adolescent behaviors. However, peer socialization is not inherently deleterious, and little is known about whether adolescents influence each other's prosocial behaviors, or whether some peers are more influential than others towards positive youth outcomes. This study addressed these questions using an experimental "chat room" paradigm to examine in vivo peer influence of prosocial behavior endorsement. A school-based sample of 304 early adolescents (55% female, 45% male; M(age) = 12.68) believed they were interacting electronically with same-gender grademates (i.e., "e-confederates"), whose peer status was experimentally manipulated. The participants' intent to engage in prosocial behaviors was measured pre-experiment and in subsequent "public" and "private" experimental sessions. Overall, the adolescents conformed to the e-confederates' prosocial responses in public; yet, these peer influence effects were moderated by the peer status of the e-confederates, such that youth more strongly conformed to the high-status e-confederates than to the low-status ones. There also was some evidence that these peer influence effects were maintained in the private session, indicating potential internalization of prosocial peer norms. These findings help bridge the positive youth development and peer influence literatures, with potential implications for campaigns to increase prosocial behaviors.

Testing the Causal Links between School Climate, School Violence, and School Academic Performance: A Cross-Lagged Panel Autoregressive Model

Science.gov (United States)

Benbenishty, Rami; Astor, Ron Avi; Roziner, Ilan; Wrabel, Stephani L.

2016-01-01

The present study explores the causal link between school climate, school violence, and a school's general academic performance over time using a school-level, cross-lagged panel autoregressive modeling design. We hypothesized that reductions in school violence and climate improvement would lead to schools' overall improved academic performance.…

How school climate relates to chronic absence: A multi-level latent profile analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Van Eck, Kathryn; Johnson, Stacy R; Bettencourt, Amie; Johnson, Sarah Lindstrom

2017-04-01

Chronic absence is a significant problem in schools. School climate may play an important role in influencing chronic absence rates among schools, yet little research has evaluated how school climate constructs relate to chronic absence. Using multilevel latent profile analysis, we evaluated how profiles of student perceptions of school climate at both the student and school level differentiated school-level rates of chronic absence. Participants included 25,776 middle and high school students from 106 schools who completed a district administered school climate survey. Students attended schools in a large urban school district where 89% of 6th through 12th grade students were African-American and 61% were eligible for the federally subsidized school meals program. Three student-level profiles of perceptions of school climate emerged that corresponded to "positive," "moderate," and "negative" climate. Two predominant patterns regarding the distribution of these profiles within schools emerged that corresponded to the two school-level profiles of "marginal climate" and "climate challenged" schools. Students reporting "moderate" and "negative" climate in their schools were more likely to attend schools with higher chronic absence rates than students reporting that their school had "positive" climate. Likewise, "climate challenged" schools had significantly higher chronic absence rates than "marginal climate" schools. These results suggest that school climate shares an important relation with chronic absence among adolescent students attending urban schools. Implications for prevention and intervention programs are discussed. Copyright © 2016 Society for the Study of School Psychology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Facilitators to Promoting Health in Schools: Is School Health Climate the Key?*

Science.gov (United States)

Lucarelli, Jennifer F.; Alaimo, Katherine; Mang, Ellen; Martin, Caroline; Miles, Richard; Bailey, Deborah; Kelleher, Deanne K.; Drzal, Nicholas B.; Liu, Hui

2017-01-01

BACKGROUND Schools can promote healthy eating in adolescents. This study used a qualitative approach to examine barriers and facilitators to healthy eating in schools. METHODS Case studies were conducted with 8 low-income Michigan middle schools. Interviews were conducted with 1 administrator, the food service director, and 1 member of the coordinated school health team at each school. RESULTS Barriers included budgetary constraints leading to low prioritization of health initiatives; availability of unhealthy competitive foods; and perceptions that students would not eat healthy foods. Schools had made improvements to foods and increased nutrition education. Support from administrators, teamwork among staff, and acknowledging student preferences facilitated positive changes. Schools with a key set of characteristics, (presence of a coordinated school health team, nutrition policies, and a school health champion) made more improvements. CONCLUSIONS The set of key characteristics identified in successful schools may represent a school’s health climate. While models of school climate have been utilized in the educational field in relation to academic outcomes, a health-specific model of school climate would be useful in guiding school health practitioners and researchers and may improve the effectiveness of interventions aimed at improving student dietary intake and other health behaviors. PMID:25099428

Prosocial competencies among adolescent siblings of the physically disabled

OpenAIRE

Lidia Perenc; Mieczysław Radochoński; Anna Radochońska

2015-01-01

Background The current study examined possible prosocial benefits of having a disabled sibling. Until now research has mainly focused on the negative effects of having a sibling with a disability. We hypothesized that regular and frequent interactions with a disabled person should result in an increase of positive attitude and empathy toward other people who are in a disadvantageous situation. Participants and procedure A sample of 208 students from public secondary school...

The Influence of School Culture and School Climate on Violence in Schools of the Eastern Cape Province

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Barnes, Kalie; Brynard, Susette; de Wet, Corene

2012-01-01

This article reports on research undertaken about the influence of school culture and school climate on violence at schools in the Eastern Cape. An adapted California School Climate and Survey-Short Form (CSCSS-SF), which was used as the data-collection instrument, was completed by 900 Grade 10 to 12 learners. With the assistance of Pearson's…

Promoting an equitable and supportive school climate in high schools: the role of school organizational health and staff burnout.

Science.gov (United States)

Bottiani, Jessika H; Bradshaw, Catherine P; Mendelson, Tamar

2014-12-01

In response to persistent racial disparities in academic and behavioral outcomes between Black and White students, equitable school climate has drawn attention as a potential target for school reform. This study examined differences in Black and White students' experiences of school climate and explored whether indicators of school organizational health and staff burnout moderated differences in students' school experiences by race. Utilizing hierarchical linear modeling with a sample of 18,397 Black students (n=6228) and White students (n=12,169) and 2391 school staff in 53 schools, we found a consistent pattern of racial inequalities, such that Black students reported less positive experiences than White students across three indicators of school climate (caring γ=-0.08, porganizational health and student-reported school climate (e.g., staff affiliation and student-perceived equity, γ=0.07, porganizational health indicators were more strongly associated with positive perceptions of school climate among White students than Black students, translating into greater racial disparities in perceived school climate at schools with greater organizational health (e.g., supportive leadership by race on student-perceived engagement, γ=-0.03, p=.042). We also found negative associations between staff-reported burnout and students' experience of equity, such that the racial gap was smaller in schools with high ratings of burnout (γ=0.04, p=.002). These findings have implications for educators and education researchers interested in promoting school social contexts that equitably support student engagement and success. Copyright © 2014 Society for the Study of School Psychology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Climate Information and Agricultural Practice in Adaptation to Climate Variability: The Case of Climate Field Schools in Indramayu, Indonesia

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Crane, T.A.; Siregar, P.R.

2011-01-01

Inspired by the Farmer Field School methodology, a “Climate Field School” was conducted with farmers in the Indramayu region of Indonesia in 2003 to promote adaptive application of climate forecasts to crop selection decisions. However, five years after the Climate Field School, use of the forecasts

A brief measure of adolescent perceptions of school climate.

Science.gov (United States)

White, Nick; La Salle, Tamika; Ashby, Jeffrey S; Meyers, Joel

2014-09-01

Student perceptions of school climate represent the ways students feel about the school environment. These include perceptions regarding safety, teaching and learning, and relationships within the school. It has been found that student perceptions of school climate are positively correlated with academic achievement (Brookover et al., 1978), and negatively correlated with risky behaviors (Bandyopadhyay, Cornell, & Konold, 2009; Bayar & Ucanok, 2012; Wang, Berry, & Swearer, 2013). The Georgia Brief School Climate Inventory (GaBSCI) is a measure of student perceptions of school climate. The brevity of the 9-item instrument makes it ideal as a general measure that can be used to monitor student perceptions of school climate. The survey was anonymously administered to 130,968 sixth- and eighth-grade students in the state of Georgia. Cronbach's alpha for the scale was 0.71. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses verified the scale's structure. Student perceptions of climate from the GaBSCI varied based on race/ethnicity, gender, and grade. Additional support for the construct validity of the GaBSCI was obtained based on its relationships with several behaviors related to bullying, and the moderating effects of grade and gender on these relationships. Implications for research and practice are discussed. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

How does the prosocial self-perception develop in childhood?

OpenAIRE

伊藤, 順子

2008-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the development of the prosocial self-perception (sense of value, efficacy). Thirty 5-year-olds, one hundred one 6-year-olds, sixty three 7-yearolds, eighty seven 8-year-olds, and seventy eight 9-year-olds were administrated the Prosocial Self-Perception Scale which consisted of 10 prosocial items. Children were asked their sense of value and efficacy for each item : how they thought they had better be prosocial (sense of value) and could be prosocial ...

Does Religious Belief Promote Prosociality? A Critical Examination

Science.gov (United States)

Galen, Luke W.

2012-01-01

Numerous authors have suggested that religious belief has a positive association, possibly causal, with prosocial behavior. This article critiques evidence regarding this "religious prosociality" hypothesis from several areas of the literature. The extant literature on religious prosociality is reviewed including domains of charity,…

Positive School Climate: What It Looks Like and How It Happens. Nurturing Positive School Climate for Student Learning and Professional Growth

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Tami Kopischke; Connolly, Faith; Pryseski, Charlene

2014-01-01

The term "school climate" has been around for more than a hundred years to explore the idea of school environmental or contextual factors that might have an impact on student learning and academic success. During the past three decades there has been growing research to support the importance of a positive school climate in promoting…

The Critical Role of School Climate in Effective Bullying Prevention

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Cixin; Berry, Brandi; Swearer, Susan M.

2013-01-01

Research has shown a negative association between positive school climate and bullying behavior. This article reviews research on school climate and bullying behavior and proposes that an unhealthy and unsupportive school climate (e.g., negative relationship between teachers and students, positive attitudes towards bullying) provides a social…

Virtually justifiable homicide: the effects of prosocial contexts on the link between violent video games, aggression, and prosocial and hostile cognition.

Science.gov (United States)

Gitter, Seth A; Ewell, Patrick J; Guadagno, Rosanna E; Stillman, Tyler F; Baumeister, Roy F

2013-01-01

Previous work has shown that playing violent video games can stimulate aggression toward others. The current research has identified a potential exception. Participants who played a violent game in which the violence had an explicitly prosocial motive (i.e., protecting a friend and furthering his nonviolent goals) were found to show lower short-term aggression (Study 1) and show higher levels of prosocial cognition (Study 2) than individuals who played a violent game in which the violence was motivated by more morally ambiguous motives. Thus, violent video games that are framed in an explicitly prosocial context may evoke more prosocial sentiments and thereby mitigate some of the short-term effects on aggression observed in previous research. While these findings are promising regarding the potential aggression-reducing effects of prosocial context, caution is still warranted as a small effect size difference (d = .2-.3), although nonsignificant, was still observed between those who played the explicitly prosocial violent game and those who played a nonviolent game; indicating that aggressive behavior was not completely eliminated by the inclusion of a prosocial context for the violence. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Incentives and Prosocial Behavior

OpenAIRE

Roland Bénabou; Jean Tirole

2005-01-01

We develop a theory of prosocial behavior that combines heterogeneity in individual altruism and greed with concerns for social reputation or self-respect. Rewards or punishments (whether material or image-related) create doubt about the true motive for which good deeds are performed, and this ?overjustification effect? can induce a partial or even net crowding out of prosocial behavior by extrinsic incentives. We also identify the settings that are conducive to multiple social norms and, mor...

Incentives and Prosocial Behaviour

OpenAIRE

Bénabou, Roland; Tirole, Jean

2004-01-01

We build a theory of prosocial behaviour that combines heterogeneity in individual altruism and greed with concerns for social reputation or self-respect. The presence of rewards or punishments creates doubt as to the true motive for which good deeds are performed, and this ‘overjustification effect’ can result in a net crowding out of prosocial behaviour by extrinsic incentives. The model also allows us to identify settings that are conducive to multiple social norms of behaviour, and those ...

Precedents and consequences of prosocial behaviors of voice and silence

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alicia Omar

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Prosocial behavior is that which that encourages solidarity and harmony in interpersonal relationships, and produce personal or collective benefits. Although early research on job prosociality was focused on the study of conventional behaviors such as help, courtesy and sportsmanship, the identification and operationalization of new dimensions is rapidly expanding this nomological network. Such is the case of prosocial voice and prosocial silence, recently introduced in the scientific literature. The aim of this study is to explore possible relationships between employee’s voice and employee’s silence, and their personality structure; and examine the role of interpersonal justice perceptions on such relationships. We worked with a sample of 316 employees- aged 37 years and holding a 4.2-year signority working at public and private companies in southern and central Rosario (Argentina. The subjects completed Colquitt’ Justice Organizational Scale, Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, and Van Dyne’s Prosocial Voice and Prosocial Silence Scales. Extraversion and neuroticism emerged as the strongest predictors of prosocial voice and prosocial silence, respectively. Interpersonal justice perceptions emerged as moderators of the ‘natural’ tendency of extraverted workers to engage in prosocial voice, and emotionally controlled workers to engage in prosocial silence. Such findings would indicate that the promotion of high levels of interpersonal justice on job contexts could help workers to engage in more prosocial behavior with positive effects for the organization. 

PERILAKU PROSOSIAL (PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR ANAK USIA DINI DAN PENGELOLAAN KELAS MELALUI PENGELOMPOKAN USIA RANGKAP (MULTIAGE GROUPING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elvrida Sandra Matondang

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract: The aspect of moral development is of great concern of early childhood caregivers. Moral development, which is now better known as prosocial behaviors include behaviors such as empathy, generosity, cooperation, caring, and many more. Various attempts to build prosocial behavior has been carried out in kindergarten, including in one of international preschools  in Bandung that management class is using the multiage grouping.  According to this phenomenon which needed to be achieved, such as the form of prosocial behavior of the child at the multiage grouping, factors that affect the incidence of prosocial behavior in multiage grouping, teachers intervention to any problems relate to prosocial behavior in the multiage grouping, the efforts of teachers to develop prosocial behavior in multiage grouping, the efforts of teachers to manage classes with the concept of multiage grouping. The purpose of doing this research on the grounds of how the management class that uses multiage grouping can increase prosocial behavior of children between the age range of 3-6 years.  The method used in this study is a qualitative approach using case studies, data collection is done by observation, interview and documentation. The findings of this study represent children’s prosocial behavior in the form of cooperative behavior, friendship, helping, sharing, and caring. Children prosocial behavior should practically continually place in their environment and if the foundation is strong enough, they will easily adjust to school environment, especially in a school where the class management is using multiage grouping. Keywords: Early Childhood, Multiage Grouping, Pro-social Behavior   Abstrak: Aspek perkembangan moral adalah perhatian besar dari pengasuh anak usia dini. perkembangan moral, yang sekarang lebih dikenal sebagai perilaku prososial mencakup perilaku seperti empati, kedermawanan, kerjasama, peduli, dan banyak lagi. Berbagai upaya untuk

Emotion regulation moderates the association between empathy and prosocial behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Lockwood, Patricia L; Seara-Cardoso, Ana; Viding, Essi

2014-01-01

Theory and evidence suggest that empathy is an important motivating factor for prosocial behaviour and that emotion regulation, i.e. the capacity to exert control over an emotional response, may moderate the degree to which empathy is associated with prosocial behaviour. However, studies to date have not simultaneously explored the associations between different empathic processes and prosocial behaviour, nor whether different types of emotion regulation strategies (e.g. cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression) moderate associations between empathy and prosocial behaviour. One hundred-and-ten healthy adults completed questionnaire measures of empathy, emotion regulation and prosocial tendencies. In this sample, both affective and cognitive empathy predicted self-reported prosocial tendencies. In addition, cognitive reappraisal moderated the association between affective empathy and prosocial tendencies. Specifically, there was a significant positive association between empathy and prosocial tendencies for individuals with a low or average tendency to reappraise but not for those with a high tendency to reappraise. Our findings suggest that, in general, empathy is positively associated with prosocial behaviour. However, this association is not significant for individuals with a high tendency for cognitive reappraisal.

Student Perceptions of School Climate as Predictors of Office Discipline Referrals

Science.gov (United States)

Gage, Nicholas A.; Larson, Alvin; Sugai, George; Chafouleas, Sandra M.

2016-01-01

Research indicates that school climate influences students' academic, social, and behavioral outcomes. Therefore, improving school climate provides a promising avenue for preventing academic, social, and behavioral difficulties. Research has examined school-level measurement of school climate, but few studies have examined student-level responses…

Climate Change Awareness among the High School Students: Case Study from a Climate Vulnerable Country

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S.M.A. Rahman

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Bangladesh is one the worst sufferers of climate change. Climate change awareness creation is pivotal to adaptation and mitigation strategies. Effective dissemination of knowledge among the citizens during high school years is crucial to that end. In Bangladesh, secondary school students follow common curricula which include entries on climate change. This paper investigates the role of the diverse demographic profiles and inherent scholastic background of students on their informedness. The research is based on responses from secondary schools students in Chittagong, Bangladesh. Based on their understanding of climate change, we have constructed the Climate Awareness Index (CAI. Then the relative roles of demographic determinants of the awareness have been compared using the CAI. The quality of schools, and grade, major and merit position of students have affected the CAI values. Besides, the study concluded that the religion, gender, parental education, occupation and income, etc. could affect students’ climate change informedness in Bangladesh.

Neurocomputational mechanisms of prosocial learning and links to empathy.

Science.gov (United States)

Lockwood, Patricia L; Apps, Matthew A J; Valton, Vincent; Viding, Essi; Roiser, Jonathan P

2016-08-30

Reinforcement learning theory powerfully characterizes how we learn to benefit ourselves. In this theory, prediction errors-the difference between a predicted and actual outcome of a choice-drive learning. However, we do not operate in a social vacuum. To behave prosocially we must learn the consequences of our actions for other people. Empathy, the ability to vicariously experience and understand the affect of others, is hypothesized to be a critical facilitator of prosocial behaviors, but the link between empathy and prosocial behavior is still unclear. During functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) participants chose between different stimuli that were probabilistically associated with rewards for themselves (self), another person (prosocial), or no one (control). Using computational modeling, we show that people can learn to obtain rewards for others but do so more slowly than when learning to obtain rewards for themselves. fMRI revealed that activity in a posterior portion of the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex/basal forebrain (sgACC) drives learning only when we are acting in a prosocial context and signals a prosocial prediction error conforming to classical principles of reinforcement learning theory. However, there is also substantial variability in the neural and behavioral efficiency of prosocial learning, which is predicted by trait empathy. More empathic people learn more quickly when benefitting others, and their sgACC response is the most selective for prosocial learning. We thus reveal a computational mechanism driving prosocial learning in humans. This framework could provide insights into atypical prosocial behavior in those with disorders of social cognition.

The influence of prosocial norms and online network structure on prosocial behavior : An analysis of Movember’s twitter campaign in 24 countries

OpenAIRE

Broek, T.A. van den; Need, A.; Ehrenhard, M.L.; Hiemstra, D.; Priante, A.

2015-01-01

Sociological research points at norms and social networks as antecedents of prosocial behavior. To date, the literature remains undecided on how these factors jointly influence prosocial behavior. Furthermore, the use of social media by campaign organizations may change the need for formal networks to organize large-scale collective action. Hence, in this paper we examine the interplay of prosocial norms and the structure of online social networks on offline prosocial behavior. For this purpo...

Measurement of prosocial reasoning among Chinese adolescents.

Science.gov (United States)

Lai, Frank H Y; Siu, Andrew M H; Chan, Chewtyn C H; Shek, Daniel T L

2012-01-01

This study attempted to develop a standardized instrument for assessment of prosocial reasoning in Chinese populations. The Prosocial Reasoning Objective Measure (PROM) was translated, and a two-stage study was conducted to evaluate the psychometric properties of the translated instrument. The content validity, cultural relevance, and reading level of the translated instrument were evaluated by an expert panel. Upon revisions according to the expert opinions, the Chinese PROM demonstrated good content validity, "good-to-very good test-retest" reliability, and internal consistency. However, only partial support to the convergent validity of the Chinese PROM was found. In the first stage of the study (n = 50), the PROM scores had high positive correlations with empathy and negative correlations with personal distress and fantasy. These results were consistent with theoretical expectations, although this is also a concern that empathy had a close-to-unity correlation with PROM score in the small sample study of stage 1. In the second stage of the study (n = 566), the relationship between PROM scores and prosocial behavior appeared to be weak. Results suggest that there were many personal, family, or social factors that were linked to prosocial behavior, and prosocial reasoning might only contribute to a small proportion of variation in prosocial behavior among adolescents.

Measurement of Prosocial Reasoning among Chinese Adolescents

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Frank H. Y. Lai

2012-01-01

Full Text Available This study attempted to develop a standardized instrument for assessment of prosocial reasoning in Chinese populations. The Prosocial Reasoning Objective Measure (PROM was translated, and a two-stage study was conducted to evaluate the psychometric properties of the translated instrument. The content validity, cultural relevance, and reading level of the translated instrument were evaluated by an expert panel. Upon revisions according to the expert opinions, the Chinese PROM demonstrated good content validity, “good-to-very good test-retest” reliability, and internal consistency. However, only partial support to the convergent validity of the Chinese PROM was found. In the first stage of the study (=50, the PROM scores had high positive correlations with empathy and negative correlations with personal distress and fantasy. These results were consistent with theoretical expectations, although this is also a concern that empathy had a close-to-unity correlation with PROM score in the small sample study of stage 1. In the second stage of the study (=566, the relationship between PROM scores and prosocial behavior appeared to be weak. Results suggest that there were many personal, family, or social factors that were linked to prosocial behavior, and prosocial reasoning might only contribute to a small proportion of variation in prosocial behavior among adolescents.

School Climate: An Essential Component of a Comprehensive School Safety Plan

Science.gov (United States)

Stark, Heidi

2017-01-01

The intentional assessment and management of school climate is an essential component of a comprehensive school safety plan. The value of this preventive aspect of school safety is often diminished as schools invest resources in physical security measures as a narrowly focused effort to increase school safety (Addington, 2009). This dissertation…

The physical activity climate in Minnesota middle and high schools.

Science.gov (United States)

Samuelson, Anne; Lytle, Leslie; Pasch, Keryn; Farbakhsh, Kian; Moe, Stacey; Sirard, John Ronald

2010-11-01

This article describes policies, practices, and facilities that form the physical activity climate in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota metro area middle and high schools and examines how the physical activity climate varies by school characteristics, including public/private, school location and grade level. Surveys examining school physical activity practices, policies and environment were administered to principals and physical education department heads from 115 middle and high schools participating in the Transdisciplinary Research on Energetics and Cancer-Identifying Determinants of Eating and Activity (TREC-IDEA) study. While some supportive practices were highly prevalent in the schools studied (such as prohibiting substitution of other classes for physical education); other practices were less common (such as providing opportunity for intramural (noncompetitive) sports). Public schools vs. private schools and schools with a larger school enrollment were more likely to have a school climate supportive of physical activity. Although schools reported elements of positive physical activity climates, discrepancies exist by school characteristics. Of note, public schools were more than twice as likely as private schools to have supportive physical activity environments. Establishing more consistent physical activity expectations and funding at the state and national level is necessary to increase regular school physical activity.

Prosociality: the contribution of traits, values, and self-efficacy beliefs.

Science.gov (United States)

Caprara, Gian Vittorio; Alessandri, Guido; Eisenberg, Nancy

2012-06-01

The present study examined how agreeableness, self-transcendence values, and empathic self-efficacy beliefs predict individuals' tendencies to engage in prosocial behavior (i.e., prosociality) across time. Participants were 340 young adults, 190 women and 150 men, age approximately 21 years at Time 1 and 25 years at Time 2. Measures of agreeableness, self-transcendence, empathic self-efficacy beliefs, and prosociality were collected at 2 time points. The findings corroborated the posited paths of relations, with agreeableness directly predicting self-transcendence and indirectly predicting empathic self-efficacy beliefs and prosociality. Self-transcendence mediated the relation between agreeableness and empathic self-efficacy beliefs. Empathic self-efficacy beliefs mediated the relation of agreeableness and self-transcendence to prosociality. Finally, earlier prosociality predicted agreeableness and empathic self-efficacy beliefs assessed at Time 2. The posited conceptual model accounted for a significant portion of variance in prosociality and provides guidance to interventions aimed at promoting prosociality. 2012 APA, all rights reserved

Peer Influence, Peer Status, and Prosocial Behavior: An Experimental Investigation of Peer Socialization of Adolescents’ Intentions to Volunteer

Science.gov (United States)

Giletta, Matteo; Cohen, Geoffrey L.

