Fostering Positive Changes in Health and Social Relationships in Children

Lozada, Mariana; Carro, Natalia; Kapelmayer, Marcela; Kelmanowicz, Viviana; Czar, Andrea; D’Adamo, Paola

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-51787-2_9

Cited by 2 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…Peer social relationships are crucial to a child's healthy development (Eccles, 1999;Vanaelst et al, 2012). Several studies have shown that negative social interactions can significantly affect their health and wellbeing (e.g., Carro et al, 2020Carro et al, , 2021Lozada et al, 2014aLozada et al, , 2017Ponzi et al, 2016;Vanaelst et al, 2012). We consider social integration to be a parameter that indicates the diversity and richness of social bonds and illustrates the degree to which a student feels integrated into their school peer group (Moyano et al, 2019).…”

Section: Review Of Termsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous studies have revealed that empathy is a key factor for the development of compassion and healthy interpersonal relationships (e.g., Decety et al, 2016;Eisenberg, 2002;Ozawa-de Silva & Dodson-Lavelle, 2011). Altruistic behaviour is highly affected by social contexts (e.g., Carro et al, 2020;Eisenberg & Fabes, 1998;Lozada et al, 2014bLozada et al, , 2017Mikulincer & Shaver, 2005, 2017, and environments that promote perspective-taking can foster the development of this human ability (e.g., Batson et al, 1988). Several studies have shown that empathy, compassion and altruism are strongly interrelated, and can improve social integration, cognitive function and general wellness in children (e.g., Carro et al, 2020Carro et al, , 2021Carro et al, , 2022Flook et al, 2015;Lozada et al, 2014aLozada et al, , 2014bLozada et al, , 2017Ozawa-de Silva & Dodson-Lavelle, 2011;Schonert-Reichl et al, 2015;Spinrad & Gal, 2018).…”

Section: Review Of Interventionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Altruistic behaviour is highly affected by social contexts (e.g., Carro et al, 2020;Eisenberg & Fabes, 1998;Lozada et al, 2014bLozada et al, , 2017Mikulincer & Shaver, 2005, 2017, and environments that promote perspective-taking can foster the development of this human ability (e.g., Batson et al, 1988). Several studies have shown that empathy, compassion and altruism are strongly interrelated, and can improve social integration, cognitive function and general wellness in children (e.g., Carro et al, 2020Carro et al, , 2021Carro et al, , 2022Flook et al, 2015;Lozada et al, 2014aLozada et al, , 2014bLozada et al, , 2017Ozawa-de Silva & Dodson-Lavelle, 2011;Schonert-Reichl et al, 2015;Spinrad & Gal, 2018). In particular, the positive effect of altruistic acts on the immune system and psycho-physiological wellbeing of the helper has been demonstrated (e.g., Brown et al, 2005;Cohen & Janicki-Deverts, 2009;Kok & Fredrickson, 2010;Maratos & Sheffield, 2020).…”

Section: Review Of Interventionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, interventions based on the Kindness Curriculum performed over 12 weeks favoured self-regulation and altruism in preschool children (e.g., Flook et al, 2015). In other studies, prosocial-based interventions contributed to the enhancement of altruistic attitudes, while reducing chronic stress (Carro et al, 2020(Carro et al, , 2021Lozada et al, 2014bLozada et al, , 2017. Moreover, CBCT has been effective in fostering compassion towards others (e.g., Ozawa-de Silva & Dodson-Lavelle, 2011;Reddy et al, 2013).…”

Section: Review Of Interventionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This context affects social relationships in educational settings, compromising children's health and wellbeing. For this reason, the cultivation of socioemotional skills like empathy, compassion and altruism during childhood is becoming increasingly important, and promising results have been achieved by mind-body integration programmes (e.g., Carro et al, 2020Carro et al, , 2021Estévez López et al, 2009;Flook et al, 2015;Lozada et al, 2014aLozada et al, , 2017. The purpose of this research seeks to evaluate whether a compassionate-based-intervention promotes social integration, affective empathy and altruistic attitudes in primary school children from Argentina.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A school intervention promotes compassion, empathy and social relationships in children

Kappelmayer

Czar

Tresca

et al. 2022

School Psychology International

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There is increasing evidence to show that compassion and altruism are highly beneficial when cultivated from an early age. In the present study we explore the benefits of an intervention programme that seeks to develop affective empathy, compassion and altruism in 9-year-old children from a school of Buenos Aires, Argentina. A pretest-posttest controlled study was carried out with 48 children, half of whom carried out the intervention. The remaining children, who constituted the waitlist group, participated in academic tutoring activities conducted by the same research team. The intervention was successful in promoting children's altruistic and compassionate attitudes, evidenced by the results obtained in the universal altruism test, social integration, and affective response. Effect sizes ranged from medium to large in the intervention group. These positive findings were not observed in the waitlist group (non-significant effect sizes). This study shows that children's self-awareness and awareness of others tend to foster compassion and affective empathy, contributing to individual and collective well-being.

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Section: Review Of Termsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Review Of Interventionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Review Of Interventionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Review Of Interventionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

A school intervention promotes compassion, empathy and social relationships in children

Kappelmayer

Czar

Tresca

et al. 2022

School Psychology International

Self Cite

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Social relationships in children: favourable influence of activities promoting self-awareness and empathic interaction

Carro

Kuperman

D’Adamo

et al. 2021

Journal of Complex Networks

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Embodied and intersubjective experience is crucial to the social cognition processes on which interpersonal relationships are based. We assessed whether promoting these processes through participation in self-awareness and empathic interaction activities can influence social integration among peers in 7- to 8-year-old children. The intervention, conducted in a school context, included mindfulness-based practices (favouring self-awareness), empathic collaboration activities and perspective-taking instances (promoting other-oriented awareness). To evaluate social integration levels, children were asked to complete a sociometric questionnaire, each listing the peers they would choose to play with (positive ties) and those they would prefer not to play with (negative ties). Based on this relational data, two types of directed networks were constructed: positive networks (PN) and negative networks (NN), in two temporal instances (pre- and post-intervention). In both the experimental and waitlist groups, pre–post intervention changes in the topology of peer social networks were evaluated by analysing global network properties such as connectivity, degree distribution, density, reciprocity, transitivity and modular structure. Our findings showed that after participating in the intervention social integration was improved, reflected in increased general interconnection of positive ties: greater average connectivity and density in PN, more equitably distributed choices (no evident leadership), greater cohesion and an increase in the number of reciprocal interactions. Additionally, we found a lower level of social rejection; that is, lower average connectivity and density in NN, the persistence of only mutual negative choices and negative ties confined to small groups. These findings were not observed in the waitlist group. This study demonstrates how participation in an intervention that promotes social cognition processes can influence the structure of peer social networks, favouring social integration. The social network analysis provides quantitative evidence of the plasticity of social relationships in children, constituting a valuable tool for the assessment of this kind of intervention at a group level.

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Fostering Positive Changes in Health and Social Relationships in Children

Cited by 2 publications

References 44 publications

A school intervention promotes compassion, empathy and social relationships in children

A school intervention promotes compassion, empathy and social relationships in children

Social relationships in children: favourable influence of activities promoting self-awareness and empathic interaction

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