2018-01-01

Peer influence processes have been documented extensively for a wide range of maladaptive adolescent behaviors. However, peer socialization is not inherently deleterious, and little is known about whether adolescents influence each other’s prosocial behaviors, or whether some peers are more influential than others towards positive youth outcomes. This study addressed these questions using an experimental “chat room” paradigm to examine in vivo peer influence of prosocial behavior endorsement. A school-based sample of 304 early adolescents (55 % female, 45 % male; Mage = 12.68) believed they were interacting electronically with same-gender grademates (i.e., “e-confederates”), whose peer status was experimentally manipulated. The participants’ intent to engage in prosocial behaviors was measured pre-experiment and in subsequent “public” and “private” experimental sessions. Overall, the adolescents conformed to the e-confederates’ prosocial responses in public; yet, these peer influence effects were moderated by the peer status of the e-confederates, such that youth more strongly conformed to the high-status e-confederates than to the low-status ones. There also was some evidence that these peer influence effects were maintained in the private session, indicating potential internalization of prosocial peer norms. These findings help bridge the positive youth development and peer influence literatures, with potential implications for campaigns to increase prosocial behaviors. PMID:26525387

Effects of Advance Organizer Instruction on Preschool Children's Prosocial Behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Lawton, Joseph T.; Burk, Jill

This study investigated the effects of advanced organizer instruction on 3- to 5-year-old preschoolers' learning of general prosocial skill concepts, rules for using prosocial skills, and spontaneous prosocial behavior. The six prosocial skills considered included cooperation, sharing, taking turns, helping, demonstration of awareness of another's…

School Climate Coordinators in Chile: Understanding their Labor Identity

OpenAIRE

Valenzuela, Jaime; Ahumada, Iván; Rubilar, Andrea; López, Verónica; Urbina, Carolina

2017-01-01

Addressing school climate and violence in schools requires school management skills. The 2011 School Violence Act in Chile promulgated the mandatory creation of the school climate coordinator (SCC). However, the law did not establish a defined profile, specific functions, or working hours for the SCC, and only recently have school administrators given SCCs more time for this position. This has created a flexible operating framework for the position, which could have implications in terms of t...

Emotion Regulation Moderates the Association between Empathy and Prosocial Behavior

Science.gov (United States)

Lockwood, Patricia L.; Seara-Cardoso, Ana; Viding, Essi

2014-01-01

Theory and evidence suggest that empathy is an important motivating factor for prosocial behaviour and that emotion regulation, i.e. the capacity to exert control over an emotional response, may moderate the degree to which empathy is associated with prosocial behaviour. However, studies to date have not simultaneously explored the associations between different empathic processes and prosocial behaviour, nor whether different types of emotion regulation strategies (e.g. cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression) moderate associations between empathy and prosocial behaviour. One hundred–and-ten healthy adults completed questionnaire measures of empathy, emotion regulation and prosocial tendencies. In this sample, both affective and cognitive empathy predicted self-reported prosocial tendencies. In addition, cognitive reappraisal moderated the association between affective empathy and prosocial tendencies. Specifically, there was a significant positive association between empathy and prosocial tendencies for individuals with a low or average tendency to reappraise but not for those with a high tendency to reappraise. Our findings suggest that, in general, empathy is positively associated with prosocial behaviour. However, this association is not significant for individuals with a high tendency for cognitive reappraisal. PMID:24810604

Prosocial behaviours of young adolescents: a focus group study.

Science.gov (United States)

Bergin, Christi; Talley, Susan; Hamer, Lynne

2003-02-01

This study investigated young adolescents' perceptions of their peers' prosocial behaviours. In eight focus groups, 53 11- to 13-year olds described specific prosocial acts of their peers. Results suggest that traditional research has not addressed the diversity of prosocial behaviours that youth enact, nor emphasized behaviours that are salient to young adolescents. Such behaviours included standing up for others, encouraging others, helping others develop skills, including others who are left out, and being humorous. Facilitating emotional regulation of others emerged as an important component of prosocial behaviour. These data can help guide future research on prosocial development to include a broader array of authentic behaviours of young adolescents.

Using Organization Development To Improve School Climate. Report No. 17.

Science.gov (United States)

Gottfredson, Gary D.; Gottfredson, Denise C.

This paper presents and illustrates some principles for organizational development approaches to improving school climate. It discusses a specific structure for facilitating school improvement entitled Program Development Evaluation, and it illustrates the use of school climate assessments for school diagnosis and the evaluation of improvement…

Awe, the small self, and prosocial behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Piff, Paul K; Dietze, Pia; Feinberg, Matthew; Stancato, Daniel M; Keltner, Dacher

2015-06-01

Awe is an emotional response to perceptually vast stimuli that transcend current frames of reference. Guided by conceptual analyses of awe as a collective emotion, across 5 studies (N = 2,078) we tested the hypothesis that awe can result in a diminishment of the individual self and its concerns, and increase prosocial behavior. In a representative national sample (Study 1), dispositional tendencies to experience awe predicted greater generosity in an economic game above and beyond other prosocial emotions (e.g., compassion). In follow-up experiments, inductions of awe (relative to various control states) increased ethical decision-making (Study 2), generosity (Study 3), and prosocial values (Study 4). Finally, a naturalistic induction of awe in which participants stood in a grove of towering trees enhanced prosocial helping behavior and decreased entitlement compared to participants in a control condition (Study 5). Mediational data demonstrate that the effects of awe on prosociality are explained, in part, by feelings of a small self. These findings indicate that awe may help situate individuals within broader social contexts and enhance collective concern. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Perceived school climate across the transition from elementary to middle school.

Science.gov (United States)

Madjar, Nir; Cohen-Malayev, Maya

2016-06-01

The implications of the transition from elementary to middle school are of major concern for educators and researchers worldwide. Previous studies have yielded ambiguous findings; some have indicated negative outcomes of school transition, whereas others have demonstrated null or even positive effects. The aim of the current research was to explore the impact of school transition on students' perceived educational climate while distinguishing between transition effects and age-related effects by comparing students who transitioned to middle schools at the end of the sixth grade versus those who did not. The research included 2 complementary studies. Study 1 was based on a large-scale national survey in Israel (N = 71,739) that compared students from fifth to eighth grades using a cross-sectional design, in which the students completed a survey once in the middle of the school year. Study 2 followed a sample of 415 students across 2 years including 4 waves of survey completion, at the beginning and the end of 2 consecutive school years, during which 55% of the students experienced a transition and 45% remained in elementary school. In both studies, the students completed self-report surveys assessing the perceived school climate. Both multilevel and nonlinear growth-curve analyses consistently indicated that the students who transitioned reported positive perceptions of the school climate before the transition that declined more quickly and become equal to or lower than those of the nontransitioning students. Teachers should apply practices that enhance students' sense of support, specifically following school transitions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

The moderating effects of school climate on bullying prevention efforts.

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Low, Sabina; Van Ryzin, Mark

2014-09-01

Bullying prevention efforts have yielded mixed effects over the last 20 years. Program effectiveness is driven by a number of factors (e.g., program elements and implementation), but there remains a dearth of understanding regarding the role of school climate on the impact of bullying prevention programs. This gap is surprising, given research suggesting that bullying problems and climate are strongly related. The current study examines the moderating role of school climate on the impacts of a stand-alone bullying prevention curriculum. In addition, the current study examined 2 different dimensions of school climate across both student and staff perceptions. Data for this study were derived from a Steps to Respect (STR) randomized efficacy trial that was conducted in 33 elementary schools over a 1-year period. Schools were randomly assigned to intervention or wait-listed control condition. Outcome measures (pre-to-post) were obtained from (a) all school staff, (b) a randomly selected subset of 3rd-5th grade teachers in each school, and (c) all students in classrooms of selected teachers. Multilevel analyses revealed that psychosocial climate was strongly related to reductions in bullying-related attitudes and behaviors. Intervention status yielded only 1 significant main effect, although, STR schools with positive psychosocial climate at baseline had less victimization at posttest. Policies/administrative commitment to bullying were related to reduced perpetration among all schools. Findings suggest positive psychosocial climate (from both staff and student perspective) plays a foundational role in bullying prevention, and can optimize effects of stand-alone programs. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Gauging the System: Trends in School Climate Measurement and Intervention

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O'Malley, Meagan; Katz, Kristin; Renshaw, Tyler L.; Furlong, Michael J.

2011-01-01

Researchers and educators are giving increasing scrutiny to systems-level constructs that contribute to safe, supportive, and effective schools, including school climate. School climate is a multifaceted construct that is commonly conceptualized as school community members' subjective experiences of the structural and contextual elements of a…

Beyond good and evil: what motivations underlie children's prosocial behavior?

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Martin, Alia; Olson, Kristina R

2015-03-01

Researchers have proposed different accounts of the development of prosocial behavior in children. Some have argued that behaviors like helping and sharing must be learned and reinforced; others propose that children have an initially indiscriminate prosocial drive that declines and becomes more selective with age; and yet others contend that even children's earliest prosocial behaviors share some strategic motivations with the prosociality of adults (e.g., reputation enhancement, social affiliation). We review empirical and observational research on children's helping and sharing behaviors in the first 5 years of life, focusing on factors that have been found to influence these behaviors and on what these findings suggest about children's prosocial motivations. We use the adult prosociality literature to highlight parallels and gaps in the literature on the development of prosocial behavior. We address how the evidence reviewed bears on central questions in the developmental psychology literature and propose that children's prosocial behaviors may be driven by multiple motivations not easily captured by the idea of intrinsic or extrinsic motivation and may be selective quite early in life. © The Author(s) 2015.

Associations between LGBTQ-affirmative school climate and adolescent drinking behaviors.

Science.gov (United States)

Coulter, Robert W S; Birkett, Michelle; Corliss, Heather L; Hatzenbuehler, Mark L; Mustanski, Brian; Stall, Ron D

2016-04-01

We investigated whether adolescents drank alcohol less frequently if they lived in jurisdictions with school climates that were more affirmative of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) individuals. Data from the 2010 School Health Profile survey, which measured LGBTQ school climate (e.g., percentage of schools with safe spaces and gay-straight alliances), were linked with pooled data from the 2005 and 2007 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, which measured sexual orientation identity, demographics, and alcohol use (number of drinking days, drinking days at school, and heavy episodic drinking days) in 8 jurisdictions. Two-level Poisson models tested the associations between school climate and alcohol use for each sexual-orientation subgroup. Living in jurisdictions with more (versus less) affirmative LGBTQ school climates was significantly associated with: fewer heavy episodic drinking days for gay/lesbian (incidence-rate ratio [IRR]=0.70; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.56, 0.87; p=0.001) and heterosexual (IRR=0.80; 95% CI: 0.76, 0.83; pLGBTQ-affirmative school climates may reduce certain drinking behaviors for gay/lesbian adolescents, heterosexual adolescents, and adolescents unsure of their sexual orientation. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

An Investigation of Students' Perceptions about Democratic School Climate and Sense of Community in School

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Karakus, Memet

2017-01-01

This study aims to investigate students' perceptions about democratic school climate and sense of community in school. In line with this purpose, it aims to find answers to the following questions: How democratic do students find the school climate? What is students' sense of belonging level at school? What is the academic success level of…

Playing prosocial video games increases empathy and decreases schadenfreude.

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Greitemeyer, Tobias; Osswald, Silvia; Brauer, Markus

2010-12-01

Past research provided abundant evidence that exposure to violent video games increases aggressive tendencies and decreases prosocial tendencies. In contrast, research on the effects of exposure to prosocial video games has been relatively sparse. The present research found support for the hypothesis that exposure to prosocial video games is positively related to prosocial affect and negatively related to antisocial affect. More specifically, two studies revealed that playing a prosocial (relative to a neutral) video game increased interpersonal empathy and decreased reported pleasure at another's misfortune (i.e., schadenfreude). These results lend further credence to the predictive validity of the General Learning Model (Buckley & Anderson, 2006) for the effects of media exposure on social tendencies.

Measuring School Climate: An Overview of Measurement Scales

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Kohl, Diane; Recchia, Sophie; Steffgen, Georges

2013-01-01

Background: School climate is a heterogeneous concept with a multitude of standardised and validated instruments available to measure it. Purpose: This overview of measurement scales aims to provide researchers with short summaries of some of the self-report instruments in existence, especially in relation to the link between school climate and…

Do marmosets care to share? Oxytocin treatment reduces prosocial behavior toward strangers.

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Mustoe, Aaryn C; Cavanaugh, Jon; Harnisch, April M; Thompson, Breanna E; French, Jeffrey A

2015-05-01

Cooperatively-breeding and socially-monogamous primates, like marmosets and humans, exhibit high levels of social tolerance and prosociality toward others. Oxytocin (OXT) generally facilitates prosocial behavior, but there is growing recognition that OXT modulation of prosocial behavior is shaped by the context of social interactions and by other motivational states such as arousal or anxiety. To determine whether prosociality varies based on social context, we evaluated whether marmoset donors (Callithrix penicillata) preferentially rewarded pairmates versus opposite-sex strangers in a prosocial food-sharing task. To examine potential links among OXT, stress systems, and prosociality, we evaluated whether pretrial cortisol levels in marmosets altered the impact of OXT on prosocial responses. Marmosets exhibited spontaneous prosociality toward others, but they did so preferentially toward strangers compared to their pairmates. When donor marmosets were treated with marmoset-specific Pro(8)-OXT, they exhibited reduced prosociality toward strangers compared to marmosets treated with saline or consensus-mammalian Leu(8)-OXT. When pretrial cortisol levels were lower, marmosets exhibited higher prosociality toward strangers. These findings demonstrate that while marmosets show spontaneous prosocial responses toward others, they do so preferentially toward opposite-sex strangers. Cooperative breeding may be associated with the expression of prosociality, but the existence of a pair-bond between marmoset partners appears to be neither necessary nor sufficient for the expression of spontaneous prosocial responses. Furthermore, high prosociality toward strangers is significantly reduced in marmosets treated with Pro(8)-OXT, suggesting that OXT does not universally enhance prosociality, but, rather OXT modulation of prosocial behavior varies depending on social context. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

School climate, peer victimization, and academic achievement: results from a multi-informant study.

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Wang, Weijun; Vaillancourt, Tracy; Brittain, Heather L; McDougall, Patricia; Krygsman, Amanda; Smith, David; Cunningham, Charles E; Haltigan, J D; Hymel, Shelley

2014-09-01

School-level school climate was examined in relation to self-reported peer victimization and teacher-rated academic achievement (grade point average; GPA). Participants included a sample of 1,023 fifth-grade children nested within 50 schools. Associations between peer victimization, school climate, and GPA were examined using multilevel modeling, with school climate as a contextual variable. Boys and girls reported no differences in victimization by their peers, although boys had lower GPAs than girls. Peer victimization was related to lower GPA and to a poorer perception of school climate (individual-level), which was also associated with lower GPA. Results of multilevel analyses revealed that peer victimization was again negatively associated with GPA, and that lower school-level climate was associated with lower GPA. Although no moderating effects of school-level school climate or sex were observed, the relation between peer victimization and GPA remained significant after taking into account (a) school-level climate scores, (b) individual variability in school-climate scores, and (c) several covariates--ethnicity, absenteeism, household income, parental education, percentage of minority students, type of school, and bullying perpetration. These findings underscore the importance of a positive school climate for academic success and viewing school climate as a fundamental collective school outcome. Results also speak to the importance of viewing peer victimization as being harmfully linked to students' academic performance. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Authoritative school climate, aggression toward teachers, and teacher distress in middle school.

Science.gov (United States)

Berg, Juliette K; Cornell, Dewey

2016-03-01

Aggression toward teachers is linked to burnout and disengagement from teaching, but a positive school climate may reduce aggression and associated teacher distress. Using authoritative school climate theory, the study examined whether schools with high disciplinary structure and student support were associated with less aggression and less distress. The sample of 9,134 teachers in 389 middle schools came from the Virginia Secondary School Climate Survey, a statewide survey administered to all public schools with 7th and 8th grade enrollment. The majority of teachers (75%) were female. More than half (53%) reported that they had more than 10 years of teaching experience; 23% reported 6 to 10 years; 24% reported 1 to 5 years. Students reported on the degree to which their schools were structured and supportive. Teachers reported on their experiences of aggression by students, their level of distress, and their feelings of safety. Staff-related infractions computed from Department of Education records were also used. Multilevel modeling revealed that teachers in authoritative schools experienced less aggression and felt safer and less distressed. Lower aggression by students mediated the association between more authoritative schools and lower distress such that more structured and supportive schools had greater teacher safety and, in turn, less distress. The findings support the idea that more structured and supportive schools relate to greater safety for teachers and, in turn, less distress. Research limitations and implications for practice are discussed. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Assessing Climate Misconceptions of Middle School Learners and Teachers

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Sahagian, D. L.; Anastasio, D. J.; Bodzin, A.; Cirucci, L.; Bressler, D.; Dempsey, C.; Peffer, T.

2012-12-01

Middle School students and their teachers are among the many populations in the U.S. with misconceptions regarding the science or even reality of climate change. Teaching climate change science in schools is of paramount importance since all school-age children will eventually assume responsibility for the management and policy-making decisions of our planet. The recently published Framework for K-12 Science Education (National Research Council, 2012) emphasizes the importance of students understanding global climate change and its impacts on society. A preliminary assessment of over a thousand urban middles school students found the following from pretests prior to a climate literacy curriculum: - Do not understand that climate occurs on a time scale of decades (most think it is weeks or months) -Do not know the main atmospheric contributors to global warming -Do not understand the role of greenhouse gases as major contributors to increasing Earth's surface temperature -Do not understand the role of water vapor to trap heat and add to the greenhouse effect -Cannot identify some of the human activities that increase the amount of CO2 -Cannot identify sources of carbon emissions produced by US citizens -Cannot describe human activities that are causing the long-term increase of carbon -dioxide levels over the last 100 years -Cannot describe carbon reduction strategies that are feasible for lowering the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere To address the lack of a well-designed middle school science climate change curriculum that can be used to help teachers promote the teaching and learning of important climate change concepts, we developed a 20-day Environmental Literacy and Inquiry (ELI): Climate Change curriculum in partnership with a local school district. Comprehension increased significantly from pre- to post-test after enactment of the ELI curriculum in the classrooms. This work is part of an ongoing systemic curriculum reform initiative to promote (1

Perceptions of School Climate as a Function of Bullying Involvement

Science.gov (United States)

Nickerson, Amanda B.; Singleton, Demian; Schnurr, Britton; Collen, Mary Helen

2014-01-01

From a social-ecological perspective, bullying exists within the larger context of school climate. In this study, 2,240 middle and high school students participated in a districtwide effort to assess the prevalence and effects of bullying and cyberbullying, as well as perceptions of school climate. Students reported positive school climate…

Group Music Training and Children's Prosocial Skills

OpenAIRE

Schellenberg, E. Glenn; Corrigall, Kathleen A.; Dys, Sebastian P.; Malti, Tina

2015-01-01

We investigated if group music training in childhood is associated with prosocial skills. Children in 3rd or 4th 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 w...

Toward an Integrated Approach to Environmental and Prosocial Education

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Alexander Neaman

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Environmental education programs neglect the aspect of prosocial behavior as a correlate of pro-environmental behavior. This article examines the possible benefits of increasing the emphasis on prosocial behavior as a way to reinforce environmental education. In our study, prosocial behavior was positively related to pro-environmental behavior (r = 0.34, p < 0.001, and even a combined scale consisting of prosocial and pro-environmental behavior items showed an acceptable reliability (separation reliability = 0.82, at the level of the separated scales, which implies that prosocial and pro-environmental behaviors are a similar class of behavior. We can assume that the two underlying propensities (prosocial behavior and pro-environmentalism are probably only two facets of an overarching common propensity that supports both kinds of behavior. Therefore, promoting one facet will, through its relationship with the other facet, also foster the respective other facet. Even more so, it might be most effective to relate to both propensities equally.

Correlational Analysis of Servant Leadership and School Climate

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Black, Glenda Lee

2010-01-01

The purpose of this mixed-method research study was to determine the extent that servant leadership was correlated with perceptions of school climate to identify whether there was a relationship between principals' and teachers' perceived practice of servant leadership and of school climate. The study employed a mixed-method approach by first…

The Impact of School Climate and School Identification on Academic Achievement: Multilevel Modeling with Student and Teacher Data.

Science.gov (United States)

Maxwell, Sophie; Reynolds, Katherine J; Lee, Eunro; Subasic, Emina; Bromhead, David

2017-01-01

School climate is a leading factor in explaining student learning and achievement. Less work has explored the impact of both staff and student perceptions of school climate raising interesting questions about whether staff school climate experiences can add "value" to students' achievement. In the current research, multiple sources were integrated into a multilevel model, including staff self-reports, student self-reports, objective school records of academic achievement, and socio-economic demographics. Achievement was assessed using a national literacy and numeracy tests ( N = 760 staff and 2,257 students from 17 secondary schools). In addition, guided by the "social identity approach," school identification is investigated as a possible psychological mechanism to explain the relationship between school climate and achievement. In line with predictions, results show that students' perceptions of school climate significantly explain writing and numeracy achievement and this effect is mediated by students' psychological identification with the school. Furthermore, staff perceptions of school climate explain students' achievement on numeracy, writing and reading tests (while accounting for students' responses). However, staff's school identification did not play a significant role. Implications of these findings for organizational, social, and educational research are discussed.

The Impact of School Climate and School Identification on Academic Achievement: Multilevel Modeling with Student and Teacher Data

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Sophie Maxwell

2017-12-01

Full Text Available School climate is a leading factor in explaining student learning and achievement. Less work has explored the impact of both staff and student perceptions of school climate raising interesting questions about whether staff school climate experiences can add “value” to students' achievement. In the current research, multiple sources were integrated into a multilevel model, including staff self-reports, student self-reports, objective school records of academic achievement, and socio-economic demographics. Achievement was assessed using a national literacy and numeracy tests (N = 760 staff and 2,257 students from 17 secondary schools. In addition, guided by the “social identity approach,” school identification is investigated as a possible psychological mechanism to explain the relationship between school climate and achievement. In line with predictions, results show that students' perceptions of school climate significantly explain writing and numeracy achievement and this effect is mediated by students' psychological identification with the school. Furthermore, staff perceptions of school climate explain students' achievement on numeracy, writing and reading tests (while accounting for students' responses. However, staff's school identification did not play a significant role. Implications of these findings for organizational, social, and educational research are discussed.

Examining the Relationship Between School Climate and Peer Victimization Among Students in Military-Connected Public Schools.

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De Pedro, Kris Tunac; Astor, Ron Avi; Gilreath, Tamika; Benbenishty, Rami; Berkowitz, Ruth

2016-01-01

In the Iraq and Afghanistan war context, studies have found that military-connected youth- youth with parents and/or siblings serving in the military-have higher rates of school victimization than their nonmilitary-connected peers. A positive school climate-where students perceive high levels of school connectedness, caring relationships and high expectations from adults, and meaningful participation-is associated with lower rates of victimization in secondary public schools. Based on a survey of 7th, 9th, and 11th grade students (N =14,493) enrolled in 6 military-connected school districts (districts that have a significant proportion of military-connected students), this study explores victimization rates and the role of school climate, deployment, and school transitions in the victimization of military-connected students and their civilian peers. The findings indicate that deployment and school transitions were significant predictors of physical violence and nonphysical victimization. In addition, multiple school climate factors were significantly associated with physical violence and nonphysical victimization. The authors conclude with a discussion of future directions for research on school climate, victimization, and military-connected youth.

Prosocial Motivation: Inferences from an Opaque Body of Work

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Eisenberg, Nancy; VanSchyndel, Sarah K.; Spinrad, Tracy L.

2016-01-01

Because motivations for prosocial actions typically are unclear, sometimes even to actors but especially for observers, it is difficult to study prosocial motivation. This article reviews research that provides evidence regarding children's motives for prosocial behaviors. First, we present a heuristic model to classify motives on the dimension of…

The Watching-Eye Effect on Prosocial Lying

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Ryo Oda

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Evidence shows that people tend to behave prosocially when they are in the presence of images depicting eyes. There are two proximate causes of the eyes effect. One involves positive motivation to gain future reward and the other involves negative motivation to avoid violating a norm. Although several studies have suggested that positive motivation is a strong candidate, these studies were unable to distinguish between adherence to norms and prosocial behavior. We investigated the watching-eyes effect in an experimental setting to determine whether the tendency of humans to violate norms voluntarily could be understood as prosocial behavior. We compared the tendency to tell “prosocial lies” in the presence of a depiction of stylized eyes (eyes condition with that involving no such depiction (control condition. Under the control condition, participants tended to tell lies that benefitted others, whereas the tendency toward prosocial lying disappeared under the eyes condition. This suggests that the desire to avoid violating norms by being honest is stronger than the desire to pursue a good reputation by demonstrating generosity when such violation might lead to serious costs.

Goal-directed, habitual and Pavlovian prosocial behavior

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Filip eGęsiarz

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Although prosocial behaviors have been widely studied across disciplines, the mechanisms underlying them are not fully understood. Evidence from psychology, biology and economics suggests that prosocial behaviors can be driven by a variety of seemingly opposing factors: altruism or egoism, intuition or deliberation, inborn instincts or learned dispositions, and utility derived from actions or their outcomes. Here we propose a framework inspired by research on reinforcement learning and decision making that links these processes and explains characteristics of prosocial behaviors in different contexts. More specifically, we suggest that prosocial behaviors inherit features of up to three decision-making systems employed to choose between self- and other- regarding acts: a goal-directed system that selects actions based on their predicted consequences, a habitual system that selects actions based on their reinforcement history, and a Pavlovian system that emits reflexive responses based on evolutionarily prescribed priors. This framework, initially described in the field of cognitive neuroscience and machine learning, provides insight into the potential neural circuits and computations shaping prosocial behaviors. Furthermore, it identifies specific conditions in which each of these three systems should dominate and promote other- or self- regarding behavior.

Climate change and schools

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sheffield, Perry E.; Uijttewaal, Simone A.M.; Stewart, James; Galvez, Maida P.

2017-01-01

The changing climate is creating additional challenges in maintaining a healthy school environment in the United States (US) where over 50 million people, mostly children, spend approximately a third of their waking hours. Chronic low prioritization of funds and resources to support environmental

School climate, family structure, and academic achievement: a study of moderation effects.

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O'Malley, Meagan; Voight, Adam; Renshaw, Tyler L; Eklund, Katie

2015-03-01

School climate has been lauded for its relationship to a host of desirable academic, behavioral, and social-emotional outcomes for youth. The present study tested the hypothesis that school climate counteracts youths' home-school risk by examining the moderating effects of students' school climate perceptions on the relationship between family structure (i.e., two-parent, one-parent, foster-care, and homeless households), and academic performance (i.e., self-reported [grade point average] GPA). The present sample consisted of 902 California public high schools, including responses from over 490,000 students in Grades 9 and 11. Results indicated that, regardless of family structure, students with more positive school climate perceptions self-reported higher GPAs. Youths with two-parent, one-parent, and homeless family structures displayed stepwise, linear improvements in self-reported GPA as perceptions of climate improved. Foster-care students' positive school climate perceptions had a weaker effect on their self-reported GPA compared with students living in other family structures. A unique curvilinear trend was found for homeless students, as the relationship between their school climate perceptions and self-reported GPA was stronger at lower levels. Overall, the moderation effect of positive school climate perceptions on self-reported GPA was strongest for homeless youth and youth from one-parent homes, suggesting that school climate has a protective effect for students living in these family structures. A protective effect was not found for youth in foster-care. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Associations between LGBTQ-Affirmative School Climate and Adolescent Drinking Behaviors

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Coulter, Robert W.S.; Birkett, Michelle; Corliss, Heather L.; Hatzenbuehler, Mark L.; Mustanski, Brian; Stall, Ron D.

2016-01-01

Background We investigated whether adolescents drank alcohol less frequently if they lived in jurisdictions with school climates that were more affirmative of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) individuals. Methods Data from the 2010 School Health Profile survey, which measured LGBTQ school climate (e.g., percentage of schools with safe spaces and gay-straight alliances), were linked with pooled data from the 2005 and 2007 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, which measured sexual orientation identity, demographics, and alcohol use (number of drinking days, drinking days at school, and heavy episodic drinking days) in 8 jurisdictions. Two-level Poisson models tested the associations between school climate and alcohol use for each sexual-orientation subgroup. Results Living in jurisdictions with more (versus less) affirmative LGBTQ school climates was significantly associated with: fewer heavy episodic drinking days for gay/lesbian (incidence-rate ratio [IRR]=0.70; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.56, 0.87; p=0.001) and heterosexual (IRR=0.80; 95% CI: 0.76, 0.83; pschool for adolescents unsure of their sexual orientation (IRR=0.57; 95% CI: 0.35, 0.93; p=0.024). Conclusions Fostering LGBTQ-affirmative school climates may reduce some drinking behaviors for gay/lesbian adolescents, heterosexual adolescents, and adolescents unsure of their sexual orientation. PMID:26946989

School Climate as a Predictor of Incivility and Bullying among Public School Employees: A Multilevel Analysis

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Powell, Joshua E.; Powell, Anna L.; Petrosko, Joseph M.

2015-01-01

We surveyed public school educators on the workplace incivility and workplace bullying they experienced and obtained their ratings of the organizational climate of the school. We used multilevel modeling to determine the effects of individual-level and school-level predictors. Ratings of school climate were significantly related to incivility and…

The Development of Prosocial Behaviour in Early Childhood: Contributions of Early Parenting and Self-Regulation

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Williams, Kate E.; Berthelsen, Donna

2017-01-01

This research considers the role of parenting practices and early self-regulation, on children's prosocial behaviour when they begin school. Data for 4007 children were drawn from "Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children" (LSAC). The analyses explored relations between self-reported parenting practices for…

A Safer Place? LGBT Educators, School Climate, and Implications for Administrators

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Wright, Tiffany E.; Smith, Nancy J.

2015-01-01

Over an 8-year span, two survey studies were conducted to analyze LGBT -teachers' perceptions of their school climate and the impact of school leaders on that climate. This article presents nonparametric, descriptive, and qualitative results of the National Survey of Educators' Perceptions of School Climate 2011 compared with survey results from…

Authoritative School Climate, Number of Parents at Home, and Academic Achievement

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Huang, Francis L.; Eklund, Katie; Cornell, Dewey G.

2017-01-01

School climate is widely recognized as an important factor in promoting student academic achievement. The current study investigated the hypothesis that a demanding and supportive school climate, based on authoritative school climate theory, would serve as a protective factor for students living with 1 or no parents at home. Using a statewide…

The Link between Peer Relations, Prosocial Behavior, and ODD/ADHD Symptoms in 7–9-Year-Old Children

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Paap, Muirne C. S.; Haraldsen, Ira R.; Breivik, Kyrre; Butcher, Phillipa R.; Hellem, Frøydis M.; Stormark, Kjell M.

2013-01-01

Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are characterized by symptoms that hinder successful positive interaction with peers. The main goal of this study was to examine if the presence of symptoms of ODD and ADHD affects the relationship between positive social behavior and peer status found in 7–9-year-old children who show symptoms typical of ADHD and/or ODD. Furthermore, the possible interaction with sex was investigated. We used data collected in the first wave of The Bergen Child Study of mental health (BCS), a prospective longitudinal total population study of children's developmental and mental health. The target population consisted of children in the second to the fourth, in all public, private, and special schools in Bergen, Norway, in the fall of 2002 (N = 9430). All 79 primary schools in Bergen participated in the study. Both teacher (8809 complete cases) and parent (6253 complete cases) report were used in the analyses. ADHD and ODD scores were estimated using the Swanson Noland and Pelham rating scale version IV (SNAP-IV), and peer problems and prosocial behavior were assessed using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). We replicated the relationship between peer problems and prosocial behavior found previously in typically developing children. Our results showed that the relationship between peer problems and prosocial behavior became weaker as the ODD symptoms increased in number and severity. For ADHD this effect was only found in the teacher report of the children. A sex effect for ODD symptoms was found only using the parent report: boys with ODD symptoms showed less prosocial behavior than girls with similar levels of ODD symptoms. Since this effect was not found using the teacher data, it may imply a situational effect (school/home) for girls with high levels of ODD. The moderator effect of ODD/ADHD was comparable for boys and girls. Our findings suggest that even if children with

The Link between Peer Relations, Prosocial Behavior, and ODD/ADHD Symptoms in 7–9-Year-Old Children

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Muirne C. S. Paap

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD are characterized by symptoms that hinder successful positive interaction with peers. The main goal of this study was to examine if the presence of symptoms of ODD and ADHD affects the relationship between positive social behavior and peer status found in 7–9-year-old children who show symptoms typical of ADHD and/or ODD. Furthermore, the possible interaction with sex was investigated. We used data collected in the first wave of The Bergen Child Study of mental health (BCS, a prospective longitudinal total population study of children’s developmental and mental health. The target population consisted of children in the second to the fourth, in all public, private, and special schools in Bergen, Norway, in the fall of 2002 (N=9430. All 79 primary schools in Bergen participated in the study. Both teacher (8809 complete cases and parent (6253 complete cases report were used in the analyses. ADHD and ODD scores were estimated using the Swanson Noland and Pelham rating scale version IV (SNAP-IV, and peer problems and prosocial behavior were assessed using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ. We replicated the relationship between peer problems and prosocial behavior found previously in typically developing children. Our results showed that the relationship between peer problems and prosocial behavior became weaker as the ODD symptoms increased in number and severity. For ADHD this effect was only found in the teacher report of the children. A sex effect for ODD symptoms was found only using the parent report: boys with ODD symptoms showed less prosocial behavior than girls with similar levels of ODD symptoms. Since this effect was not found using the teacher data, it may imply a situational effect (school/home for girls with high levels of ODD. The moderator effect of ODD/ADHD was comparable for boys and girls. Our findings suggest that even if

School Climate, Family Structure, and Academic Achievement: A Study of Moderation Effects

Science.gov (United States)

O'Malley, Meagan; Voight, Adam; Renshaw, Tyler L.; Eklund, Katie

2015-01-01

School climate has been lauded for its relationship to a host of desirable academic, behavioral, and social-emotional outcomes for youth. The present study tested the hypothesis that school climate counteracts youths' home-school risk by examining the moderating effects of students' school climate perceptions on the relationship between family…

Total Quality Management (TQM) Practices and School Climate amongst High, Average and Low Performance Secondary Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Ismail, Siti Noor

2014-01-01

Purpose: This study attempted to determine whether the dimensions of TQM practices are predictors of school climate. It aimed to identify the level of TQM practices and school climate in three different categories of schools, namely high, average and low performance schools. The study also sought to examine which dimensions of TQM practices…

The educative relationship in primary school: aggressive tendencies and pro-social behaviour La relación educativa en la escuela primaria: tendencias agresivas y comportamientos prosociales.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Claudio Longobardi

2008-07-01

Full Text Available

The general objective of this work is to analyze how pupils’ aggressive tendencies and pro-social behaviour can influence the perception of a given educative relationship, both from the point of view of the pupil and of the teacher. This study shall focus particularly on aggressive tendencies and pro-social behaviour envisaged as indicators of social adaptation’s capability. The research has been conducted on a sample of 249 pupils and 30 teachers, belonging to 15 primary school classes in the province of Turin. Both teachers and pupils agree that children with difficulties of social adaptation appear to maintain less positive relationships: their lower pro-social behaviour matches lack of closeness in relationships and the increase of affective distance within them. Moreover, augmented aggressive tendencies have been discovered among pupils with higher levels of conflict. This research shall highlight how the social and anti-social modalities of interaction of a child may influence a teacher’s perception of their relationship, much more than the pupil’s evaluation of his or hers cognitive abilities. For what concerns the association between relationship and capability of adaptation, it shall be first shown how the pupil tends to view himself or herself as a more or less pro-social and antisocial individual; then, how such perception influences the pupil’s connection with the teacher. At the same time, it shall be given evidence of how the teacher tends to judge the bond with a pupil on the basis of the mental image he or she has created of the child and of which the child may not be entirely aware.

Key words: Educative relationship, teacher-pupil, aggressiveness, pro-social behaviour.

El objetivo general del trabajo es el de estudiar la influencia que la tendencia agresiva y el comportamiento prosocial del alumno, considerados como indicadores de la capacidad de adaptación social, pueden ejercitar sobre la percepci

Reciprocal associations between interpersonal and values dimensions of school climate and peer victimization in elementary school children.

Science.gov (United States)

Leadbeater, Bonnie; Sukhawathanakul, Paweena; Smith, David; Bowen, François

2015-01-01

We examine longitudinal relations among children's and parents' reports of peer victimization and their perceptions of school climate dimensions reflecting school interpersonal relationships (relationships among children and their teachers and peers, and of parents and principals) and values (fairness and equity of access to resources). Children were in Grades 3 and 4 at Time 1 (Mage = 9.32, SDage = .74; 49% boys). Bidirectional influences of school climate and reports of peer victimization were investigated in path models across grade (Time 1 to Time 2) and within a grade (Time 2 to Time 3). Child and parent reports of school climate dimensions showed considerable stability. Hypothesized reciprocal relationships between each of the school climate dimensions and peer victimization were significant. Child-reported frequency of parent involvement in school activities was associated with lower levels of peer victimization within a school year. Parent perceptions of involvement in school activities and the schools' connection with the community were unrelated to the children's reports of peer victimization. Children's negative cognitions or "worldviews" coupled with peer victimization may fuel problems with school connectedness, safety, and help seeking. Findings shed light on possible pathways for reducing peer victimization by leveraging specific aspects of the social climate within schools.

The Development of Prosocial Moral Reasoning and a Prosocial Orientation in Young Adulthood: Concurrent and Longitudinal Correlates

Science.gov (United States)

Eisenberg, Nancy; Hofer, Claire; Sulik, Michael J.; Liew, Jeffrey

2014-01-01

We examined stability and change in prosocial moral reasoning (PRM) assessed longitudinally at ages 20/21, 22/23, 24/25, 26/27, and 31/32 years (N = 32; 16 female) using a pencil-and-paper measure of moral reasoning and examined relations of PRM and prosocial behavior with one another and with empathy, sympathy measured with self- and friend…

The influence of school culture and school climate on violence in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Hinde (2004) views school culture as norms, beliefs, traditions and customs that deve ... not static, but a self-perpetuating cycle which reflects the collective ideas, ... violence is therefore negative behavioural patterns which can harm the .... school climate and school violence scales were 0.709, 0.760, and 0.815, respectively ...

The Meriden School Climate Survey-Student Version: Preliminary Evidence of Reliability and Validity

Science.gov (United States)

Gage, Nicholas A.; Larson, Alvin; Chafouleas, Sandra M.

2016-01-01

School climate has been linked with myriad positive student outcomes and the measurement of school climate is widely advocated at the national and state level. However, districts have little guidance about how to define and measure school climate. This study examines the psychometric properties of a district-developed school climate measure that…

Conducta prosocial y estrategias de aprendizaje en una muestra de estudiantes españoles de Educación Secundaria Obligatoria

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cándido J. Inglés

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Este estudio analizó la relación entre conducta prosocial y las estrategias de aprendizaje en una muestra de 2022 estudiantes españoles (51.1% varones de Educación Secundaria Obligatoria (ESO. La conducta prosocial fue medida con la escala de Conducta Prosocial del Teenage Inventory of Social Skills (TISS y las estrategias de aprendizaje fueron medidas con el Learning and Study Strategies Inventory-High School (LASSI-HS. Los análisis de regresión logística revelaron que la conducta prosocial es un predictor positivo y estadísticamente significativo de puntuaciones altas en las siguientes estrategias y habilidades de estudio: actitud hacia el éxito académico, motivación, procesamiento de la información, selección de ideas principales, ayudas al estudio, autoevaluación y estrategias de evaluación. Además, la conducta prosocial fue un predictor negativo y estadísticamente significativo de puntuaciones altas en ansiedad. Estos resultados fueron encontrados en varones, mujeres y en estudiantes de todos los cursos de ESO. Sin embargo, la conducta prosocial sólo fue un predictor positivo y estadísticamente significativo de altas puntuaciones en control del tiempo (en las muestras de 2o y 4o de ESO y en concentración (en las muestras de chicos y 4o de ESO.

School Ethical Climate and Teachers' Voluntary Absence

Science.gov (United States)

Shapira-Lishchinsky, Orly; Rosenblatt, Zehava

2010-01-01

Purpose: This paper aims to offer a theoretical framework for linking school ethical climate with teachers' voluntary absence. The paper attempts to explain this relationship using the concept of affective organizational commitment. Design/methodology/approach: Participants were 1,016 school teachers from 35 high schools in Israel. Data were…

MDMA enhances emotional empathy and prosocial behavior

Science.gov (United States)

Hysek, Cédric M.; Schmid, Yasmin; Simmler, Linda D.; Domes, Gregor; Heinrichs, Markus; Eisenegger, Christoph; Preller, Katrin H.; Quednow, Boris B.

2014-01-01

3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, ‘ecstasy’) releases serotonin and norepinephrine. MDMA is reported to produce empathogenic and prosocial feelings. It is unknown whether MDMA in fact alters empathic concern and prosocial behavior. We investigated the acute effects of MDMA using the Multifaceted Empathy Test (MET), dynamic Face Emotion Recognition Task (FERT) and Social Value Orientation (SVO) test. We also assessed effects of MDMA on plasma levels of hormones involved in social behavior using a placebo-controlled, double-blind, random-order, cross-over design in 32 healthy volunteers (16 women). MDMA enhanced explicit and implicit emotional empathy in the MET and increased prosocial behavior in the SVO test in men. MDMA did not alter cognitive empathy in the MET but impaired the identification of negative emotions, including fearful, angry and sad faces, in the FERT, particularly in women. MDMA increased plasma levels of cortisol and prolactin, which are markers of serotonergic and noradrenergic activity, and of oxytocin, which has been associated with prosocial behavior. In summary, MDMA sex-specifically altered the recognition of emotions, emotional empathy and prosociality. These effects likely enhance sociability when MDMA is used recreationally and may be useful when MDMA is administered in conjunction with psychotherapy in patients with social dysfunction or post-traumatic stress disorder. PMID:24097374

Students' perceptions of school climate in the U.S. and China.

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Yang, Chunyan; Bear, George G; Chen, Fang Fang; Zhang, Wei; Blank, Jessica C; Huang, Xishan

2013-03-01

Although the construct of student climate has been studied extensively in the United States, we know little about how school climate is perceived in other countries. With large class sizes yet higher academic achievement and less disruptive and aggressive student behaviors, schools in China present a contrast to many schools in the United States. Differences in school climate between the two countries were examined in this study. The sample consisted of 10,400 American and 3,435 Chinese students across three grade levels (elementary, middle, and high school) in 85 American and 22 Chinese schools. Factor structure and measurement invariance across countries were first established for the Modified-Delaware School Climate Survey-Student. Differences in latent means were then tested. Across all three grade levels Chinese students scored significantly higher than American students on all four subscales (Teacher-Student Relations, Student-Student Relations, School Liking, and Fairness of School Rules). Effects sizes tended to be smallest in elementary schools and largest in middle schools. Significant differences between American and Chinese students exist in their perceptions of school climate. It is likely that those differences can be attributed to cultural differences in respect of authority, academic and social values, self-regulation and peer-regulation of behaviors, and teachers' classroom management. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

Principal-Counselor Collaboration and School Climate

Science.gov (United States)

Rock, Wendy D.; Remley, Theodore P.; Range, Lillian M.

2017-01-01

Examining whether principal-counselor collaboration and school climate were related, researchers sent 4,193 surveys to high school counselors in the United States and received 419 responses. As principal-counselor collaboration increased, there were increases in counselors viewing the principal as supportive, the teachers as regarding one another…

Video games as virtual teachers: Prosocial video game use by children and adolescents from different socioeconomic groups is associated with increased empathy and prosocial behaviour

OpenAIRE

Harrington, Brian; O'Connell, Michael

2016-01-01

Objective: The main aim of this study was to determine if there was a positive relationship between prosocial video game use and prosocial behaviour in children and adolescents. Method: This study had a cross-sectional correlational design. Data were collected from 538 9–15 year old children and adolescents between March and December 2014. Participants completed measures of empathy, prosocial behaviour and video game habits. Teachers rated the prosocial behaviour of participants. The socioeco...

Empatía, razonamiento moral y conducta prosocial en adolescentes Empathy, moral reasoning and prosocial behaviors in adolescents

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Valeria Urquiza

2006-12-01

Full Text Available Se presenta un estudio descriptivo-exploratorio, cuya unidad de análisis está conformada por estudiantes adolescentes. Se ha trabajado con una muestra: intencional, la participación ha sido anónima y voluntaria, integrada por 398 estudiantes adolescentes (197 varones y 201 mujeres de 12 a 15 años (Media edad=13.77; d.t.= 1.14 que residen en la ciudad de Buenos Aires (46.5% y el conurbano bonaerense (53.5%. Los datos se han obtenido administrando tres escalas que evalúan Comportamiento Prosocial, Reacciones Interpersonales, Razonamiento Prosocial y Empatía. El razonamiento prosocial no garantiza por sí mismo un comportamiento de ese tipo. En general los niveles de empatía y razonamientos prosociales son más elevados entre las mujeres.Data from on a exploratory/ descriptive study based on a sample of 398 adolescents students aging 12 to 15 years old (M= 13, 7 y.o , sd =1, 14 living in Buenos Aires city (46.5% and its suburban area (53.5% are presented. Participation was anonymous and voluntary (intentional sampling Scales to assess Moral Reasoning, Prosocial Behavior, Interpersonal Reactions and Empathy were administered. We found that moral reasoning is not related to prosocial behaviors; empathy and moral reasoning seem to be higher in female samples.

Prosocial motivation, stress and burnout among direct support workers.

Science.gov (United States)

Hickey, Robert

2014-03-01

This study explores whether the desire to engage in work that is beneficial to others moderates the effects of stress on burnout. Based on a survey of 1570 direct support professionals in Ontario, this study conducted linear regression analyses and tested for the interaction effects of prosocial motivation on occupational stress and burnout. Prosocial motivation significantly moderated the association of emotional exhaustion (EE) and role boundary stress with depersonalization (DP). Prosocial motivation also moderated the effects of role ambiguity stress with a direct support worker's sense of personal accomplishment. In contrast, prosocial motivation magnified feelings of EE when interacted with a sense of personal accomplishment. Prosocial motivation plays an important role in explaining the relatively low levels of DP in the sector. The study advances our understanding of the key components of burnout among direct support workers. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Transformational Leadership Related to School Climate: A Multi-Level Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

McCarley, Troy A.; Peters, Michelle L.; Decman, John M.

2016-01-01

Across the nation, quality leadership and positive school climate are critical to the success of every principal, student, and school. As a result, this study examined the relationship between teacher perceptions of the degree to which a principal displays the factors of transformational leadership and the perceived school climate. A purposeful…

Children's Moral Motivation, Sympathy, and Prosocial Behavior

Science.gov (United States)

Malti, Tina; Gummerum, Michaela; Keller, Monika; Buchmann, Marlis

2009-01-01

Two studies investigated the role of children's moral motivation and sympathy in prosocial behavior. Study 1 measured other-reported prosocial behavior and self- and other-reported sympathy. Moral motivation was assessed by emotion attributions and moral reasoning following hypothetical transgressions in a representative longitudinal sample of…

Climate Change and Schools: Environmental Hazards and Resiliency.

Science.gov (United States)

Sheffield, Perry E; Uijttewaal, Simone A M; Stewart, James; Galvez, Maida P

2017-11-16

The changing climate is creating additional challenges in maintaining a healthy school environment in the United States (U.S.) where over 50 million people, mostly children, spend approximately a third of their waking hours. Chronic low prioritization of funds and resources to support environmental health in schools and lack of clear regulatory oversight in the U.S. undergird the new risks from climate change. We illustrate the extent of risk and the variation in vulnerability by geographic region, in the context of sparse systematically collected and comparable data particularly about school infrastructure. Additionally, we frame different resilience building initiatives, focusing on interventions that target root causes, or social determinants of health. Disaster response and recovery are also framed as resilience building efforts. Examples from U.S. Federal Region 2 (New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands) and nationally are used to illustrate these concepts. We conclude that better surveillance, more research, and increased federal and state oversight of environmental factors in schools (specific to climate risks) is necessary, as exposures result in short- and long term negative health effects and climate change risks will increase over time.

Prosocial Behavior and Depression: a Case for Developmental Gender Differences.

Science.gov (United States)

Alarcón, Gabriela; Forbes, Erika E

2017-06-01

Prosocial behavior and depression are related constructs that both increase during adolescence and display gender-specific effects. The current review surveys literature examining the association between depressive symptoms and prosociality, measured with behavioral economic paradigms, across development and proposes a theoretical model explaining a mechanism through which adolescent girls have higher risk for depression than boys. Relative to healthy controls, prosocial behavior is reduced in adults with major depressive disorder (MDD) but may be increased in adolescents with MDD. The relationship between non-clinical levels of depressive symptoms and prosocial behavior remains to be studied experimentally; however, self-reported prosocial behavior is negatively associated with depressive symptoms in non-clinical adolescents, which may suggest a shift in the relation of prosocial behavior and depressive symptoms across the non-clinical (i.e., negative) to clinical range (i.e., positive). The effect of gender on these developmental and clinical status shifts has not been studied but could have important implications for understanding the emergence of higher rates of depression in girls than boys during adolescence. We propose that girls are at heightened risk for depression due to higher social-evaluative concern and other-oriented prosocial motivation that emphasize the needs of others over the self, leading to more altruistic prosocial behavior (despite personal cost) and a higher burden that enables depressive symptoms.

The Assessment of Organisational Climate in Bedouin Arab Schools in Israel.

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Abu-Saad, Ismael

1995-01-01

Summarizes results of a study designed to identify organizational climate factors in Israel's 29 Bedouin Arab elementary schools and to explore their relation to certain teacher and school-level variables, including sex, educational level, tenure, teachers' origin, school type, and school size. The most important organizational climate factor was…

A Mind-Reader Does Not Always Have Deontological Moral Judgments and Prosocial Behavior: A Developmental Perspective.

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Hao, Jian; Liu, Yanchun

2016-01-01

The rationalistic theories of morality emphasize that reasoning plays an important role in moral judgments and prosocial behavior. Theory of mind as a reasoning ability in the mental domain has been considered a facilitator of moral development. The present study examined whether theory of mind was consistently positively associated with morality from middle childhood to late adulthood. Two hundred and four participants, including 48 elementary school children, 45 adolescents, 62 younger adults, and 49 older adults, completed theory of mind, moral judgment and prosocial behavior tasks. Theory of mind was measured with strange stories that tapped into an understanding of lies, white lies, double bluffs, irony, and persuasion. Moral judgments were measured with variants of the trolley dilemma. Prosocial behavior was measured through participants' performance in an interactive situation in which a helping request was made. The results indicated specific rather than similar developmental trajectories of theory of mind, moral judgments, and prosocial behavior. There was a quadratic trend in theory of mind, a combination of quadratic and cubic trends in deontological moral judgments and a linear decline in helping behavior. It is thus suggested that theory of mind may not be associated with morality in an unchanging way during development. Further results indicated that theory of mind and deontological moral judgments were negatively correlated for children, adolescents, and older adults but positively correlated for younger adults. Theory of mind and helping behavior were positively correlated for children but negatively correlated for adolescents. However, the relationships disappeared in adulthood. In sum, the present study reveals that theory of mind may be a nice tool for its facilitation of deontological moral judgments and prosocial behavior, but it may also be a nasty tool for its blocking of deontological moral judgments and prosocial behavior. Moreover, theory

Siblings and the Development of Prosocial Behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Dunn, Judy; Munn, Penny

1986-01-01

Examines the capability and motivation of 18- and 24-month-old infants to share, help, comfort, and cooperate with their older siblings; the frequency of such prosocial behavior by both siblings; and the children's response to sibling distress. The relationship between prosocial and conflict behavior was also studied. (HOD)

Practices for Improving Secondary School Climate: A Systematic Review of the Research Literature.

Science.gov (United States)

Voight, Adam; Nation, Maury

2016-09-01

School climate has received increased attention in education policy and, in response, educators are seeking strategies to improve the climates of their middle and high schools. However, there has been no comprehensive synthesis of the empirical evidence for what works in school climate improvement. This article constitutes a systematic review of programs and practices with empirical support for improving school climate. It defines school climate and provides a methodology for identifying and evaluating relevant studies. The review identified 66 studies with varying strength of evidence and nine common elements that cut across reviewed programs and practices. The review concludes with a critical appraisal of what we know about school climate improvement and what we still need to know. © Society for Community Research and Action 2016.

Profiles of Student Perceptions of School Climate: Relations with Risk Behaviors and Academic Outcomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Shukla, Kathan; Konold, Timothy; Cornell, Dewey

2016-06-01

School climate has been linked to a variety of positive student outcomes, but there may be important within-school differences among students in their experiences of school climate. This study examined within-school heterogeneity among 47,631 high school student ratings of their school climate through multilevel latent class modeling. Student profiles across 323 schools were generated on the basis of multiple indicators of school climate: disciplinary structure, academic expectations, student willingness to seek help, respect for students, affective and cognitive engagement, prevalence of teasing and bullying, general victimization, bullying victimization, and bullying perpetration. Analyses identified four meaningfully different student profile types that were labeled positive climate, medium climate-low bullying, medium climate-high bullying, and negative climate. Contrasts among these profile types on external criteria revealed meaningful differences for race, grade-level, parent education level, educational aspirations, and frequency of risk behaviors. © Society for Community Research and Action 2016.

The role of school organizational climate in occupational stress among secondary school teachers in Tehran.

Science.gov (United States)

Ahghar, Ghodsy

2008-01-01

This paper aims at studying the influence of the organizational climate of a school on the occupational stress of the teachers. The study population were all secondary schools teachers in Tehran in 2007. Using a multi-stage random sampling method, a sample volume of 220 people was determined using the Cochran formula. Two main instruments were used to measure the study variables: a 27-item questionnaire on organizational climate (four scales: open, engaged, disengaged and closed organizational climate, and a 53-item occupational stress questionnaire by Vingerhoets, employing 11 scales: Skill Discretion, Decision Authority, Task Control, Work and Time Pressure, Role Ambiguity, Physical Exertion, Hazardous Exposure, Job Insecurity, Lack of Meaningfulness, Social Support from Supervisor and Social Support from Coworkers. The frequency, percentage, and mean values were calculated and a stepwise regression analysis was performed to evaluate the statistical significance of the findings. The study results revealed that: (a) 40.02% of secondary school teachers experience occupational stress at a moderate or higher level; (b) the rate of occupational stress among teachers can be predicted. using the scores on the school organizational climate; this predictability is highest for the open climate and gradually decreases through the engaged, and disengaged to the closed climate; (c) among the teachers working in the disengaged and closed climate, the rate of occupational stress significantly exceeds that recorded among the teachers working in the open climate.

Energy Design Guidelines for High Performance Schools: Tropical Island Climates

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

2004-11-01

The Energy Design Guidelines for High Performance Schools--Tropical Island Climates provides school boards, administrators, and design staff with guidance to help them make informed decisions about energy and environmental issues important to school systems and communities. These design guidelines outline high performance principles for the new or retrofit design of your K-12 school in tropical island climates. By incorporating energy improvements into their construction or renovation plans, schools can significantly reduce energy consumption and costs.

Measuring School Climate in High Schools: A Focus on Safety, Engagement, and the Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Bradshaw, Catherine P.; Waasdorp, Tracy E.; Debnam, Katrina J.; Johnson, Sarah Lindstrom

2014-01-01

Background: School climate has been linked to multiple student behavioral, academic, health, and social-emotional outcomes. The US Department of Education (USDOE) developed a 3-factor model of school climate comprised of safety, engagement, and environment. This article examines the factor structure and measurement invariance of the USDOE model.…

Pro-social Motivation beyond Firm Boundaries

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Foss, Nicolai; Milagres, Rosileia

2014-01-01

, contradicting the above argument. More constructively, the case of the Genolyptus network points to the importance of intensive communication, rewards that are tied to joint outcomes, knowledge-based authority and consensual decision-making as support arrangements that can build and sustain pro......An influential body of literature in macro-management research (notably, organization theory and strategic management) associates pro-social motivation solely with firm-like organizations, suggesting that such motivation cannot thrive under more market-like arrangements. We question this argument...... on theoretical, as well as empirical, grounds. As to the latter, we discuss the specific case of a network of firms in Brazil, the Genolyptus network. We argue that this particular network manifests strong pro-social motivations. This implies that pro-social motivations may thrive beyond corporate boundaries...

Prevention of school bullying: the important role of autonomy-supportive teaching and internalization of pro-social values.

Science.gov (United States)

Roth, Guy; Kanat-Maymon, Yaniv; Bibi, Uri

2011-12-01

This study examined students' perceptions of autonomy-supportive teaching (AST) and its relations to internalization of pro-social values and bullying in class. We hypothesized that: (1) teachers' AST, which involves provision of rationale and taking the student's perspective, would relate positively to students' identified internalization of considerateness towards classmates, and would relate negatively to external regulation (considerateness to obtain rewards or avoid punishments); (2) students' identified regulation would relate negatively to self-reported bullying in class, whereas external regulation would relate positively to bullying; and (3) the relation between teachers' AST and student bullying would be mediated by students' identification with the value of considerateness towards others. The sample consisted of 725 junior high school students (50% females) in Grades 7 and 8 from 27 classes in four schools serving students from lower-middle to middle-class socioeconomic backgrounds.   The participants completed questionnaires assessing the variables of interest. Correlational analysis supported the hypotheses. Moreover, mediational analyses using hierarchical linear modelling (HLM) demonstrated that identified regulation mediates the negative relation between AST and self-reported bullying in class. The mediational hypothesis was supported at the between-class level and at the within-class level.   The findings suggest that school policy aimed at bullying reduction should go beyond external control that involves external rewards and sanctions and should help teachers acquire autonomy-supportive practices focusing on students' meaningful internalization. ©2010 The British Psychological Society.

Prosocial coping and substance use during pregnancy.

Science.gov (United States)

Blechman, E A; Lowell, E S; Garrett, J

1999-01-01

In structured interviews of pregnant inner-city residents, 38 substance users reported more current liking of drugs and polysubstance use, disengagement coping, depressive symptoms, negative affect, and antisocial behavior than did 45 nonusers. During videotaped interviews, trained observers coded less warmth and less prosocial information exchange (e.g., self-disclosure, question asking) among users. Factor analysis of measures of coping and its concomitants yielded a three-factor (prosocial, antisocial, asocial) solution, with asocial and antisocial coping predominating among substance users. These results suggest that coping has emotional, social, and cognitive elements. This study is the first to demonstrate an association between a substance-using lifestyle and limited prosocial information exchange.

MDMA enhances emotional empathy and prosocial behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Hysek, Cédric M; Schmid, Yasmin; Simmler, Linda D; Domes, Gregor; Heinrichs, Markus; Eisenegger, Christoph; Preller, Katrin H; Quednow, Boris B; Liechti, Matthias E

2014-11-01

3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, 'ecstasy') releases serotonin and norepinephrine. MDMA is reported to produce empathogenic and prosocial feelings. It is unknown whether MDMA in fact alters empathic concern and prosocial behavior. We investigated the acute effects of MDMA using the Multifaceted Empathy Test (MET), dynamic Face Emotion Recognition Task (FERT) and Social Value Orientation (SVO) test. We also assessed effects of MDMA on plasma levels of hormones involved in social behavior using a placebo-controlled, double-blind, random-order, cross-over design in 32 healthy volunteers (16 women). MDMA enhanced explicit and implicit emotional empathy in the MET and increased prosocial behavior in the SVO test in men. MDMA did not alter cognitive empathy in the MET but impaired the identification of negative emotions, including fearful, angry and sad faces, in the FERT, particularly in women. MDMA increased plasma levels of cortisol and prolactin, which are markers of serotonergic and noradrenergic activity, and of oxytocin, which has been associated with prosocial behavior. In summary, MDMA sex-specifically altered the recognition of emotions, emotional empathy and prosociality. These effects likely enhance sociability when MDMA is used recreationally and may be useful when MDMA is administered in conjunction with psychotherapy in patients with social dysfunction or post-traumatic stress disorder. © The Author (2013). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Playing Fair: The Contribution of High-Functioning Recess to Overall School Climate in Low-Income Elementary Schools

Science.gov (United States)

London, Rebecca A.; Westrich, Lisa; Stokes-Guinan, Katie; McLaughlin, Milbrey

2015-01-01

Background: Recess is a part of the elementary school day with strong implications for school climate. Positive school climate has been linked to a host of favorable student outcomes, from attendance to achievement. We examine 6 low-income elementary schools' experiences implementing a recess-based program designed to provide safe, healthy,…

Adolescent cybervictimization - Who they turn to and their perceived school climate.

Science.gov (United States)

Veiga Simão, A M; Ferreira, P Costa; Freire, I; Caetano, A P; Martins, M J; Vieira, C

2017-07-01

The purpose of this study was to understand how adolescent cybervictims perceive their school climate and whether telling school community members, such as teachers, play a significant role in these perceptions. Another objective was to understand whether age and gender played a significant role in the relation between whom cybervictims told and their perceived school climate. The Cybervictims Scale for Adolescents and Children and the Perceived School Climate Scale were applied to 3525 Portuguese students of whom 218 were cybervictims attending 6th, 8th , and 11th grades. Results showed that even though adolescent cybervictims reported cybervictimization more to friends and parents, those who told teachers about their experience, tended to report more positive perceptions of their school climate. Gender and age did not play a significant role in the relationship between cybervictimization and perceived school climate. Implications of the findings are discussed with regards to the role of teachers and in-service training in preventing cyberbullying. Copyright © 2017 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Humor Climate of the Primary Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Sahin, Ahmet

2018-01-01

The aim of this study is to determine the opinions primary school administrators and teachers on humor climates in primary schools. The study was modeled as a convergent parallel design, one of the mixed methods. The data gathered from 253 administrator questionnaires, and 651 teacher questionnaires was evaluated for the quantitative part of the…

School climate and bullying victimization: a latent class growth model analysis.

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Gage, Nicholas A; Prykanowski, Debra A; Larson, Alvin

2014-09-01

Researchers investigating school-level approaches for bullying prevention are beginning to discuss and target school climate as a construct that (a) may predict prevalence and (b) be an avenue for school-wide intervention efforts (i.e., increasing positive school climate). Although promising, research has not fully examined and established the social-ecological link between school climate factors and bullying/peer aggression. To address this gap, we examined the association between school climate factors and bullying victimization for 4,742 students in Grades 3-12 across 3 school years in a large, very diverse urban school district using latent class growth modeling. Across 3 different models (elementary, secondary, and transition to middle school), a 3-class model was identified, which included students at high-risk for bullying victimization. Results indicated that, for all students, respect for diversity and student differences (e.g., racial diversity) predicted within-class decreases in reports of bullying. High-risk elementary students reported that adult support in school was a significant predictor of within-class reduction of bullying, and high-risk secondary students report peer support as a significant predictor of within-class reduction of bullying. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Prosocial Tendencies Predict Friendship Quality, But Not for Popular Children

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Poorthuis, Astrid M. G.; Thomaes, Sander; Denissen, Jaap J. A.; van Aken, Marcel A. G.; de Castro, Bram Orobio

2012-01-01

Is prosocial behavior a prerequisite for having good-quality friendships? This study (N=477, mean age=12.2 years) examined whether the link between children's prosocial tendencies and their perceived friendship quality was dependent on children's level of popularity in the peer group. Children's prosocial tendencies were assessed both as observed…

Stress mitigation to promote development of prosocial values and school engagement of inner-city urban African American and Latino youth.

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Tolan, Patrick; Lovegrove, Peter; Clark, Eren

2013-01-01

Studies of predictors of development of young men of color have been primarily focused on factors that impede positive development rather than factors that promote it. There are also few examples of longitudinal studies of positive development of this population and few that consider multiple protective factors simultaneously. Little is also known about how such positive outcomes might relate to prediction of problematic functioning. This study tests a developmental-ecological framework of positive and risky development among a sample of young men of color growing up in high-risk urban environments. African American and Latino adolescent males (148 African American, 193 Latino) were followed from early to late adolescence. Stress in early adolescence was related to school engagement and prosocial values as well as depressive symptoms and problems assessed 2 years later. The role of family and individual protective factors as direct effects and as mitigating the stress-outcome relation were also tested. Stress predicted problem outcomes but not positive functioning. Early engagement in prosocial activities and coping skills did predict positive outcomes. In contrast, problem outcomes were predicted directly by stress, with some indication of interaction with some protective factors for both such outcomes. Overall results suggest value in focusing on positive outcomes along with negative outcomes, as they are not the antithesis and have some shared but some different predictors. Implications for supporting positive development are presented. © 2013 American Orthopsychiatric Association.

Motivation, Engagement, and Social Climate: An International Study of Boarding Schools

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Martin, Andrew J.; Papworth, Brad; Ginns, Paul; Malmberg, Lars-Erik

2016-01-01

Most educational climate research is conducted among (day school) students who spend the bulk of their young lives outside of school, potentially limiting the amount of climate variance that can be captured. Boarding school students, on the other hand, spend much of their lives at school and thus offer a potentially unique perspective on…

THE STUDY OF PROSOCIAL MOTIVATION OF STUDENTS SOTSIONOMICHESKIH PROFESSIONS

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Bresso Tatiana Ivanovna

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The article focuses on the experimental study of prosocial motivation in students sotsionomicheskih professions: psychologists, social workers and managers. The author of a new approach to the study of patterns and identify differences in prosocial motivation in different socio-cultural characteristics of student groups, students sotsionomicheskim professions. Based on the analysis of psychological research on the author developed the levels of prosocial motivation of students in relation to sotsionomicheskim professions. The experiment revealed the presence of psychological specificity and sociocultural orientation to the relationship between altruism (prosocial motivation with the value orientation and the level of emotional intelligence. It is proved that the manifestation of prosocial motivation is greatly influenced by the level of emotional intelligence, as an integral index, and index of empathy in particular. The author stresses that the psychological specifics of students in the humanities encourages the development of new skills and allow them to efficiently realize their personal potential in their future careers.

Essays on the Determinants of Prosocial Behavior in Singapore

OpenAIRE

Lim, Daniel

2015-01-01

Previous research has sought to explain why people engage in prosocial behavior and undertake activities that are costly to themselves and mostly benefit others, such as volunteering and donating. My dissertation comprises three essays that collectively explore the determinants of prosocial behavior and leverages insights from behavioral economics to design interventions to nudge people to behave more prosocially. The first essay is an observational study that examines how rapid demographic c...

The Impact of School Climate and School Identification on Academic Achievement: Multilevel Modeling with Student and Teacher Data

OpenAIRE

Maxwell, Sophie; Reynolds, Katherine J.; Lee, Eunro; Subasic, Emina; Bromhead, David

2017-01-01

School climate is a leading factor in explaining student learning and achievement. Less work has explored the impact of both staff and student perceptions of school climate raising interesting questions about whether staff school climate experiences can add “value” to students' achievement. In the current research, multiple sources were integrated into a multilevel model, including staff self-reports, student self-reports, objective school records of academic achievement, and socio-economic d...

The Assessment of School Climate: Review and Appraisal of Published Student-Report Measures

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Ramelow, Daniela; Currie, Dorothy; Felder-Puig, Rosemarie

2015-01-01

School climate measurement is a long-standing topic in educational research. This review article provides an overview and appraisal of school climate measures published between 2003 and 2013 in scientific journals. A search for published school climate instruments for secondary school students was made in three databases. Twelve articles meeting…

School Climate Assessment Programs. Technical Assistance Bulletin 38.

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National School Resource Network, Washington, DC.

Numerous studies indicate that climate, the prevailing "feeling" of the environment, not only contributes to behavioral and situational outcomes, but that climate can be changed to help bring about the behaviors and outcomes desired. Researchers have identified characteristics of positive school climates and ways of determining the presence or…

The early emergence of sociomoral evaluation: infants prefer prosocial others.

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Van de Vondervoort, Julia W; Hamlin, J Kiley

2018-04-01

Humans readily evaluate third-parties' prosocial and antisocial acts. Recent evidence reveals that this tendency emerges early in development-even preverbal infants selectively approach prosocial others and avoid antisocial ones. Rather than reflecting attraction toward or away from low-level characteristics of the displays or simple behavioral rules, infants are sensitive to characteristics of both the agents and recipients of prosocial and antisocial acts. Specifically, infants' preferences require that the recipients of positive and negative acts be social agents with clear unfulfilled goals, who have not previously harmed others. In addition, prosocial and antisocial agents must act intentionally, in the service of positive and negative goals. It is an open question whether these prosocial preferences reflect self-interested and/or moral concerns. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Determinants of Prosocial Behavior in Included Versus Excluded Contexts.

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Cuadrado, Esther; Tabernero, Carmen; Steinel, Wolfgang

2015-01-01

Prosocial behavior (PSB) is increasingly becoming necessary as more and more individuals experience exclusion. In this context it is important to understand the motivational determinants of PSB. Here we report two experiments which analyzed the influence of dispositional (prosocialness; rejection sensitivity) and motivational variables (prosocial self-efficacy; prosocial collective efficacy; trust; anger; social affiliation motivation) on PSB under neutral contexts (Study 1), and once under inclusion or exclusion conditions (Study 2). Both studies provided evidence for the predicted mediation of PSB. Results in both neutral and inclusion and exclusion conditions supported our predictive model of PSB. In the model dispositional variables predicted motivational variables, which in turn predicted PSB. We showed that the investigated variables predicted PSB; this suggests that to promote PSB one could (1) foster prosocialness, prosocial self and collective efficacy, trust in others and affiliation motivation and (2) try to reduce negative feelings and the tendency to dread rejection in an attempt to reduce the negative impact that these variables have on PSB. Moreover, the few differences that emerged in the model between the inclusion and exclusion contexts suggested that in interventions with excluded individuals special care emphasis should be placed on addressing rejection sensitivity and lack of trust.

Moderate Baseline Vagal Tone Predicts Greater Prosociality in Children

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Miller, Jonas G.; Kahle, Sarah; Hastings, Paul D.

2016-01-01

Vagal tone is widely believed to be an important physiological aspect of emotion regulation and associated positive behaviors. However, there is inconsistent evidence for relations between children’s baseline vagal tone and their helpful or prosocial responses to others (Hastings & Miller, 2014). Recent work in adults suggests a quadratic association (inverted U-shape curve) between baseline vagal tone and prosociality (Kogan et al., 2014). The present research examined whether this nonlinear association was evident in children. We found consistent evidence for a quadratic relation between vagal tone and prosociality across 3 samples of children using 6 different measures. Compared to low and high vagal tone, moderate vagal tone in early childhood concurrently predicted greater self-reported prosociality (Study 1), observed empathic concern in response to the distress of others and greater generosity toward less fortunate peers (Study 2), and longitudinally predicted greater self-, mother-, and teacher-reported prosociality 5.5 years later in middle childhood (Study 3). Taken together, our findings suggest that moderate vagal tone at rest represents a physiological preparedness or tendency to engage in different forms of prosociality across different contexts. Early moderate vagal tone may reflect an optimal balance of regulation and arousal that helps prepare children to sympathize, comfort, and share with others. PMID:27819463

Positive school climate is associated with lower body mass index percentile among urban preadolescents.

Science.gov (United States)

Gilstad-Hayden, Kathryn; Carroll-Scott, Amy; Rosenthal, Lisa; Peters, Susan M; McCaslin, Catherine; Ickovics, Jeannette R

2014-08-01

Schools are an important environmental context in children's lives and are part of the complex web of factors that contribute to childhood obesity. Increasingly, attention has been placed on the importance of school climate (connectedness, academic standards, engagement, and student autonomy) as 1 domain of school environment beyond health policies and education that may have implications for student health outcomes. The purpose of this study is to examine the association of school climate with body mass index (BMI) among urban preadolescents. Health surveys and physical measures were collected among fifth- and sixth-grade students from 12 randomly selected public schools in a small New England city. School climate surveys were completed district-wide by students and teachers. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to test the association between students' BMI and schools' climate scores. After controlling for potentially confounding individual-level characteristics, a 1-unit increase in school climate score (indicating more positive climate) was associated with a 7-point decrease in students' BMI percentile. Positive school climate is associated with lower student BMI percentile. More research is needed to understand the mechanisms behind this relationship and to explore whether interventions promoting positive school climate can effectively prevent and/or reduce obesity. © 2014, American School Health Association.

The Prosocial and Antisocial Behavior in Sport Scale.

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Kavussanu, Maria; Boardley, Ian D

2009-02-01

This research aimed to (a) develop a measure of prosocial and antisocial behavior in sport, (b) examine its invariance across sex and sport, and (c) provide evidence for its discriminant and concurrent validity. We conducted two studies. In study 1, team sport athletes (N=1,213) recruited from 103 teams completed questionnaires assessing demographics and prosocial and antisocial behaviors in sport. Factor analyses revealed two factors representing prosocial behavior and two factors representing antisocial behavior. The model had a very good fit to the data and showed configural, metric, and scalar invariance across sex and sport. The final scale consisted of 20 items. In Study 2, team-sport athletes (N=106) completed the scale and measures of empathy and goal orientation. Analyses provided support for the discriminant and concurrent validity of the scale. In conclusion, the new scale can be used to measure prosocial and antisocial behaviors in team sport.

PENERAPAN PENDEKATAN CINEMATHERAPY UNTUK MENINGKATKAN PERILAKU PROSOSIAL PADA SISWA KELAS VIII DI BOSOWA INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL MAKASSAR

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Haeruddin Niva

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The objectives of the research are: (i to know the prosocial behavioral level of the students in Bosowa International School Makassar before and after giving cinematography approach, and (ii to know whether or not the approach is able to enhance the prosocial behavior of the students in Bosowa International School Makassar. The research is a quantitative research using experimental method. The research design used is quasi experimental design with non-equivalent control group design. The data collection technique applied is scale and FGD (Focus Group Discussion. The findings shows that (i the prosocial behavioral level of the students was low in pretest while after giving treatment there were significant increase to the prosocial behavior in the experimental group, and (ii the cinematography approach was able to increase the prosocial behavior of the Grade VIII students in Bosowa Internatinal School Makassar. 

Tracking Middle Grades Climate Data to Inform School Change. REL West Research Digest

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Regional Educational Laboratory West, 2015

2015-01-01

A growing body of research shows that positive school climate is a key lever for students' academic and social development and success. This research digest shows how an alliance of California schools and districts, school climate experts, and state education agency personnel have teamed up to use school climate data to drive a continuous cycle of…

Relationships among School Climate, School Safety, and Student Achievement and Well-Being: A Review of the Literature

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Kutsyuruba, Benjamin; Klinger, Don A.; Hussain, Alicia

2015-01-01

School climate, safety and well-being of students are important antecedents of academic achievement. However, school members do not necessarily experience school climate in the same way; rather, their subjective perceptions of the environment and personal characteristics influence individual outcomes and behaviours. Therefore, a closer look at the…

Predicting Sympathy and Prosocial Behavior from Young Children’s Dispositional Sadness

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Edwards, Alison; Eisenberg, Nancy; Spinrad, Tracy L.; Reiser, Mark; Eggum-Wilkens, Natalie D.; Liew, Jeffrey

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine whether dispositional sadness predicted children's prosocial behavior and if sympathy mediated this relation. Constructs were measured when children (N = 256 at Time 1) were 18-, 30-, and 42-months old. Mothers and non-parental caregivers rated children’s sadness; mothers, caregivers, and fathers rated children’s prosocial behavior; sympathy (concern and hypothesis testing) and prosocial behavior (indirect and direct, as well as verbal at older ages) were assessed with a task in which the experimenter feigned injury. In a panel path analysis, 30-month dispositional sadness predicted marginally higher 42-month sympathy; in addition, 30-month sympathy predicted 42-month sadness. Moreover, when controlling for prior levels of prosocial behavior, 30-month sympathy significantly predicted reported and observed prosocial behavior at 42 months. Sympathy did not mediate the relation between sadness and prosocial behavior (either reported or observed). PMID:25663753

Social class and prosocial behavior: current evidence, caveats, and questions.

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Piff, Paul K; Robinson, Angela R

2017-12-01

This review synthesizes research on social class and prosocial behavior. Individuals of lower social class display increased attention to others and greater sensitivity to others' welfare compared to individuals of higher social class, who exhibit more self-oriented patterns of social cognition. As a result, lower-class individuals are more likely to engage in other-beneficial prosocial behavior, whereas higher-class individuals are more prone to engage in self-beneficial behavior. Although the extant evidence indicates that higher social class standing may tend to undermine prosocial impulses, we propose that the effects of social class on prosocial behavior may also depend on three crucial factors: motivation, identity, and inequality. We discuss how and why these factors may moderate class differences in prosociality and offer promising lines of inquiry for future research. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

School climate factors contributing to student and faculty perceptions of safety in select Arizona schools.

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Bosworth, Kris; Ford, Lysbeth; Hernandaz, Diley

2011-04-01

To ensure that schools are safe places where students can learn, researchers and educators must understand student and faculty safety concerns. This study examines student and teacher perceptions of school safety. Twenty-two focus groups with students and faculty were conducted in 11 secondary schools. Schools were selected from a stratified sample to vary in location, proximity to Indian reservations, size, and type. The data analysis was based on grounded theory. In 9 of 11 schools, neither faculty nor students voiced overwhelming concerns about safety. When asked what makes school safe, students tended to report physical security features. School climate and staff actions also increased feelings of safety. Faculty reported that relationships and climate are key factors in making schools safe. High student performance on standardized tests does not buffer students from unsafe behavior, nor does living in a dangerous neighborhood necessarily lead to more drug use or violence within school walls. School climate seemed to explain the difference between schools in which students and faculty reported higher versus lower levels of violence and alcohol and other drug use. The findings raise provocative questions about school safety and provide insight into elements that lead to perceptions of safety. Some schools have transcended issues of location and neighborhood to provide an environment perceived as safe. Further study of those schools could provide insights for policy makers, program planners, and educational leaders. © 2011, American School Health Association.

No costly prosociality among related long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis).

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Sterck, Elisabeth H M; Olesen, Caroline U; Massen, Jorg J M

2015-08-01

Altruism, benefiting another at a cost to the donor, may be achieved through prosocial behavior. Studies of nonhuman animals typically investigate prosocial behavior with paradigms in which the donor can choose to give a recipient a food item, and the choice does not affect the donor's reward (which is either present or absent). In such tasks, long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) show prosocial behavior, especially toward kin. Here, we tested captive long-tailed macaques with related recipients in an alternative task, in which the donor had to give up a preferred reward to benefit the recipient; that is, they had to choose a lower valued reward for themselves to provide food to their kin. Overall, the macaques did not provide their kin with food. The task forced the donor to balance its prosocial behavior with its selfish choice for a higher value reward, a balance that turned out to favor selfish motives. Consequently, our study shows that a prosocial tendency is not sufficient to elicit costly prosocial behavior in long-tailed macaques. Subsequently, we feel that tasks in which the donor must choose a lower value reward to benefit another individual may allow the titration of the strength of prosocial behavior, and thus provides interesting possibilities for future comparative studies. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Lasting effect of intimate partner violence exposure during preschool on aggressive behavior and prosocial skills.

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Holmes, Megan R; Voith, Laura A; Gromoske, Andrea N

2015-06-01

Intimate partner violence (IPV) exposure can negatively affect children's social behavior. However, it is unknown if the negative effects of IPV exposure during the preschool years are sustained through the early school years, if maladaptive behavior in one domain (e.g., aggressive behavior) is linked to subsequent maladaptive behavior in a different developmental domain (e.g., prosocial skill deficits), and if these relations differ by gender. This study addresses these gaps by using data from a sample of 1,125 children aged 3 to 4 at Time 1 and aged 5 to 7 at Time 2 from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being. A series of nested longitudinal structural equation models were tested. Aggressive behavior and prosocial skills were stable across time. Time 1 IPV was associated with increased aggressive behavior at Time 1, which in turn was related to increased Time 2 aggressive behavior. Gender differences emerged; Time 2 IPV was associated with prosocial skills deficits for girls but not boys. A cross-domain relation existed between Time 1 aggressive behavior and Time 2 prosocial skills deficits for boys but not girls. These findings support that behavioral problems demonstrated later in childhood may emerge from earlier adverse developmental experiences and that difficulties in one domain may spill over into other developmental domains. Gender-specific interventions to promote competence in children may contribute to diverting children from maladaptive developmental outcomes. © The Author(s) 2014.

Caring Climate, Empathy, and Student Social Behaviors in High School Band

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Lalama, Susana M.

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study was to explore connections among perceived caring climate, empathy, and student social behaviors in high school bands. Nine high school band directors (N = 9 schools), along with their students (N = 203), completed an electronic questionnaire for variables of caring climate, cognitive empathy, affective empathy, social…

Flustered and faithful: embarrassment as a signal of prosociality.

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Feinberg, Matthew; Willer, Robb; Keltner, Dacher

2012-01-01

Although individuals experience embarrassment as an unpleasant, negative emotion, the authors argue that expressions of embarrassment serve vital social functions, signaling the embarrassed individual's prosociality and fostering trust. Extending past research on embarrassment as a nonverbal apology and appeasement gesture, the authors demonstrate that observers recognize the expression of embarrassment as a signal of prosociality and commitment to social relationships. In turn, observers respond with affiliative behaviors toward the signaler, including greater trust and desire to affiliate with the embarrassed individual. Five studies tested these hypotheses and ruled out alternative explanations. Study 1 demonstrated that individuals who are more embarrassable also reported greater prosociality and behaved more generously than their less embarrassable counterparts. Results of Studies 2-5 revealed that observers rated embarrassed targets as being more prosocial and less antisocial relative to targets who displayed either a different emotion or no emotion. In addition, observers were more willing to give resources and express a desire to affiliate with these targets, and these effects were mediated by perceptions of the targets as prosocial.

Functions of parental involvement and effects of school climate on bullying behaviors among South Korean middle school students.

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Lee, Chang-Hun; Song, Juyoung

2012-08-01

This study uses an ecological systems theory to understand bullying behavior. Emphasis is given to overcome limitations found in the literature, such as very little empirical research on functions of parental involvement and the impacts of school climate on bullying as an outcome variable. Two functions of parental involvement investigated are (a) bridging the negative experiences within the family with bullying behaviors at schools, and (b) influencing school climate. Bullying behaviors were measured by a modified Korean version of Olweus' bully/victim questionnaire (reliability range: .78-.84) from 1,238 randomly selected Korean middle school students in 2007. Findings from structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses showed that (a) individual traits are one of the most important influence on bullying, (b) negative experiences in the family do not have direct influence on bullying behaviors at school, (c) parental involvement influences school climate, and (d) positive school climate was negatively related to bullying behaviors.

State Policies on School Climate and Bully Prevention Efforts: Challenges and Opportunities for Deepening State Policy Support for Safe and Civil Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Piscatelli, Jennifer; Lee, Chiqueena

2011-01-01

The National School Climate Center (NSCC) completed a 50-state policy scan on state school climate and anti-bullying policies to better understand the current state policy infrastructure supporting the development of positive school climates. This policy brief examines the current status of school climate and anti-bullying policies in each state,…

The Relations of a School's Organizational Climate to Adolescents' School Bond in Racially Diverse Schools

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Min, Sookweon

2016-01-01

This study explores the extent to which a high school's organizational contexts and individual students' characteristics are related to adolescents' school bond in multiracial schools. It first examines how the racial heterogeneity of a school is associated with the levels of students' school bond, and then explores the roles school climate plays…

Big Gods: Extended prosociality or group binding?

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Galen, Luke W

2016-01-01

Big Gods are described as having a "prosocial" effect. However, this conflates parochialism (group cohesion) with cooperation extended to strangers or out-group members. An examination of the cited experimental studies indicates that religion is actually associated with increased within-group parochialism, rather than extended or universal prosociality, and that the same general mechanisms underlie both religious and secular effects.

Social power facilitates the effect of prosocial orientation on empathic accuracy.

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Côté, Stéphane; Kraus, Michael W; Cheng, Bonnie Hayden; Oveis, Christopher; van der Löwe, Ilmo; Lian, Hua; Keltner, Dacher

2011-08-01

Power increases the tendency to behave in a goal-congruent fashion. Guided by this theoretical notion, we hypothesized that elevated power would strengthen the positive association between prosocial orientation and empathic accuracy. In 3 studies with university and adult samples, prosocial orientation was more strongly associated with empathic accuracy when distinct forms of power were high than when power was low. In Study 1, a physiological indicator of prosocial orientation, respiratory sinus arrhythmia, exhibited a stronger positive association with empathic accuracy in a face-to-face interaction among dispositionally high-power individuals. In Study 2, experimentally induced prosocial orientation increased the ability to accurately judge the emotions of a stranger but only for individuals induced to feel powerful. In Study 3, a trait measure of prosocial orientation was more strongly related to scores on a standard test of empathic accuracy among employees who occupied high-power positions within an organization. Study 3 further showed a mediated relationship between prosocial orientation and career satisfaction through empathic accuracy among employees in high-power positions but not among employees in lower power positions. Discussion concentrates upon the implications of these findings for studies of prosociality, power, and social behavior.

Associations between Prosocial and Problem Behavior from Early to Late Adolescence.

Science.gov (United States)

Padilla-Walker, Laura M; Memmott-Elison, Madison K; Coyne, Sarah M

2018-05-01

Though recent research has highlighted prosocial behavior as negatively associated with problem behavior during adolescence, we know little about how these variables might be associated longitudinally, whether there are bidirectional effects, and whether there might be different patterns of co-occurrence of behaviors for different individuals. Thus, the current study examined relations between prosocial and problem behaviors in three different ways in an attempt to better understand these associations. Participants included 500 adolescents recruited from a Northwestern state in the USA who took part in the study every year from age 12 to 18 (50% female, 67% European American). Growth curve analyses suggested that change in prosocial behavior was negatively associated with change in aggression and delinquency over time. A longitudinal panel model suggested that prosocial behavior and aggression were negatively associated bidirectionally, and that prosocial behavior was negatively associated with delinquency over time. Finally, mixture modeling conducted at ages 12, 15, and 18 revealed heterogeneity in the ways in which prosocial and problem behaviors co-occur. The discussion focuses on the complexity of interrelations between prosocial behavior and problem behavior across adolescence.

Is pride a prosocial emotion? Interpersonal effects of authentic and hubristic pride.

Science.gov (United States)

Wubben, Maarten J J; De Cremer, David; van Dijk, Eric

2012-01-01

Pride is associated with both prosocial and antisocial behaviour. Do others also infer such behaviours when pride is expressed and does this affect their own prosocial behaviour? We expected that authentic pride (i.e., confidence, accomplishment) would signal and elicit more prosocial behaviour than hubristic pride (i.e., arrogance, conceit). In a first laboratory experiment, a target in a public-good dilemma was inferred to have acted less prosocially when displaying a nonverbal expression of pride versus no emotion. As predicted, inferences of hubristic pride-but not authentic pride-mediated this effect. Participants themselves also responded less prosocially. A second laboratory experiment where a target verbally expressed authentic pride, hubristic pride, or no emotion replicated the effects of hubristic pride and showed that authentically proud targets were assumed to have acted prosocially, but especially by perceivers with a dispositional tendency to take the perspective of others. We conclude that authentic pride is generally perceived as a more prosocial emotion than hubristic pride.

Associations among Life Events, Empathic Concern, and Adolescents' Prosocial and Aggressive Behaviors Toward Specific Targets.

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Alexandra N; Luce, Haley; Davalos, Natasha

2018-05-25

The goal of the present study was to examine the links between life events and adolescents' social behaviors (prosocial and aggressive behaviors) toward specific targets and to examine how empathic concern may play a role in these associations. The study examined two hypotheses: both the mediating role of empathic concern and the moderating role of empathic concern. The sample included 311 high school students from the Midwest (M age = 16.10 years; age range = 14-19 years; 58.7% girls; 82.7% White, 13.6% Latino). The results demonstrated support for the moderation model as well as complex links between life events and prosocial and aggressive behaviors toward specific targets. The discussion focuses on the role of empathic concern in understanding how life events are ultimately associated with adolescents' social development.

Positive School Climate Is Associated With Lower Body Mass Index Percentile Among Urban Preadolescents

Science.gov (United States)

Gilstad-Hayden, Kathryn; Carroll-Scott, Amy; Rosenthal, Lisa; Peters, Susan M.; McCaslin, Catherine; Ickovics, Jeannette R.

2015-01-01

BACKGROUND Schools are an important environmental context in children’s lives and are part of the complex web of factors that contribute to childhood obesity. Increasingly, attention has been placed on the importance of school climate (connectedness, academic standards, engagement, and student autonomy) as 1 domain of school environment beyond health policies and education that may have implications for student health outcomes. The purpose of this study is to examine the association of school climate with body mass index (BMI) among urban preadolescents. METHODS Health surveys and physical measures were collected among fifth- and sixth-grade students from 12 randomly selected public schools in a small New England city. School climate surveys were completed district-wide by students and teachers. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to test the association between students’ BMI and schools’ climate scores. RESULTS After controlling for potentially confounding individual-level characteristics, a 1-unit increase in school climate score (indicating more positive climate) was associated with a 7-point decrease in students’ BMI percentile. CONCLUSIONS Positive school climate is associated with lower student BMI percentile. More research is needed to understand the mechanisms behind this relationship and to explore whether interventions promoting positive school climate can effectively prevent and/or reduce obesity. PMID:25040118

When is giving an impulse? An ERP investigation of intuitive prosocial behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Carlson, Ryan W; Aknin, Lara B; Liotti, Mario

2016-07-01

Human prosociality is often assumed to emerge from exerting reflective control over initial, selfish impulses. However, recent findings suggest that prosocial actions can also stem from processes that are fast, automatic and intuitive. Here, we attempt to clarify when prosocial behavior may be intuitive by examining prosociality as a form of reward seeking. Using event-related potentials (ERPs), we explored whether a neural signature that rapidly encodes the motivational salience of an event-the P300-can predict intuitive prosocial motivation. Participants allocated varying amounts of money between themselves and charities they initially labelled as high- or low-empathy targets under conditions that promoted intuitive or reflective decision making. Consistent with our predictions, P300 amplitude over centroparietal regions was greater when giving involved high-empathy targets than low-empathy targets, but only when deciding under intuitive conditions. Reflective conditions, alternatively, elicited an earlier frontocentral positivity related to response inhibition, regardless of target. Our findings suggest that during prosocial decision making, larger P300 amplitude could (i) signal intuitive prosocial motivation and (ii) predict subsequent engagement in prosocial behavior. This work offers novel insight into when prosociality may be driven by intuitive processes and the roots of such behaviors. © The Author (2015). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Dogs do not show pro-social preferences towards humans.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mylène Quervel-Chaumette

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Pro-social behaviors are defined as voluntary actions that benefit others. Comparative studies have mostly focused on investigating the presence of pro-sociality across species in an intraspecific context. Taken together, results on both primates and non-primate species indicate that reliance on cooperation may be at work in the selection and maintenance of pro-social sentiments. Dogs appear to be the ideal model when investigating a species’ propensity for pro-sociality in an interspecific context since it has been suggested that as a consequence of domestication, they evolved an underlying temperament encouraging greater propensity to cooperate with human partners. In a recent study, using a food delivery paradigm, dogs were shown to preferentially express pro-social choices towards familiar compared to unfamiliar conspecifics. Using the same set-up and methods in the current study, we investigated dogs’ pro-social preferences towards familiar and unfamiliar human partners. We found that dogs’ pro-social tendencies did not extend to humans and the identity of the human partners did not influence the rate of food delivery. Interestingly, dogs tested with their human partners spent more time gazing at humans, and did so for longer after food consumption had ended than dogs tested with conspecific partners in the initial study. To allow comparability between results from dogs tested with a conspecific and a human partner, the latter were asked not to communicate with dogs in any way. However, this lack of communication from the human may have been aversive to dogs, leading them to cease performing the task earlier compared to the dogs paired with familiar conspecifics in the prior study. This is in line with previous findings suggesting that human communication in such contexts highly affects dogs’ responses. Consequently, we encourage further studies to examine dogs’ pro-social behavior towards humans taking into consideration their

Energy Design Guidelines for High Performance Schools: Arctic and Subarctic Climates

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

2004-11-01

The Energy Design Guidelines for High Performance Schools--Arctic and Subarctic Climates provides school boards, administrators, and design staff with guidance to help them make informed decisions about energy and environmental issues important to school systems and communities. These design guidelines outline high performance principles for the new or retrofit design of your K-12 school in arctic and subarctic climates. By incorporating energy improvements into their construction or renovation plans, schools can significantly reduce energy consumption and costs.

Neighborhood crime and school climate as predictors of elementary school academic quality: a cross-lagged panel analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

McCoy, Dana Charles; Roy, Amanda L; Sirkman, Gabriel M

2013-09-01

Past research has found negative relationships between neighborhood structural disadvantage and students' academic outcomes. Comparatively little work has evaluated the associations between characteristics of neighborhoods and schools themselves. This study explored the longitudinal, reciprocal relationships between neighborhood crime and school-level academic achievement within 500 urban schools. Results revealed that higher neighborhood crime (and particularly violent crime) predicted decreases in school academic achievement across time. School climate emerged as one possible mechanism within this relationship, with higher neighborhood crime predicting decreases in socioemotional learning and safety, but not academic rigor. All three dimensions of school climate were predictive of changes in academic achievement. Although this research supports a primarily unidirectional hypothesis of neighborhoods' impacts on embedded settings, additional work is needed to understand these relationships using additional conceptualizations of neighborhood climate.

Examining the intertwined development of prosocial skills and ASD symptoms in adolescence.

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Oerlemans, Anoek M; Rommelse, Nanda N J; Buitelaar, Jan K; Hartman, Catharina A

2018-01-30

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and reduced prosocial behaviour are strongly intertwined. However, social interactions with peers may be increasingly practiced over the course of development and may instigate a reduction in ASD symptoms and vice versa. We, therefore, sought to determine if, during adolescence, possible improvements in prosocial behaviours and ASD symptoms may benefit one another over time. Participants were 2773 adolescents from the Tracking Adolescents' Individual Lives Survey (TRAILS) cohorts. Measurements took place over three waves (mean ages: 11.1, 13.4, and 16.2 years). Longitudinal associations between teacher-rated classroom prosocial skills and parent-rated ASD symptoms were examined using the random intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM). In addition to estimating the stable, between-person associations, the dynamical effects between prosocial skills and ASD symptoms over time were estimated at the within-person level. At the between-person level, prosocial skills and ASD symptoms were substantially negatively correlated. At the within-person level, a small and unexpected positive cross-lagged effect from wave 1 ASD symptoms on wave 2 prosocial skills was observed. We added to the existing literature by showing that, in addition to replicating the already firmly established between-person association between low prosocial skills and ASD, within-person gains in prosocial skills do not lead to subsequent reduction of ASD symptoms, and reductions in ASD symptoms do not lead to subsequent enhancement of prosocial skills. We, therefore, conclude from our findings that the inverse association between autistic symptoms and prosocial skills in adolescence is highly stable.

A Mind-Reader Does Not Always Have Deontological Moral Judgments and Prosocial Behavior: A Developmental Perspective

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Hao, Jian; Liu, Yanchun

2016-01-01

The rationalistic theories of morality emphasize that reasoning plays an important role in moral judgments and prosocial behavior. Theory of mind as a reasoning ability in the mental domain has been considered a facilitator of moral development. The present study examined whether theory of mind was consistently positively associated with morality from middle childhood to late adulthood. Two hundred and four participants, including 48 elementary school children, 45 adolescents, 62 younger adults, and 49 older adults, completed theory of mind, moral judgment and prosocial behavior tasks. Theory of mind was measured with strange stories that tapped into an understanding of lies, white lies, double bluffs, irony, and persuasion. Moral judgments were measured with variants of the trolley dilemma. Prosocial behavior was measured through participants' performance in an interactive situation in which a helping request was made. The results indicated specific rather than similar developmental trajectories of theory of mind, moral judgments, and prosocial behavior. There was a quadratic trend in theory of mind, a combination of quadratic and cubic trends in deontological moral judgments and a linear decline in helping behavior. It is thus suggested that theory of mind may not be associated with morality in an unchanging way during development. Further results indicated that theory of mind and deontological moral judgments were negatively correlated for children, adolescents, and older adults but positively correlated for younger adults. Theory of mind and helping behavior were positively correlated for children but negatively correlated for adolescents. However, the relationships disappeared in adulthood. In sum, the present study reveals that theory of mind may be a nice tool for its facilitation of deontological moral judgments and prosocial behavior, but it may also be a nasty tool for its blocking of deontological moral judgments and prosocial behavior. Moreover, theory

Prosocial Motivation: Inferences From an Opaque Body of Work.

Science.gov (United States)

Eisenberg, Nancy; VanSchyndel, Sarah K; Spinrad, Tracy L

2016-11-01

Because motivations for prosocial actions typically are unclear, sometimes even to actors but especially for observers, it is difficult to study prosocial motivation. This article reviews research that provides evidence regarding children's motives for prosocial behaviors. First, we present a heuristic model to classify motives on the dimension of reflecting altruistic (with the ultimate goal of benefiting another) to egoism (the ultimate goal of benefiting the self) goals; in addition, we briefly discuss classifying motives based on a continuum of morality. Next, we review findings indicating the existence of a number of different motives in our model and briefly discuss developmental issues, when possible. Future directions for the study of prosocial motivation are proposed. © 2016 The Authors. Child Development © 2016 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

An Evolutionary Model of the Environmental Conditions that Shape the Development of Prosociality

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel Tumminelli O'Brien

2014-04-01

Full Text Available The current review presents a model for how prosocial development is driven by sociocognitive mechanisms that have been shaped by natural selection to translate critical environmental factors into locally adaptive levels of prosociality. This is done through a synthesis of two existing literatures. Evolutionary developmental psychologists have demonstrated a biological basis for the emergence of prosocial behavior early in youth, and work based on social learning theory has explored how social experiences can influence prosociality across development. The model forwarded organizes this latter literature in a way that is specific to how the biological mechanisms underpinning prosociality have evolved. This consists of two main psychological mechanisms. 1 A domain-specific program that is responsive to environmental factors that determine the relative success of different levels of prosociality. It uses the local prevalence of prosocial others (i.e., support and expectations for prosocial behavior (i.e., structure to guide prosocial development. 2 The domain-general process of cultural learning, by which youth adopt local social norms based on the examples of others. Implications and hypotheses are articulated for both the sociocognitive structure of the individual and the role of social contexts.

Delaware School Climate Survey--Student: Its Factor Structure, Concurrent Validity, and Reliability

Science.gov (United States)

Bear, George G.; Gaskins, Clare; Blank, Jessica; Chen, Fang Fang

2011-01-01

The Delaware School Climate Survey-Student (DSCS-S) was developed to provide schools with a brief and psychometrically sound student survey for assessing school climate, particularly the dimensions of social support and structure. Confirmatory factor analyses, conducted on a sample of 11,780 students in 85 schools, showed that a bifactor model…

A comparison of teacher stress and school climate across schools with different matric success rates

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Karen Milner

2008-05-01

Full Text Available Our aim was to investigate differences in teacher stress and perceptions of school climate among teachers from schools with differing matriculation success rates in the Limpopo province of South Africa. Two schools with matric pass rates of 100% and two schools with matric pass rates of less than 25% were selected from a list of schools provided by the province's Educational District Circuit. The schools were matched in terms of area, size, resources, and equipment. Thirty-three teachers from the high performing schools and forty-two teachers from the poor performing schools participated in the study. Student's t tests were used to assess the differences between the schools on the variables under investigation, and the results showed the teachers' experience of stress across the different schools was not significantly different, but significant differences did emerge with regard to school climate. The implications of these findings for the study population are discussed.

Examining reciprocal influences among family climate, school attachment, and academic self-regulation: Implications for school success.

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Xia, Mengya; Fosco, Gregory M; Feinberg, Mark E

2016-06-01

Guided by family systems and ecological theories, this study examined the multicontextual implications of family, school, and individual domains for adolescents' school success. The first goal of this study was to examine reciprocal influences among family climate, school attachment, and academic self-regulation (ASR) during the middle school years. The second goal was to test the relative impact of each of these domains on adolescents' school adjustment and academic achievement after the transition to high school. We applied a cross-lag structural equation modeling approach to longitudinal data from 979 students in the 6th grade and their families, followed over 5 measurement occasions, from 6th through 9th grade. Controlling for family income, parent education, and adolescent gender, the results revealed reciprocal relationships between the family climate and school attachment over time; both of these factors were related to increases in ASR over time. In turn, ASR was a robust predictor of academic success, with unique associations with school adjustment and academic achievement. Family climate and school adjustment had modest to marginal associations with school adjustment, and no association with academic achievement. Applications of these findings for family school interventions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Examining the Relationship between Principal Leadership and School Climate

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Lane, Eric S.

2016-01-01

The purpose of this quantitative study was to explore the relationship between transformative school principal leadership and school climate. The population of this study consisted of two middle schools with grades ranging from six through eight and one high school with grades ranging from nine through twelve. These schools are within the state of…

The Influence of Divine Rewards and Punishments on Religious Prosociality

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Saleam, James; Moustafa, Ahmed A.

2016-01-01

A common finding across many cultures has been that religious people behave more prosocially than less (or non-) religious people. Numerous priming studies have demonstrated that the activation of religious concepts via implicit and explicit cues (e.g., ‘God,’ ‘salvation,’ among many others) increases prosociality in religious people. However, the factors underlying such findings are less clear. In this review we discuss hypotheses (e.g., the supernatural punishment hypothesis) that explain the religion-prosociality link, and also how recent findings in the empirical literature converge to suggest that the divine rewards (e.g., heaven) and punishments (e.g., hell) promised by various religious traditions may play a significant role. In addition, we further discuss inconsistencies in the religion-prosociality literature, as well as existing and future psychological studies which could improve our understanding of whether, and how, concepts of divine rewards and punishments may influence prosociality. PMID:27536262

Empathy, Guilt Proneness, and Gender: Relative Contributions to Prosocial Behaviour

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Linda Torstveit

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Guilt is a moral emotion that is often looked upon as a negative trait. However, studies show that some individuals are more predisposed to think, feel and act in a more ethical manner because of a lower threshold to experience guilt. Some theories of helping behaviour emphasize the evolutionary mechanisms, while other theories stress the importance of social variables. This study investigated whether guilt proneness as a dispositional trait can be associated with prosocial behaviour. Five hundred sixty-nine participants reported in an online survey their own levels of guilt proneness, frequency of prosocial behaviour, and related cognitions such as empathy. This study is among the first to demonstrate how guilt proneness combined with empathy can explain additional variance in prosocial behaviour. The findings also indicate gender differences in the precursors of prosocial behaviour, suggesting women are more influenced by the effects of guilt proneness on prosocial behaviour than men.

Empathy, Guilt Proneness, and Gender: Relative Contributions to Prosocial Behaviour

Science.gov (United States)

Torstveit, Linda; Sütterlin, Stefan; Lugo, Ricardo Gregorio

2016-01-01

Guilt is a moral emotion that is often looked upon as a negative trait. However, studies show that some individuals are more predisposed to think, feel and act in a more ethical manner because of a lower threshold to experience guilt. Some theories of helping behaviour emphasize the evolutionary mechanisms, while other theories stress the importance of social variables. This study investigated whether guilt proneness as a dispositional trait can be associated with prosocial behaviour. Five hundred sixty-nine participants reported in an online survey their own levels of guilt proneness, frequency of prosocial behaviour, and related cognitions such as empathy. This study is among the first to demonstrate how guilt proneness combined with empathy can explain additional variance in prosocial behaviour. The findings also indicate gender differences in the precursors of prosocial behaviour, suggesting women are more influenced by the effects of guilt proneness on prosocial behaviour than men. PMID:27298635

The Resilient Schools Consortium (RiSC): Linking Climate Literacy, Resilience Thinking and Service Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Branco, B. F.; Fano, E.; Adams, J.; Shon, L.; Zimmermann, A.; Sioux, H.; Gillis, A.

2017-12-01

Public schools and youth voices are largely absent from climate resilience planning and projects in New York City. Additionally, research shows that U.S. science teachers' understanding of climate science is lacking, hence there is not only an urgent need to train and support teachers on both the science and pedagogy of climate change, but to link climate literacy, resilience thinking and service learning in K-12 education. However, research on participation of students and teachers in authentic, civic-oriented experiences points to increased engagement and learning outcomes in science. The Resilient Schools Consortium (RiSC) Project will address all these needs through an afterschool program in six coastal Brooklyn schools that engages teachers and urban youth (grades 6-12), in school and community climate resilience assessment and project design. The RiSC climate curriculum, co-designed by New York City school teachers with Brooklyn College, the National Wildlife Federation, New York Sea Grant and the Science and Resilience Institute at Jamaica Bay, will begin by helping students to understand the difference between climate and weather. The curriculum makes extensive use of existing resources such as NOAA's Digital Coast and the Coastal Resilience Mapping Portal. Through a series of four modules over two school years, the six RiSC teams will; 1. explore and understand the human-induced drivers of climate change and, particularly, the significant climate and extreme weather related risks to their schools and surrounding communities; 2. complete a climate vulnerability assessment within the school and the community that is aligned to OneNYC - the city's resilience planning document; 3. design and execute a school-based resilience project; and 4. propose resilience guidelines for NYC Department of Education schools. At the end of each school year, the six RiSC teams will convene a RiSC summit with city officials and resilience practitioners to share ideas and

The Influence of Prosocial Norms and Online Network Structure on Prosocial Behavior : An Analysis of Movember’s Twitter Campaign in 24 Countries

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van den Broek, Tijs Adriaan; Need, Ariana; Ehrenhard, Michel Léon; Priante, Anna; Hiemstra, Djoerd

2015-01-01

Sociological research points at norms and social networks as antecedents of prosocial behavior. To date, the literature remains undecided on how these factors jointly influence prosocial behavior. Furthermore, the use of social media by campaign organizations may change the need for formal networks

A construct divided: prosocial behavior as helping, sharing, and comforting subtypes

Science.gov (United States)

Dunfield, Kristen A.

2014-01-01

The development and maintenance of prosocial, other-oriented behaviors has been of considerable recent interest. Though it is clear that prosocial behaviors emerge early and play a uniquely important role in the social lives of humans, there is less consensus regarding the mechanisms that underlie and maintain these fundamental acts. The goal of this paper is to clarify inconsistencies in our understanding of the early emergence and development of prosocial behavior by proposing a taxonomy of prosocial behavior anchored in the social-cognitive constraints that underlie the ability to act on behalf of others. I will argue that within the general domain of prosocial behavior, other-oriented actions can be categorized into three distinct types (helping, sharing, and comforting) that reflect responses to three distinct negative states (instrumental need, unmet material desire, and emotional distress). In support of this proposal, I will demonstrate that the three varieties of prosocial behavior show unique ages of onset, uncorrelated patterns of production, and distinct patterns of individual differences. Importantly, by differentiating specific varieties of prosocial behavior within the general category, we can begin to explain inconsistencies in the past literature and provide a framework for directing future research into the ontogenetic origins of these essential social behaviors. PMID:25228893

School climate in peer bullying: observers' and active participants' perceptions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sonja Pečjak

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Peer bullying is a phenomenon present in all schools. The school as an institution has a major role in limiting peer bullying. The primary goal of the study was to determine how different groups of students perceived school climate in relation to peer bullying regarding their role in peer bullying (active participants: bullies, victims, bully-victims and non-active participants: observers. 414 students (from 18 primary and secondary schools responded to The School Climate Bullying Survey (SCBS; Cornell, 2012, which measures the incidence of various forms of peer bullying and three dimensions of school climate (prevalence of teasing and bullying, aggressive attitudes, and willingness to seek help. The results showed that the active participants in peer bullying report a frequent presence of verbal and social bullying (54% and 40%, respectively and a significantly lower frequency of physical and cyber bullying (14%. The largest differences between the groups of students were found in their perceptions of the prevalence of aggressive attitudes and willingness to seek help in a school context. In the perceptions of both of these dimensions we found a high degree of similarity between the groups of bullies and victim-bullies, and between the groups of victims and observers. The first two groups, when compared to the victims and observers, perceived to a greater extent that school allows aggression as a way of affirmation among peers and in school in general, and that neither teachers nor peers do not stop the bullying, which discourages the victims from seeking help from them. The results confirmed the existence of the association between students’ perceived school climate by bullying and their behavior (roles in peer bullying.

Adolescent prosocial behavior: the role of self-processes and contextual cues.

Science.gov (United States)

Wentzel, Kathryn R; Filisetti, Laurence; Looney, Lisa

2007-01-01

Peer- and teacher-reported prosocial behavior of 339 6th-grade (11-12 years) and 8th-grade (13-14 years) students was examined in relation to prosocial goals, self-processes (reasons for behavior, empathy, perspective taking, depressive affect, perceived competence), and contextual cues (expectations of peers and teachers). Goal pursuit significantly predicted prosocial behavior, and goal pursuit provided a pathway by which reasons for behavior were related to behavior. Reasons reflected external, other-focused, self-focused, and internal justifications for behavior; each reason was related to a unique set of self-processes and contextual cues. Associations between prosocial outcomes and sex and race (Caucasian and African American) were mediated in part by self-processes and contextual cues. The implications of studying prosocial behavior from a motivational perspective are discussed.

School Practices to Foster LGBT-Supportive Climate: Associations with Adolescent Bullying Involvement.

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Gower, Amy L; Forster, Myriam; Gloppen, Kari; Johnson, Abigail Z; Eisenberg, Marla E; Connett, John E; Borowsky, Iris W

2017-10-14

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth experience disproportionate rates of bullying compared to their heterosexual peers. Schools are well-positioned to address these disparities by creating supportive school climates for LGBT youth, but more research is needed to examine the variety of practices and professional development opportunities put in place to this end. The current study examines how school practices to create supportive LGBT student climate relate to student reports of bullying. Student-level data come from the 2013 Minnesota Student Survey, a state-wide survey of risk and protective factors. Ninth and eleventh grade students (N = 31,183) reported on frequency of physical and relational bullying victimization and perpetration and sexual orientation-based harassment. School administrators reported on six practices related to creating supportive LGBT school climate (N = 103 schools): having a point person for LGBT student issues, displaying sexual orientation-specific content, having a gay-straight alliance, discussing bullying based on sexual orientation, and providing professional development around LGBT inclusion and LGBT student issues. An index was created to indicate how many practices each school used (M = 2.45; SD = 1.76). Multilevel logistic regressions indicated that students attending schools with more supportive LGBT climates reported lower odds of relational bullying victimization, physical bullying perpetration, and sexual orientation-based harassment compared to students in schools with less supportive LGBT climates. Sexual orientation did not moderate these relations, indicating that LGBT-supportive practices may be protective for all students, regardless of their sexual orientation. Findings support school-wide efforts to create supportive climates for LGBQ youth as part of a larger bullying prevention strategy.

Prosocial behavior and self-concept of Spanish students of Compulsory Secondary Education

OpenAIRE

Inglés, Cándido J.; Martínez-González, Agustín Ernesto; García-Fernández, José Manuel; Torregrosa, María S.; Ruiz Esteban, Cecilia

2012-01-01

This study analyzed the relationship between prosocial behavior and self-concept dimensions in a sample of 2022 Spanish students (51.1% males) of Compulsory Secondary Education. The prosocial behavior was measured with the Prosocial Behavior scale of the Teenage Inventory of Social Skills (TISS) and the self-concept was measured with the Self-Description Questionnaire-II (SDQ-II). Logistic regression analyses revealed that prosocial behavior is a positive and significant statistically predict...

Positive Parenting and Children’s Prosocial Behavior in Eight Countries

Science.gov (United States)

2015-01-01

Background Research supports the beneficial role of prosocial behaviors on children’s adjustment and successful youth development. Empirical studies point to reciprocal relations between negative parenting and children’s maladjustment, but reciprocal relations between positive parenting and children’s prosocial behavior are understudied. In the present study reciprocal relations between two different dimensions of positive parenting (quality of the mother-child relationship and the use of balanced positive discipline) and children’s prosocial behavior were examined in Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States. Method Mother-child dyads (N = 1105) provided data over 2 years in 2 waves (Mage of child in wave 1 = 9.31 years, SD = .73; 50% female). Results A model of reciprocal relations between parenting dimensions, but not among parenting and children’s prosocial behavior, emerged. In particular, children with higher levels of prosocial behavior at age 9 elicited higher levels of mother-child relationship quality in the following year. Conclusions Findings yielded similar relations across countries, evidencing that being prosocial in late childhood contributes to some degree to the enhancement of a nurturing and involved mother-child relationship in countries that vary widely on sociodemographic profiles and psychological characteristics. Policy and intervention implications of this study are discussed. PMID:26511201

Measurement of Prosocial Reasoning among Chinese Adolescents

OpenAIRE

Frank H. Y. Lai; Andrew M. H. Siu; Chewtyn C. H. Chan; Daniel T. L. Shek

2012-01-01

This study attempted to develop a standardized instrument for assessment of prosocial reasoning in Chinese populations. The Prosocial Reasoning Objective Measure (PROM) was translated, and a two-stage study was conducted to evaluate the psychometric properties of the translated instrument. The content validity, cultural relevance, and reading level of the translated instrument were evaluated by an expert panel. Upon revisions according to the expert opinions, the Chinese PROM demonstrated goo...

How School Climate Influences Teachers' Emotional Exhaustion: The Mediating Role of Emotional Labor.

Science.gov (United States)

Yao, Xiuping; Yao, Meilin; Zong, Xiaoli; Li, Yulan; Li, Xiying; Guo, Fangfang; Cui, Guanyu

2015-10-08

Currently, in China, improving the quality of teachers' emotional labor has become an urgent need for most pre-kindergarten through 12th grade (p-12) schools because the new curriculum reform highlights the role of emotion in teaching. A total of 703 primary and high school teachers in Mainland China were investigated regarding their perceptions of school climate, emotional labor strategy and emotional exhaustion via questionnaires. The findings revealed that the teachers' perceptions of the school climate negatively affected surface acting but positively affected deep acting. Surface acting positively predicted emotional exhaustion, and deep acting had no significant effect on emotional exhaustion. Moreover, emotional labor mediated the relationship between the teachers' perceptions of the school climate and emotional exhaustion. Programs aimed at improving the school climate and the teachers' use of appropriate emotional labor strategies should be implemented in schools in Mainland China.

The cultural evolution of prosocial religions.

Science.gov (United States)

Norenzayan, Ara; Shariff, Azim F; Gervais, Will M; Willard, Aiyana K; McNamara, Rita A; Slingerland, Edward; Henrich, Joseph

2016-01-01

We develop a cultural evolutionary theory of the origins of prosocial religions and apply it to resolve two puzzles in human psychology and cultural history: (1) the rise of large-scale cooperation among strangers and, simultaneously, (2) the spread of prosocial religions in the last 10-12 millennia. We argue that these two developments were importantly linked and mutually energizing. We explain how a package of culturally evolved religious beliefs and practices characterized by increasingly potent, moralizing, supernatural agents, credible displays of faith, and other psychologically active elements conducive to social solidarity promoted high fertility rates and large-scale cooperation with co-religionists, often contributing to success in intergroup competition and conflict. In turn, prosocial religious beliefs and practices spread and aggregated as these successful groups expanded, or were copied by less successful groups. This synthesis is grounded in the idea that although religious beliefs and practices originally arose as nonadaptive by-products of innate cognitive functions, particular cultural variants were then selected for their prosocial effects in a long-term, cultural evolutionary process. This framework (1) reconciles key aspects of the adaptationist and by-product approaches to the origins of religion, (2) explains a variety of empirical observations that have not received adequate attention, and (3) generates novel predictions. Converging lines of evidence drawn from diverse disciplines provide empirical support while at the same time encouraging new research directions and opening up new questions for exploration and debate.

The Graduate School of Climate Sciences, University of Bern

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, L.

2012-04-01

The Graduate School of Climate Sciences, University of Bern, offers a specialised M.Sc. and a Ph.D. study programme in climate sciences. The graduate school has a highly interdisciplinary profile involving not only natural sciences, but also humanities/history, economics and law. The ten participating institutes with a total of 45 academics provide expertise in long-term climate variability, climate modelling, climate reconstruction, predictability of the future climate and extreme events, the impact of climate change on ecosystems and climate risks for society and economy. The graduate school is fully compliant with the Bologna Accords and collaborates closely with the sister institution C2SM at ETH Zurich by, e.g., jointly organised lectures. There are currently 23 master and 37 doctoral students in the programme. These originate from the University of Bern (28 %), from other Swiss universities (30 %) and from foreign universities (42 %). Comprehensive information about the Graduate School of Climate Sciences is available at http://www.climatestudies.unibe.ch . The M.Sc. in Climate Sciences programme (120 ECTS credits) is designed to attract students from all disciplines in natural sciences and offers them a tailor-made curriculum to reach their career aspirations. The students make their own course selection according to their profile envisaged (specialised versus broad education) and ideally already guided by a job perspective. Selecting the courses and the topic of the master thesis they specialise in one of five fields: climate and earth system science; atmospheric science; economics; economic, social and environmental history; statistics. Several courses are organised jointly with public authorities and the private industry, e.g. from experts working in the insurance business, in weather forecasting or in environmental pollution control. This provides the students hands-on experience and contacts to future employers. The master thesis (60 ECTS) involves the

Critical Climate: Relations among Sexual Harassment, Climate, and Outcomes for High School Girls and Boys

Science.gov (United States)

Ormerod, Alayne J.; Collinsworth, Linda L.; Perry, Leigh Ann

2008-01-01

This study examined the relationships among peer-to-peer sexual harassment, school climate, adult-to-student harassment, and outcomes (psychological and physical well-being; school withdrawal and safety) for high school girls (n = 310) and boys (n = 259) recruited from seven public high schools in a Midwestern state. More frequent, severe peer…

Parenting Styles, Prosocial, and Aggressive Behavior: The Role of Emotions in Offender and Non-offender Adolescents

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anna Llorca

2017-08-01

Full Text Available The aim is to analyse the parenting styles effects (acceptance, negative control and negligence on prosociality and aggressive behavior in adolescents through the mediator variables empathy and emotional instability, and also, if this model fits to the same extent when we study adolescents institutionalized due to problems with the law and adolescents from the general population, and at the same time, if the values of the different analyzed variables are similar in both groups of adolescents. We carried out a cross-sectional study. 220 participants from schools in the metropolitan area of Valencia took part in the study. Also, 220 young offenders took part recruited from four Youth Detention Centres of Valencia, in which they were carrying out court sentences. The age of the subjects range from 15-18 years. The results indicate that the emotional variables act as mediators in general, in the non-offender adolescents, but it has been observed, in the offender adolescents, a direct effect of support on aggressive behavior in a negative way and on prosociality in a positive way; and of negligence on aggressive behavior and of permissiveness on prosociality in a negative way.

The Role of Neighborhood Context and School Climate in School-Level Academic Achievement.

Science.gov (United States)

Ruiz, Linda D; McMahon, Susan D; Jason, Leonard A

2018-03-30

In recent years, the quality of education available to children has become increasingly dependent on the social and economic demographics of neighborhoods in which the children live. This study assesses the role of community violence in explaining the relation between socio-economic status (SES) and academic outcomes and the potential of positive school climate to promote academic achievement. With a sample of 297 Chicago public elementary schools, we examine community-level and school-level data and use Geographic Information Systems (GIS) mapping to illustrate how school academic achievement coincides with neighborhood economics and crime statistics. Results support the hypothesized mediation, such that lower SES was associated with lower academic achievement, and violent crime partially mediated this relation. School climate was positively associated with academic achievement, and student safety significantly moderated the relation between SES and academic achievement. Implications for theory, research, and intervention are discussed. © Society for Community Research and Action 2018.

Prosocial bonuses increase employee satisfaction and team performance.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lalin Anik

Full Text Available In three field studies, we explore the impact of providing employees and teammates with prosocial bonuses, a novel type of bonus spent on others rather than on oneself. In Experiment 1, we show that prosocial bonuses in the form of donations to charity lead to happier and more satisfied employees at an Australian bank. In Experiments 2a and 2b, we show that prosocial bonuses in the form of expenditures on teammates lead to better performance in both sports teams in Canada and pharmaceutical sales teams in Belgium. These results suggest that a minor adjustment to employee bonuses--shifting the focus from the self to others--can produce measurable benefits for employees and organizations.

Prosocial Bonuses Increase Employee Satisfaction and Team Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Anik, Lalin; Aknin, Lara B.; Norton, Michael I.; Dunn, Elizabeth W.; Quoidbach, Jordi

2013-01-01

In three field studies, we explore the impact of providing employees and teammates with prosocial bonuses, a novel type of bonus spent on others rather than on oneself. In Experiment 1, we show that prosocial bonuses in the form of donations to charity lead to happier and more satisfied employees at an Australian bank. In Experiments 2a and 2b, we show that prosocial bonuses in the form of expenditures on teammates lead to better performance in both sports teams in Canada and pharmaceutical sales teams in Belgium. These results suggest that a minor adjustment to employee bonuses – shifting the focus from the self to others – can produce measurable benefits for employees and organizations. PMID:24058691

Failure to demonstrate that playing violent video games diminishes prosocial behavior.

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Tear, Morgan J; Nielsen, Mark

2013-01-01

Past research has found that playing a classic prosocial video game resulted in heightened prosocial behavior when compared to a control group, whereas playing a classic violent video game had no effect. Given purported links between violent video games and poor social behavior, this result is surprising. Here our aim was to assess whether this finding may be due to the specific games used. That is, modern games are experienced differently from classic games (more immersion in virtual environments, more connection with characters, etc.) and it may be that playing violent video games impacts prosocial behavior only when contemporary versions are used. Experiments 1 and 2 explored the effects of playing contemporary violent, non-violent, and prosocial video games on prosocial behavior, as measured by the pen-drop task. We found that slight contextual changes in the delivery of the pen-drop task led to different rates of helping but that the type of game played had little effect. Experiment 3 explored this further by using classic games. Again, we found no effect. We failed to find evidence that playing video games affects prosocial behavior. Research on the effects of video game play is of significant public interest. It is therefore important that speculation be rigorously tested and findings replicated. Here we fail to substantiate conjecture that playing contemporary violent video games will lead to diminished prosocial behavior.

Integrating simultaneous prosocial and antisocial behavior into theories of collective action.

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Basurto, Xavier; Blanco, Esther; Nenadovic, Mateja; Vollan, Björn

2016-03-01

Trust and cooperation constitute cornerstones of common-pool resource theory, showing that "prosocial" strategies among resource users can overcome collective action problems and lead to sustainable resource governance. Yet, antisocial behavior and especially the coexistence of prosocial and antisocial behaviors have received less attention. We broaden the analysis to include the effects of both "prosocial" and "antisocial" interactions. We do so in the context of marine protected areas (MPAs), the most prominent form of biodiversity conservation intervention worldwide. Our multimethod approach relied on lab-in-the-field economic experiments (n = 127) in two MPA and two non-MPA communities in Baja California, Mexico. In addition, we deployed a standardized fishers' survey (n = 544) to verify the external validity of our findings and expert informant interviews (n = 77) to develop potential explanatory mechanisms. In MPA sites, prosocial and antisocial behavior is significantly higher, and the presence of antisocial behavior does not seem to have a negative effect on prosocial behavior. We suggest that market integration, economic diversification, and strengthened group identity in MPAs are the main potential mechanisms for the simultaneity of prosocial and antisocial behavior we observed. This study constitutes a first step in better understanding the interaction between prosociality and antisociality as related to natural resources governance and conservation science, integrating literatures from social psychology, evolutionary anthropology, behavioral economics, and ecology.

Prosocial norms as a positive youth development construct: conceptual bases and implications for curriculum development.

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Siu, Andrew M H; Cheng, Howard C H; Leung, Mana C M

2006-01-01

Prosocial norms are clear, healthy, ethical standards, beliefs, and behavior guidelines that promote prosocial behavior and minimize health risks. The promotion of prosocial norms like altruism, solidarity, and volunteerism is an important aspect of positive youth development programs. From the literature, it is evident that a prosocial orientation is encouraged in traditional Chinese philosophy. Longitudinal studies have shown that prosocial behavior increases gradually over adolescence, and that the development of prosocial behavior is closely linked to the development of moral reasoning, perspective taking, and regulation of personal distress. It is noteworthy that females have a higher prosocial orientation than males, and peer influence could be a major mediating factor of interventions to foster prosocial norms and behavior during adolescence. This review also analyzes the mechanism underlying prosocial behavior using the cost-reward model, social cognitive theory, and stages of moral development. Role modeling, social reinforcements and evaluations, discussion of moral dilemmas, empathy skills training, and foot-in-the-door procedures are identified as useful strategies for fostering prosocial norms and behavior.

Task design influences prosociality in captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bailey R House

Full Text Available Chimpanzees confer benefits on group members, both in the wild and in captive populations. Experimental studies of how animals allocate resources can provide useful insights about the motivations underlying prosocial behavior, and understanding the relationship between task design and prosocial behavior provides an important foundation for future research exploring these animals' social preferences. A number of studies have been designed to assess chimpanzees' preferences for outcomes that benefit others (prosocial preferences, but these studies vary greatly in both the results obtained and the methods used, and in most cases employ procedures that reduce critical features of naturalistic social interactions, such as partner choice. The focus of the current study is on understanding the link between experimental methodology and prosocial behavior in captive chimpanzees, rather than on describing these animals' social motivations themselves. We introduce a task design that avoids isolating subjects and allows them to freely decide whether to participate in the experiment. We explore key elements of the methods utilized in previous experiments in an effort to evaluate two possibilities that have been offered to explain why different experimental designs produce different results: (a chimpanzees are less likely to deliver food to others when they obtain food for themselves, and (b evidence of prosociality may be obscured by more "complex" experimental apparatuses (e.g., those including more components or alternative choices. Our results suggest that the complexity of laboratory tasks may generate observed variation in prosocial behavior in laboratory experiments, and highlights the need for more naturalistic research designs while also providing one example of such a paradigm.

Understanding the Association Between School Climate and Future Orientation.

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Lindstrom Johnson, Sarah; Pas, Elise; Bradshaw, Catherine P

2016-08-01

Promoting students' future orientation is inherently a goal of the educational system. Recently, it has received more explicit attention given the increased focus on career readiness. This study aimed to examine the association between school climate and adolescents' report of future orientation using data from youth (N = 27,698; 49.4 % female) across 58 high schools. Three-level hierarchical linear models indicated that perceptions of available emotional and service supports, rules and consequences, and parent engagement were positively related to adolescents' future orientation. Additionally, the school-level average future orientation was significantly related to individuals' future orientation, indicating a potential influence of contextual effects on this construct. Taken together, these findings suggest that interventions targeting school climate may hold promise for promoting future orientation.

Cooperative coparenting moderates the association between parenting practices and children's prosocial behavior.

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Scrimgeour, Meghan B; Blandon, Alysia Y; Stifter, Cynthia A; Buss, Kristin A

2013-06-01

This study examined how aspects of the parenting and coparenting relationships relate to children's prosocial behavior in early childhood. Fifty-eight 2-parent families from a larger ongoing longitudinal study participated in this study. Mothers completed questionnaires that measured their use of inductive reasoning, as well as their children's prosocial behavior. Furthermore, parents and their children participated in 3 triadic interaction tasks that were coded to assess cooperative coparenting behavior. Results revealed that cooperative coparenting was positively associated with children's prosocial behavior. A significant interaction also emerged between maternal inductive reasoning and cooperative coparenting behavior. These findings underscore the important role of a cooperative coparenting subsystem in influencing children's emerging prosocial behavior, as well as highlight the association between positive parenting practices and children's prosocial development within the context of cooperative coparenting behaviors. This study demonstrates the utility of understanding family-level processes that contribute to children's prosocial development during early childhood. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

An examination of bullying in georgia schools: demographic and school climate factors associated with willingness to intervene in bullying situations.

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Goldammer, Lori; Swahn, Monica H; Strasser, Sheryl M; Ashby, Jeffrey S; Meyers, Joel

2013-08-01

Research dedicated to identification of precursors to cases of aggravated bullying in schools has led to enhanced knowledge of risk factors for both victimization and perpetration. However, characteristics among those who are more likely to intervene in such situations are less understood. The purpose of this study is to examine the associations between demographic characteristics, school climate and psychosocial factors, and willingness to intervene in a bullying situation among middle and high school students in Georgia. We computed analyses using cross-sectional data from the Georgia Student Health Survey II (GSHS 2006) administered to public school students in grades 6, 8, 10, and 12 (n=175,311). We used logistic regression analyses to determine the demographic, school climate and psychosocial factors associated with a willingness to intervene in a bullying situation. Students who were white and who were girls were most likely to report willingness to intervene in bullying situations. Several school-climate factors, such as feeling safe at school, liking school, feeling successful at school and perceiving clear rules at school, were associated with willingness to intervene, while youth who reported binge drinking were less willing to intervene. These findings, while preliminary, indicate that girls, students who are white, and students who experience a relatively positive school climate and adaptive psychosocial factors are more likely to report that they would intervene in bullying situations. These findings may guide how bullying is addressed in schools and underscore the importance of safe school climates.

School Climate and Student Absenteeism and Internalizing and Externalizing Behavioral Problems

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Hendron, Marisa; Kearney, Christopher A.

2016-01-01

This study examined whether school climate variables were directly and inversely related to absenteeism severity and key symptoms of psychopathology among youths specifically referred for problematic attendance (N = 398). Adolescents in our sample completed the School Climate Survey Revised Edition, which measured sharing of resources, order and…

School Climate, Peer Victimization, and Academic Achievement: Results from a Multi-Informant Study

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Wang, Weijun; Vaillancourt, Tracy; Brittain, Heather L.; McDougall, Patricia; Krygsman, Amanda; Smith, David; Cunningham, Charles E.; Haltigan, J. D.; Hymel, Shelley

2014-01-01

School-level school climate was examined in relation to self-reported peer victimization and teacher-rated academic achievement (grade point average; GPA). Participants included a sample of 1,023 fifth-grade children nested within 50 schools. Associations between peer victimization, school climate, and GPA were examined using multilevel modeling,…

Teachers' Perceptions of Principals' Motivating Language and Public School Climates in Kuwait

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Alqahtani, Abdulmuhsen Ayedh

2015-01-01

Research has shown that the overall climate in a school can encourage or deter learning. One significant factor promoting a positive climate is the use of motivational language by school leaders. This article presents empirical evidence of teachers' perceptions of motivational language used by school principals and the effects of this language on…

Prosocial Choice in Rats Depends on Food-Seeking Behavior Displayed by Recipients.

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Márquez, Cristina; Rennie, Scott M; Costa, Diana F; Moita, Marta A

2015-06-29

Animals often are prosocial, displaying behaviors that result in a benefit to one another [1-15] even in the absence of self-benefit [16-21] (but see [22-25]). Several factors have been proposed to modulate these behaviors, namely familiarity [6, 13, 18, 20] or display of seeking behavior [16, 21]. Rats have been recently shown to be prosocial under distress [17, 18] (but see [26-29]); however, what drives prosociality in these animals remains unclear. To address this issue, we developed a two-choice task in which prosocial behavior did not yield a benefit or a cost to the focal rat. We used a double T-maze in which only the focal rat controlled access to the food-baited arms of its own and the recipient rat's maze. In this task, the focal rat could choose between one side of the maze, which yielded food only to itself (selfish choice), and the opposite side, which yielded food to itself and the recipient rat (prosocial choice). Rats showed a high proportion of prosocial choices. By manipulating reward delivery to the recipient and its ability to display a preference for the baited arm, we found that the display of food-seeking behavior leading to reward was necessary to drive prosocial choices. In addition, we found that there was more social investigation between rats in selfish trials than in prosocial trials, which may have influenced the focals' choices. This study shows that rats provide access to food to others in the absence of added direct self-benefit, bringing new insights into the factors that drive prosociality. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

School Bullying in Urban China: Prevalence and Correlation with School Climate

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Han, Ziqiang; Zhang, Guirong; Zhang, Haibo

2017-01-01

School violence and bullying in China is under investigated, though it has become a national concern recently. Using updated national representative survey data collected in 2016 from seven provinces across China, covering students from all pre-college school types (primary, middle, high and vocational schools), this paper analyzes the prevalence of school bullying and the correlation with several school attributes. The incidences of reported bullying, bullying others and witnessing bullying are 26.10%, 9.03% and 28.90%, respectively. Primary school students are more likely to be involved in bullying behaviors. Students from elite schools (leading schools) are also more likely to be involved. Relation with teachers, relation with peers and perceived academic achievement are protective factors. Being a boy is the only significant predictor of school bullying among the family and demographic characteristics used. The results highlight the importance of school climate on preventing school violence and bullying, and a whole-school intervention approach is needed for future intervention. PMID:28946682

School Bullying in Urban China: Prevalence and Correlation with School Climate.

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Han, Ziqiang; Zhang, Guirong; Zhang, Haibo

2017-09-25

School violence and bullying in China is under investigated, though it has become a national concern recently. Using updated national representative survey data collected in 2016 from seven provinces across China, covering students from all pre-college school types (primary, middle, high and vocational schools), this paper analyzes the prevalence of school bullying and the correlation with several school attributes. The incidences of reported bullying, bullying others and witnessing bullying are 26.10%, 9.03% and 28.90%, respectively. Primary school students are more likely to be involved in bullying behaviors. Students from elite schools (leading schools) are also more likely to be involved. Relation with teachers, relation with peers and perceived academic achievement are protective factors. Being a boy is the only significant predictor of school bullying among the family and demographic characteristics used. The results highlight the importance of school climate on preventing school violence and bullying, and a whole-school intervention approach is needed for future intervention.

Response time in economic games reflects different types of decision conflict for prosocial and proself individuals.

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Yamagishi, Toshio; Matsumoto, Yoshie; Kiyonari, Toko; Takagishi, Haruto; Li, Yang; Kanai, Ryota; Sakagami, Masamichi

2017-06-13

Behavioral and neuroscientific studies explore two pathways through which internalized social norms promote prosocial behavior. One pathway involves internal control of impulsive selfishness, and the other involves emotion-based prosocial preferences that are translated into behavior when they evade cognitive control for pursuing self-interest. We measured 443 participants' overall prosocial behavior in four economic games. Participants' predispositions [social value orientation (SVO)] were more strongly reflected in their overall game behavior when they made decisions quickly than when they spent a longer time. Prosocially (or selfishly) predisposed participants behaved less prosocially (or less selfishly) when they spent more time in decision making, such that their SVO prosociality yielded limited effects in actual behavior in their slow decisions. The increase (or decrease) in slower decision makers was prominent among consistent prosocials (or proselfs) whose strong preference for prosocial (or proself) goals would make it less likely to experience conflict between prosocial and proself goals. The strong effect of RT on behavior in consistent prosocials (or proselfs) suggests that conflict between prosocial and selfish goals alone is not responsible for slow decisions. Specifically, we found that contemplation of the risk of being exploited by others (social risk aversion) was partly responsible for making consistent prosocials (but not consistent proselfs) spend longer time in decision making and behave less prosocially. Conflict between means rather than between goals (immediate versus strategic pursuit of self-interest) was suggested to be responsible for the time-related increase in consistent proselfs' prosocial behavior. The findings of this study are generally in favor of the intuitive cooperation model of prosocial behavior.

Longitudinal Bidirectional Relations between Adolescents' Sympathy and Prosocial Behavior

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Carlo, Gustavo; Padilla-Walker, Laura M.; Nielson, Matthew G.

2015-01-01

Despite the importance of understanding sympathy and prosocial behaviors, research on the development of these tendencies in adolescence remains relatively sparse. In the present study, we examined age trends and bidirectional longitudinal relations in sympathy and prosocial behaviors across early to middle adolescents. Participants were 500…

Transformational Leadership Related to School Climate

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McCarley, Troy A.

2012-01-01

This study examined the relationship between teacher perceptions of the degree to which a principal displays the factors of transformational leadership (idealized attributes, idealized behaviors, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulations, and individual considerations) and the perceived school climate (supportive principal behavior,…

Buddhist concepts as implicitly reducing prejudice and increasing prosociality.

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Clobert, Magali; Saroglou, Vassilis; Hwang, Kwang-Kuo

2015-04-01

Does Buddhism really promote tolerance? Based on cross-cultural and cross-religious evidence, we hypothesized that Buddhist concepts, possibly differing from Christian concepts, activate not only prosociality but also tolerance. Subliminally priming Buddhist concepts, compared with neutral or Christian concepts, decreased explicit prejudice against ethnic, ideological, and moral outgroups among Western Buddhists who valued universalism (Experiment 1, N = 116). It also increased spontaneous prosociality, and decreased, among low authoritarians or high universalists, implicit religious and ethnic prejudice among Westerners of Christian background (Experiment 2, N = 128) and Taiwanese of Buddhist/Taoist background (Experiment 3, N = 122). Increased compassion and tolerance of contradiction occasionally mediated some of the effects. The general idea that religion promotes (ingroup) prosociality and outgroup prejudice, based on research in monotheistic contexts, lacks cross-cultural sensitivity; Buddhist concepts activate extended prosociality and tolerance of outgroups, at least among those with socio-cognitive and moral openness. © 2015 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.

The Development and Validation of the Ethical Climate Index for Middle and High Schools.

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Schulte, Laura E.; Thompson, Franklin; Talbott, Jeanie; Luther, Ann; Garcia, Michelle; Blanchard, Shirley; Conway, Laraine; Mueller, Melanie

2002-01-01

Describes the School Ethical Climate Index (SECI), an instrument to measure the ethical climate of a school. The SECI could be used in school districts to assess areas for school improvement and thereby help reduce school disorder and violence. (Contains 4 tables and 39 references.) (Author/WFA)

Differences in Assessments of Organizational School Climate between Teachers and Adminsitrators

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Duff, Brandy Kinlaw

2013-01-01

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the organizational school climate perceptions of teachers and principals and to ascertain the extent to which their perceptions differed. This causal comparative study used the Organizational Climate Description Questionnaire for Elementary Schools (OCDQ-RE) as the survey instrument for data…

A Comparison of Teacher Stress and School Climate across Schools with Different Matric Success Rates

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Milner, Karen; Khoza, Harriet

2008-01-01

Our aim was to investigate differences in teacher stress and perceptions of school climate among teachers from schools with differing matriculation success rates in the Limpopo province of South Africa. Two schools with matric pass rates of 100% and two schools with matric pass rates of less than 25% were selected from a list of schools provided…

Failure to demonstrate that playing violent video games diminishes prosocial behavior.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Morgan J Tear

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Past research has found that playing a classic prosocial video game resulted in heightened prosocial behavior when compared to a control group, whereas playing a classic violent video game had no effect. Given purported links between violent video games and poor social behavior, this result is surprising. Here our aim was to assess whether this finding may be due to the specific games used. That is, modern games are experienced differently from classic games (more immersion in virtual environments, more connection with characters, etc. and it may be that playing violent video games impacts prosocial behavior only when contemporary versions are used. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Experiments 1 and 2 explored the effects of playing contemporary violent, non-violent, and prosocial video games on prosocial behavior, as measured by the pen-drop task. We found that slight contextual changes in the delivery of the pen-drop task led to different rates of helping but that the type of game played had little effect. Experiment 3 explored this further by using classic games. Again, we found no effect. CONCLUSIONS: We failed to find evidence that playing video games affects prosocial behavior. Research on the effects of video game play is of significant public interest. It is therefore important that speculation be rigorously tested and findings replicated. Here we fail to substantiate conjecture that playing contemporary violent video games will lead to diminished prosocial behavior.

Failure to Demonstrate That Playing Violent Video Games Diminishes Prosocial Behavior

Science.gov (United States)

Tear, Morgan J.; Nielsen, Mark

2013-01-01

Background Past research has found that playing a classic prosocial video game resulted in heightened prosocial behavior when compared to a control group, whereas playing a classic violent video game had no effect. Given purported links between violent video games and poor social behavior, this result is surprising. Here our aim was to assess whether this finding may be due to the specific games used. That is, modern games are experienced differently from classic games (more immersion in virtual environments, more connection with characters, etc.) and it may be that playing violent video games impacts prosocial behavior only when contemporary versions are used. Methods and Findings Experiments 1 and 2 explored the effects of playing contemporary violent, non-violent, and prosocial video games on prosocial behavior, as measured by the pen-drop task. We found that slight contextual changes in the delivery of the pen-drop task led to different rates of helping but that the type of game played had little effect. Experiment 3 explored this further by using classic games. Again, we found no effect. Conclusions We failed to find evidence that playing video games affects prosocial behavior. Research on the effects of video game play is of significant public interest. It is therefore important that speculation be rigorously tested and findings replicated. Here we fail to substantiate conjecture that playing contemporary violent video games will lead to diminished prosocial behavior. PMID:23844191

School climate as correlate of bullying behaviour among secondary ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Bullying is the most common form of violence in schools. The current study examined the relationship between school climate and bullying behaviour among secondary school students in Yagba West, Kogi State, Nigeria. The research design employed for this study was a descriptive research method of the correlational ...

Student and teacher perceptions of school climate: a multilevel exploration of patterns of discrepancy.

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Mitchell, Mary M; Bradshaw, Catherine P; Leaf, Philip J

2010-06-01

School climate has been linked with improved academic achievement and reduced discipline problems, and thus is often a target of school improvement initiatives. However, few studies have examined the extent to which student and teacher perceptions vary as a function of individual, classroom, and school characteristics, or the level of congruence between teachers' and their students' perceptions of school climate. Using data from 1881 fifth-grade students and their 90 homeroom teachers, we examined parallel models of students' and teachers' perceptions of overall school climate and academic emphasis. Two additional models were fit that assessed the congruence between teacher and student perceptions of school climate and academic emphasis. Multilevel analyses indicated that classroom-level factors were more closely associated with teachers' perceptions of climate, whereas school-level factors were more closely associated with the students' perceptions. Further analyses indicated an inverse association between student and teacher ratings of academic emphasis, and no association between student and teacher ratings of overall climate. Teacher ratings were more sensitive to classroom-level factors, such as poor classroom management and proportion of students with disruptive behaviors, whereas student ratings were more influenced by school-level factors such as student mobility, student-teacher relationship, and principal turnover. The discrepancy in ratings of academic emphasis suggests that while all of the respondents may have shared objectively similar experiences, their perceptions of those experiences varied significantly. These results emphasize the importance of assessing both student and teacher perceptions in future research on school climate.

Successfully Integrating Climate Change Education into School System Curriculum

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Scallion, M.

2017-12-01

Maryland's Eastern Shore is threatened by climate change driven sea level rise. By working with school systems, rather than just with individual teachers, educators can gain access to an entire grade level of students, assuring that all students, regardless of socioeconomic background or prior coursework have an opportunity to explore the climate issue and be part of crafting community level solutions for their communities. We will address the benefits of working with school system partners to achieve a successful integration of in-school and outdoor learning by making teachers and administrators part of the process. We will explore how, through the Maryland and Delaware Climate Change Education, Assessment, and Research Project, teachers, content supervisors and informal educators worked together to create a climate curriculum with local context that effectively meets Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards. Over the course of several weeks during the year, students engage in a series of in-class and field activities directly correlated with their science curriculum. Wetlands and birds are used as examples of the local wildlife and habitat being impacted by climate change. Through these lessons led by Pickering Creek Audubon Center educators and strengthened by material covered by classroom teachers, students get a thorough introduction to the mechanism of climate change, local impacts of climate change on habitats and wildlife, and actions they can take as a community to mitigate the effects of climate change. The project concludes with a habitat and carbon stewardship project that gives students and teachers a sense of hope as they tackle this big issue on a local scale. We'll explore how the MADE-CLEAR Informal Climate Change Education (ICCE) Community of Practice supports Delaware and Maryland environmental educators in collaboratively learning and expanding their programming on the complex issue of climate change. Participants will learn how to

Who Are You More Likely to Help? The Effects of Expected Outcomes and Regulatory Focus on Prosocial Performance

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Xiao, Fengqiu; Zheng, Zhiwei; Zhang, Heyi; Xin, Ziqiang; Chen, Yinghe; Li, Yiwei

2016-01-01

Prosocial behavior refers to a broad category of actions that benefit other people or the society. Compared with other factors that affect prosocial performance, prosocial outcomes, consisting of prosocial gains and prosocial non-losses have received less attention up to now. In the current research, we explored the influences of different types of expected outcomes and regulatory focus on prosocial performance. Studies 1a and 1b examined the differences in prosocial performance elicited by prosocial gain (e.g., enhancing others’ access to clean water) and prosocial non-loss outcomes (e.g., protecting others from suffering dirty water). We found that the expected prosocial non-loss outcomes induced greater prosocial performance compared with the expected prosocial gain outcomes. Studies 2a and 2b examined the effects of dispositional and situational regulatory focus on prosocial loss aversion. We found that differences in prosocial performance between two expected prosocial outcomes were reduced when promotion focus was primed; whereas a primed prevention focus did not significantly increase this difference. Additionally, participants displayed a greater prosocial loss aversion in the prevention focus condition than in the promotion focus condition. The reason for the non-significant interaction between regulatory focus and expected prosocial outcome was discussed. PMID:27824909

Who Are You More Likely to Help? The Effects of Expected Outcomes and Regulatory Focus on Prosocial Performance.

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Fengqiu Xiao

Full Text Available Prosocial behavior refers to a broad category of actions that benefit other people or the society. Compared with other factors that affect prosocial performance, prosocial outcomes, consisting of prosocial gains and prosocial non-losses have received less attention up to now. In the current research, we explored the influences of different types of expected outcomes and regulatory focus on prosocial performance. Studies 1a and 1b examined the differences in prosocial performance elicited by prosocial gain (e.g., enhancing others' access to clean water and prosocial non-loss outcomes (e.g., protecting others from suffering dirty water. We found that the expected prosocial non-loss outcomes induced greater prosocial performance compared with the expected prosocial gain outcomes. Studies 2a and 2b examined the effects of dispositional and situational regulatory focus on prosocial loss aversion. We found that differences in prosocial performance between two expected prosocial outcomes were reduced when promotion focus was primed; whereas a primed prevention focus did not significantly increase this difference. Additionally, participants displayed a greater prosocial loss aversion in the prevention focus condition than in the promotion focus condition. The reason for the non-significant interaction between regulatory focus and expected prosocial outcome was discussed.

But is helping you worth the risk? Defining Prosocial Risk Taking in adolescence

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Do, Kathy T.; Guassi Moreira, João F.; Telzer, Eva H.

2017-01-01

Recent work has shown that the same neural circuitry that typically underlies risky behaviors also contributes to prosocial behaviors. Despite the striking overlap between two seemingly distinct behavioral patterns, little is known about how risk taking and prosociality interact and inform adolescent decision making. We review literature on adolescent brain development as it pertains to risk taking and prosociality and propose a new area of study, Prosocial Risk Taking, which suggests that adolescents can make risky decisions with the intention of helping other individuals. Given key socialization processes and ongoing neurodevelopmental changes during this time, adolescence may represent a sensitive period for the emergence of Prosocial Risk Taking, especially within a wide variety of social contexts when youth’s increased sensitivity to social evaluation and belonging impacts their behaviors. Prosocial Risk Taking in adolescence is an area of study that has been overlooked in the literature, but could help explain how ontogenetic changes in the adolescent brain may create not only vulnerabilities, but also opportunities for healthy prosocial development. PMID:28063823

Positive affect: phenotypic and etiologic associations with prosocial behaviors and internalizing problems in toddlers

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Wang, Manjie; Saudino, Kimberly J.

2015-01-01

Despite evidence for the associations of positive affect to prosocial behaviors and internalizing problems, relatively little is known about the underlying etiology. The sample comprised over 300 twin pairs at age 3. Positive affect, prosocial behaviors, and internalizing problems were assessed using the Toddler Behavior Assessment Questionnaire (Goldsmith, 1996), the Revised Rutter Parent Scale for Preschool Children (Hogg et al., 1997), and the Child Behavior Checklist for ages 1.5–5 (Achenbach, 1991), respectively. Positive affect correlated positively with prosocial behaviors, and negatively with internalizing problems. Prosocial behaviors were negatively associated with internalizing problems. The relations of positive affect to prosocial behaviors and internalizing problems were due to environmental effects (shared and non-shared). In contrast, the link between prosocial behaviors and internalizing problems was entirely explained by genetic effects. The current study has moved beyond prior emphasis on negative affect and elucidated the less understood etiology underlying the associations between positive affect, prosocial behaviors, and internalizing problems. This study could guide the development of programs for promoting prosocial behaviors and alleviating internalizing problems in children. PMID:25914668

Positive Affect: Phenotypic and Etiologic Associations with Prosocial Behaviors and Internalizing Problems in Toddlers

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Manjie eWang

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Despite evidence for the associations of positive affect to prosocial behaviors and internalizing problems, relatively little is known about the underlying etiology. The sample comprised over 300 twin pairs at age 3. Positive affect, prosocial behaviors, and internalizing problems were assessed using the Toddler Behavior Assessment Questionnaire (Goldsmith, 1996, the Revised Rutter Parent Scale for Preschool Children (Hogg, Rutter, & Richman, 1997, and the Child Behavior Checklist for ages 1.5-5 (Achenbach, 1991, respectively. Positive affect correlated positively with prosocial behaviors, and negatively with internalizing problems. Prosocial behaviors were negatively associated with internalizing problems. The relations of positive affect to prosocial behaviors and internalizing problems were due to environmental effects (shared and nonshared. In contrast, the link between prosocial behaviors and internalizing problems was entirely explained by genetic effects. The current study has moved beyond prior emphasis on negative affect and elucidated the less understood etiology underlying the associations between positive affect, prosocial behaviors, and internalizing problems. This study could guide the development of programs for promoting prosocial behaviors and alleviating internalizing problems in children.

Promoting prosocial behavior and self-regulatory skills in preschool children through a mindfulness-based Kindness Curriculum.

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Flook, Lisa; Goldberg, Simon B; Pinger, Laura; Davidson, Richard J

2015-01-01

Self-regulatory abilities are robust predictors of important outcomes across the life span, yet they are rarely taught explicitly in school. Using a randomized controlled design, the present study investigated the effects of a 12-week mindfulness-based Kindness Curriculum (KC) delivered in a public school setting on executive function, self-regulation, and prosocial behavior in a sample of 68 preschool children. The KC intervention group showed greater improvements in social competence and earned higher report card grades in domains of learning, health, and social-emotional development, whereas the control group exhibited more selfish behavior over time. Interpretation of effect sizes overall indicate small to medium effects favoring the KC group on measures of cognitive flexibility and delay of gratification. Baseline functioning was found to moderate treatment effects with KC children initially lower in social competence and executive functioning demonstrating larger gains in social competence relative to the control group. These findings, observed over a relatively short intervention period, support the promise of this program for promoting self-regulation and prosocial behavior in young children. They also support the need for future investigation of program implementation across diverse settings.

Public School Uniforms: Effect on Perceptions of Gang Presence, School Climate, and Student Self-Perceptions.

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Wade, Kathleen Kiley; Stafford, Mary E.

2003-01-01

Examined the relationship between public school uniforms and student self-worth and student and staff perceptions of gang presence and school climate. Surveys of middle school students and teachers indicated that although students' perceptions did not vary across uniform policy, teachers from schools with uniform policies perceived lower levels of…

Does Sympathy Motivate Prosocial Behaviour in Great Apes?

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Liebal, Katja; Vaish, Amrisha; Haun, Daniel; Tomasello, Michael

2014-01-01

Prosocial behaviours such as helping, comforting, or sharing are central to human social life. Because they emerge early in ontogeny, it has been proposed that humans are prosocial by nature and that from early on empathy and sympathy motivate such behaviours. The emerging question is whether humans share these abilities to feel with and for someone with our closest relatives, the great apes. Although several studies demonstrated that great apes help others, little is known about their underlying motivations. This study addresses this issue and investigates whether four species of great apes (Pongo pygmaeus, Gorilla gorilla, Pan troglodytes, Pan paniscus) help a conspecific more after observing the conspecific being harmed (a human experimenter steals the conspecific’s food) compared to a condition where no harming occurred. Results showed that in regard to the occurrence of prosocial behaviours, only orangutans, but not the African great apes, help others when help is needed, contrasting prior findings on chimpanzees. However, with the exception of one population of orangutans that helped significantly more after a conspecific was harmed than when no harm occurred, prosocial behaviour in great apes was not motivated by concern for others. PMID:24416212

Different effects of religion and God on prosociality with the ingroup and outgroup.

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Preston, Jesse Lee; Ritter, Ryan S

2013-11-01

Recent studies have found that activating religious cognition by priming techniques can enhance prosocial behavior, arguably because religious concepts carry prosocial associations. But many of these studies have primed multiple concepts simultaneously related to the sacred. We argue here that religion and God are distinct concepts that activate distinct associations. In particular, we examine the effect of God and religion on prosociality toward the ingroup and outgroup. In three studies, we found that religion primes enhanced prosociality toward ingroup members, consistent with ingroup affiliation, whereas, God primes enhanced prosociality toward outgroup member, consistent with concerns of moral impression management. Implications for theory and methodology in religious cognition are discussed.

Age differences in the prosocial influence effect.

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Foulkes, Lucy; Leung, Jovita T; Fuhrmann, Delia; Knoll, Lisa J; Blakemore, Sarah-Jayne

2018-04-15

Social influence occurs when an individual's thoughts or behaviours are affected by other people. There are significant age effects on susceptibility to social influence, typically a decline from childhood to adulthood. Most research has focused on negative aspects of social influence, such as peer influence on risky behaviour, particularly in adolescence. The current study investigated the impact of social influence on the reporting of prosocial behaviour (any act intended to help another person). In this study, 755 participants aged 8-59 completed a computerized task in which they rated how likely they would be to engage in a prosocial behaviour. Afterwards, they were told the average rating (in fact fictitious) that other participants had given to the same question, and then were asked to rate the same behaviour again. We found that participants' age affected the extent to which they were influenced by other people: children (8-11 years), young adolescents (12-14 years) and mid-adolescents (15-18 years) all significantly changed their ratings, while young adults (19-25 years) and adults (26-59 years) did not. Across the three youngest age groups, children showed the most susceptibility to prosocial influence, changing their reporting of prosocial behaviour the most. The study provides evidence that younger people's increased susceptibility to social influence can have positive outcomes. © 2018 The Authors. Developmental Science Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Wearable computing: Will it make people prosocial?

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Nasiopoulos, Eleni; Risko, Evan F; Foulsham, Tom; Kingstone, Alan

2015-05-01

We recently reported that people who wear an eye tracker modify their natural looking behaviour in a prosocial manner. This change in looking behaviour represents a potential concern for researchers who wish to use eye trackers to understand the functioning of human attention. On the other hand, it may offer a real boon to manufacturers and consumers of wearable computing (e.g., Google Glass), for if wearable computing causes people to behave in a prosocial manner, then the public's fear that people with wearable computing will invade their privacy is unfounded. Critically, both of these divergent implications are grounded on the assumption that the prosocial behavioural effect of wearing an eye tracker is sustained for a prolonged period of time. Our study reveals that on the very first wearing of an eye tracker, and in less than 10 min, the prosocial effect of an eye tracker is abolished, but by drawing attention back to the eye tracker, the implied presence effect is easily reactivated. This suggests that eye trackers induce a transient social presence effect, which is rendered dormant when attention is shifted away from the source of implied presence. This is good news for researchers who use eye trackers to measure attention and behaviour; and could be bad news for advocates of wearable computing in everyday life. © 2014 The British Psychological Society.

Brand’s CSR Influence on Consumers’ Prosocial Behavior in Unrelated Domains

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Angela Negrão

2018-02-01

Full Text Available This study proposes that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR activity may positively influence consumers’ prosocial behavior. However, this effect is moderated by the consumer-brand social distance. In two experiments, we show that consumers close to the brand become more prosocial in situations unrelated to the cause supported by the company when they are exposed to the brand’s prosocial communication, compared to those who are distant from the brand. This paper contributes to furthering CSR theory by showing the positive effects of brand CSR initiatives on secondary social outcomes, such as consumers’ volunteering and donating money to a social cause not closely related to the one promoted by the company. Besides, this paper also contributes theoretically by showing the moderation role played by consumer-brand social distance. Important implications for the role of CSR are useful for companies and society in general, since the paper demonstrates that brand’s prosocial behavior can influence consumers’ prosocial behavior beyond the brand context only.

Sustained impact of inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity on peer problems: mediating roles of prosocial skills and conduct problems in a community sample of children.

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Andrade, Brendan F; Tannock, Rosemary

2014-06-01

This prospective 2-year longitudinal study tested whether inattentive and hyperactive/impulsive symptom dimensions predicted future peer problems, when accounting for concurrent conduct problems and prosocial skills. A community sample of 492 children (49 % female) who ranged in age from 6 to 10 years (M = 8.6, SD = .93) was recruited. Teacher reports of children's inattention, and hyperactivity/impulsivity symptoms, conduct problems, prosocial skills and peer problems were collected in two consecutive school years. Elevated inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity in Year-1 predicted greater peer problems in Year-2. Conduct problems in the first and second years of the study were associated with more peer problems, and explained a portion of the relationship between inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity with peer problems. However, prosocial skills were associated with fewer peer problems in children with elevated inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity. Inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity have negative effects on children's peer functioning after 1-year, but concurrent conduct problems and prosocial skills have important and opposing impacts on these associations.

Integrating simultaneous prosocial and antisocial behavior into theories of collective action

OpenAIRE

Basurto, Xavier; Blanco, Esther; Nenadovic, Mateja; Vollan, Bj?rn

2016-01-01

Trust and cooperation constitute cornerstones of common-pool resource theory, showing that ?prosocial? strategies among resource users can overcome collective action problems and lead to sustainable resource governance. Yet, antisocial behavior and especially the coexistence of prosocial and antisocial behaviors have received less attention. We broaden the analysis to include the effects of both ?prosocial? and ?antisocial? interactions. We do so in the context of marine protected areas (MPAs...

Social-Emotional Learning Program to Promote Prosocial and Academic Skills among Middle School Students with Disabilities

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Espelage, Dorothy L.; Rose, Chad A.; Polanin, Joshua R.

2016-01-01

This 3-year study evaluated the effectiveness of the Second Step-Student Success Through Prevention (SS-SSTP) social-emotional learning program on increasing prosocial behaviors that could serve as protective factors against peer conflict and bullying among students with disabilities. Participants included 123 students with disabilities across 12…

A Review and Analysis of Selected School Climate Measures

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Olsen, Jacob; Preston, Angela I.; Algozzine, Bob; Algozzine, Kate; Cusumano, Dale

2018-01-01

Although it is widely agreed that there is no universally accepted definition for school climate, most professionals ground it in shared beliefs, values, and attitudes reflecting the quality and character of life in schools. In this article, we review and analyze measures accessible to school personnel charged with documenting and monitoring…

Evaluation of the Alliance for Climate Education's national high school edutainment program (Invited)

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Lappe, M.; Flora, J.; Saphir, M.; Roser-Renouf, C.; Maibach, E.; Leiserowitz, A.

2013-12-01

The Alliance for Climate Education educates high school students on the science of climate change and inspires them to create effective solutions. Since 2009, ACE has reached over 1.6 million students nationwide with its multi media assembly presentation. In this paper, we evaluate the climate science knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, behavior and communication impact of the ACE Assembly program in a random sample of 49 schools (from population of 779) and a panel of 1,241 high school students. Pre and post assembly surveys composed of questions from the Global Warming Six Americas segmentation and intervention specific questions were administered in classrooms. We demonstrate that exposure to climate science in an engaging edutainment format changes youths' beliefs, involvement, and behavior positively and moves them to more climate science literate audience segments. The net impact of scaled and engaging programs for youth could be a population shift in climate science literacy and positive engagement in the issue of climate change. In addition, such programs can empower youth for deeper engagement in school programs, personal action, political and consumer advocacy.

Mission possible? The performance of prosocially motivated employees depends on manager trustworthiness.

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Grant, Adam M; Sumanth, John J

2009-07-01

The authors propose that in mission-driven organizations, prosocially motivated employees are more likely to perform effectively when trust cues enhance their perceptions of task significance. The authors develop and test a model linking prosocial motivation, trust cues, task significance, and performance across 3 studies of fundraisers using 3 different objective performance measures. In Study 1, perceiving managers as trustworthy strengthened the relationship between employees' prosocial motivation and performance, measured in terms of calls made. This moderated relationship was mediated by employees' perceptions of task significance. Study 2 replicated the interaction of manager trustworthiness and prosocial motivation in predicting a new measure of performance: dollars raised. It also revealed 3-way interactions between prosocial motivation, manager trustworthiness, and dispositional trust propensity, such that high trust propensity compensated for low manager trustworthiness to strengthen the association between employees' prosocial motivation and performance. Study 3 replicated all of the previous mediation and moderation findings in predicting initiative taken by professional fundraisers. Implications for work motivation, work design, and trust in organizations are discussed.

Effects of Religious Priming Concepts on Prosocial Behavior Towards Ingroup and Outgroup.

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Batara, Jame Bryan L; Franco, Pamela S; Quiachon, Mequia Angelo M; Sembrero, Dianelle Rose M

2016-11-01

Several studies show that there is a connection between religion and prosociality (e.g., Saroglou, 2013). To investigate whether there is a causal relationship between these two variables, a growing number of scholars employed priming religious concepts and measure its influence on prosocial behavior (e.g., Pichon, Boccato, & Saroglou, 2007). In the recent development of religious priming, Ritter and Preston (2013) argued that different primes (agent prime, spiritual/abstract prime, and institutional prime) may also have varying influence on prosocial behavior specifically helping an ingroup or an outgroup target. With this in mind, a 2 (social categorization of the target of help) by 3 (agent prime, institutional prime, spiritual prime) experiment was conducted to directly investigate this hypothesis. Results suggest that priming religious concepts especially the spiritual prime can increase prosocial behaviors. However, no significant effect was found on the social categorization which implies that Filipino participants elicit prosocial behavior regardless of the social categorization (be it ingroup or outgroup) of the target of help. The present study's findings contribute to further the literature on religious priming and its influence on prosocial behavior.

Contemporaneous and 1-year longitudinal prediction of children's prosocial behavior from sympathy and moral motivation.

Science.gov (United States)

Malti, Tina; Gummerum, Michaela; Buchmann, Marlis

2007-09-01

The authors investigated the contemporaneous and longitudinal relations of children's (M age = 6.4 years) prosocial behavior to sympathy and moral motivation. Mothers and kindergarten teachers rated children's prosocial behavior. The authors measured sympathy via self- and adult reports. Moral motivation was assessed by children's attribution of emotions to hypothetical victimizers and self-as-victimizers and by moral reasoning after rule violations. Mother-rated prosocial behavior was contemporaneously and longitudinally related to sympathy. Moral motivation moderated the relation of sympathy to mother-rated prosocial behavior. Furthermore, boys' level of mother-rated prosocial behavior increased with level of moral motivation, whereas girls were high in mother-rated prosocial behavior, regardless of their level of moral motivation. Sympathy contemporaneously predicted kindergarten teacher-rated prosocial behavior.

The Attempts of Pro-Social Communication Agents in Communicating and Shaping Environmental Behaviour via the Internet

OpenAIRE

Bailey, James A

2009-01-01

With the increase in focus on environmental advertising during the early 1990s, it is surprising that more research has not focused on advertisings effect on influencing and shaping consumer behaviour change. This is seen as crucial in the next few decreased due to a general agreement on the effect that consumers behaviours have on climate change. Communicating this pro-social behaviour change has in recent years diversified into Internet communications and other communication agents, as well...

Predictors of Prosocial Behavior: Differences in Middle Aged and Older Adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Wenner, Jennifer R; Randall, Brandy A

2016-10-01

Generativity, contributing to the next generation, is important for well-being throughout middle and late life. Therefore, it is crucial to understand what contributes to generativity during these life stages. Parenting and work are common, but not the only, ways people engage generatively; prosocial behavior is another. A community connection may encourage generative contributions in adults. However, older adults may face obstacles to being generative, and may need an additional drive to engage in these behaviors. Given this, it was expected that community cohesion would predict prosocial behavior despite age, and that grit would provide motivation for older adults, so the current study examined whether age moderated the relation between grit and prosocial behavior. Data were used from 188 upper-Midwest adults (aged 37-89). Multiple regression analyses showed that age moderated the relation between grit and prosocial behavior such that grit predicted prosocial behavior in older adults but not middle age adults. A sense of community cohesion was predictive of prosocial behavior despite age. While grit may promote generative acts in different ways depending on age, a sense of community cohesion may foster community contributions despite age. The discussion focuses on future directions and ways to promote generativity using this research.

Highlighting relatedness promotes prosocial motives and behavior.

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Pavey, Louisa; Greitemeyer, Tobias; Sparks, Paul

2011-07-01

According to self-determination theory, people have three basic psychological needs: relatedness, competence, and autonomy. Of these, the authors reasoned that relatedness need satisfaction is particularly important for promoting prosocial behavior because of the increased sense of connectedness to others that this engenders. In Experiment 1, the authors manipulated relatedness, autonomy, competence, or gave participants a neutral task, and found that highlighting relatedness led to higher interest in volunteering and intentions to volunteer relative to the other conditions. Experiment 2 found that writing about relatedness experiences promoted feelings of connectedness to others, which in turn predicted greater prosocial intentions. Experiment 3 found that relatedness manipulation participants donated significantly more money to charity than did participants given a neutral task. The results suggest that highlighting relatedness increases engagement in prosocial activities and are discussed in relation to the conflict and compatibility between individual and social outcomes. © 2011 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc

The sociocultural appraisals, values, and emotions (SAVE) framework of prosociality: core processes from gene to meme.

Science.gov (United States)

Keltner, Dacher; Kogan, Aleksandr; Piff, Paul K; Saturn, Sarina R

2014-01-01

The study of prosocial behavior--altruism, cooperation, trust, and the related moral emotions--has matured enough to produce general scholarly consensus that prosociality is widespread, intuitive, and rooted deeply within our biological makeup. Several evolutionary frameworks model the conditions under which prosocial behavior is evolutionarily viable, yet no unifying treatment exists of the psychological decision-making processes that result in prosociality. Here, we provide such a perspective in the form of the sociocultural appraisals, values, and emotions (SAVE) framework of prosociality. We review evidence for the components of our framework at four levels of analysis: intrapsychic, dyadic, group, and cultural. Within these levels, we consider how phenomena such as altruistic punishment, prosocial contagion, self-other similarity, and numerous others give rise to prosocial behavior. We then extend our reasoning to chart the biological underpinnings of prosociality and apply our framework to understand the role of social class in prosociality.

Recognizing Community Voice and a Youth-Led School-Community Partnership in the School Climate Improvement Process

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Ice, Megan; Thapa, Amrit; Cohen, Jonathan

2015-01-01

A growing body of school improvement research suggests that engaging all members of the school community, including community members and leaders, provides an essential foundation to successful school improvement efforts. School climate surveys to date tend to recognize student, parent/guardian, and school personnel voice but not the voice of…

Environmentalism as a trait: gauging people's prosocial personality in terms of environmental engagement.

Science.gov (United States)

Kaiser, Florian G; Byrka, Katarzyna

2011-02-01

According to Hardin (1968), environmental deterioration stems from self-interest undermining people's resource conservation in the collective interest. Not surprisingly, selfless prosocial motives, such as personal feelings of moral obligation, have often been recognized as a key force behind people's environmentalism. In our research, we anticipated that environmentalists-people with an inclination for pro-environmental engagement-would possess a propensity to generally act prosocially. In an extension of previous work, we expected that a well-established self-report measure of past conservation behavior would predict people's active participation in a psychological experiment. Based on subjects' degree of environmental engagement, originally established in 2003, we re-contacted a sample of 502 persons in 2005. Of these 502 (68.5% low, 31.5% high in environmentalism), 131 showed up for the announced experiment. Among those participants, we found that environmentalists' prosocial personalities were additionally reflected in their social value orientations. Ninety percent of the environmentalists turned out to be prosocials, whereas only 65% of the less environmentally engaged subjects were prosocials. Overall, our findings lend credit to a notion of environmentalism as an indicator of even subtle quantitative differences in a person's prosocial trait level. By and large, environmentalists acted more prosocially even in mundane activities unrelated to environmental conservation. Additional evidence comes from the commons dilemma experiment in which the participants partook. There, we generally found comparatively more cooperation with others for the collective good from people high in environmentalism. Our findings represent circumstantial evidence for a prosocial propensity dimension along which people differ, and which is also reflected in people's pro-environmental behavioral performance. If, however, environmentalism has to be regarded as indicative of a

Prosocial behavior and gender

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Espinosa, M. P.; Kovářík, Jaromír

2015-01-01

Roč. 9, April/Article Number 88 (2015), s. 1-9 ISSN 1662-5153 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA14-22044S Institutional support: RVO:67985998 Keywords : gender * prosocial behavior * treatment effects Subject RIV: AH - Economics Impact factor: 3.392, year: 2015

Anger and prosocial behavior

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Doorn, Janne; Zeelenberg, Marcel; Breugelmans, Seger M.

2014-01-01

Anger is often primarily portrayed as a negative emotion that motivates antagonistic, aggressive, punitive, or hostile behavior. We propose that this portrayal is too one-sided. A review of the literature on behavioral consequences of anger reveals evidence for the positive and even prosocial

Executive Functions as Predictors of School Performance and Social Relationships: Primary and Secondary School Students.

Science.gov (United States)

Zorza, Juan Pablo; Marino, Julián; Acosta Mesas, Alberto

2016-05-12

This study examined the relationship between executive functions (EFs) and school performance in primary and secondary school students aged 8 to 13 years (N = 146, M = 10.4, 45.8% girls). EFs were evaluated using the Trail Making Test (TMT), Verbal Fluency (VF), and the Stroop Test. Students' GPAs and teachers' assessment of academic skills were used to measure school performance. To evaluate the students' social behavior, participants were asked to rate all their classmates' prosocial behavior and nominate three students with whom they preferred to do school activities; teachers also provided evaluations of students' social skills. EF measures explained 41% (p = .003, f 2 = .694) of variability in school performance and 29% (p = .005, f 2 = .401) of variance in social behavior in primary school students. The predictive power of EFs was found to be lower for secondary school students, although the TMT showed significant prediction and explained 13% (p = .004, f 2 = .149) of variance in school performance and 15% (p = .008, f 2 = .176) in peer ratings of prosocial behavior. This paper discusses the relevance of EFs in the school environment and their different predictive power in primary and secondary school students.

The relations of children's dispositional prosocial behavior to emotionality, regulation, and social functioning.

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Eisenberg, N; Fabes, R A; Karbon, M; Murphy, B C; Wosinski, M; Polazzi, L; Carlo, G; Juhnke, C

1996-06-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the relations of a measure of children's dispositional prosocial behavior (i.e., peer nominations) to individual differences in children's negative emotionality, regulation, and social functioning. Children with prosocial reputations tended to be high in constructive social skills (i.e., socially appropriate behavior and constructive coping) and attentional regulation, and low in negative emotionality. The relations of children's negative emotionality to prosocial reputation were moderated by level of dispositional attentional regulation. In addition, the relations of prosocial reputation to constructive social skills and parent-reported negative emotionality (for girls) increased with age. Vagal tone, a marker of physiological regulation, was negatively related to girls' prosocial reputation.

Relationships Among Student, Staff, and Administrative Measures of School Climate and Student Health and Academic Outcomes.

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Gase, Lauren N; Gomez, Louis M; Kuo, Tony; Glenn, Beth A; Inkelas, Moira; Ponce, Ninez A

2017-05-01

School climate is an integral part of a comprehensive approach to improving the well-being of students; however, little is known about the relationships between its different domains and measures. We examined the relationships between student, staff, and administrative measures of school climate to understand the extent to which they were related to each other and student outcomes. The sample included 33,572 secondary school students from 121 schools in Los Angeles County during the 2014-2015 academic year. A multilevel regression model was constructed to examine the association between the domains and measures of school climate and 5 outcomes of student well-being: depressive symptoms or suicidal ideation, tobacco use, alcohol use, marijuana use, and grades. Student, staff, and administrative measures of school climate were weakly correlated. Strong associations were found between student outcomes and student reports of engagement and safety, while school staff reports and administrative measures of school climate showed limited associations with student outcomes. As schools seek to measure and implement interventions aimed at improving school climate, consideration should be given to grounding these efforts in a multidimensional conceptualization of climate that values student perspectives and includes elements of both engagement and safety. © 2017, American School Health Association.

The Contribution of Student Perceptions of School Climate to Understanding the Disproportionate Punishment of African American Students in a Middle School

Science.gov (United States)

Shirley, Erica L. M.; Cornell, Dewey G.

2012-01-01

This study investigated the contribution of student perceptions of school climate to racial differences in school discipline. Four hundred middle school students completed a school climate survey. Compared to Caucasian students, African-American students were referred to the office for discipline three times as frequently and received five times…

Links between Self-Reported Media Violence Exposure and Teacher Ratings of Aggression and Prosocial Behavior among German Adolescents

Science.gov (United States)

Krahe, Barbara; Moller, Ingrid

2011-01-01

The relations between adolescents' habitual usage of media violence and their tendency to engage in aggressive and prosocial behavior in a school setting were examined in a cross-sectional study with 1688 7th and 8th graders in Germany who completed measures of violent media exposure and normative acceptance of aggression. For each participant,…

Can Schools Engage Students? Multiple Perspectives, Multidimensional School Climate Research in England and Ireland