Kinder Than We Might Think: How Adolescents Are Kind

Abstract

Educators and parents alike have high expectations that adolescents behave prosocially and, within the context of schools, this is evident in curriculum grounded in social and emotional learning and in kindness-themed school-wide initiatives. Despite this emphasis on kindness, relatively little is empirically known about how adolescents enact kindness. To understand just how adolescents demonstrate kindness, a study of 191 ninth graders was conducted in which students were asked to plan and complete five kind acts. In addition to planning and doing acts of kindness, participants were asked to rate their face-to-face and online kindness, report the number of kind acts they completed, identify the recipients of their acts, and assess the quality of their kind acts. At post-test, participants’ self-ratings of both face-to-face and online kindness were significantly higher than their pre-test ratings. Only one third of participants completed all of their kind acts, most participants chose familiar others as the recipients of their kindness, and the bulk of participants rated their acts of kindness as medium quality on a low–medium–high scale. The kind acts done by participants reflected the themes of helping with chores, being respectful, complimenting/encouraging others, and giving objects or money. Implications for educators and parents are discussed.

What do Teachers do to Show They Care? Learning From the Voices of Early Adolescents

“…In addition, often more than one kind theme occurred within students' responses, increasing the overall frequency of kind themes. However, the diversity of the 13 kindness themes generated by students is notable and aligns both with previous studies that have found a multidimensionality to early adolescents' conceptualizations of kindness (Binfet, 2020) and the multiple facets of kindness outlined in the CCK framework (Hulburt et al, 2020). Specifically, the present data supports this broader definition of teacher kindness that comprises themes of friendly/ warm dispositions (e.g., "They say good morning"), to more complex themes exemplifying a mindful approach to teaching (Hulburt et al, 2020), such as teacher's empathy ("Notice when you upset"), compassion ("They comfort you when the person is sad"), and helpfulness ("Help you to learn more," "Help us").…”

The meaning of kindness and gratitude in Japan: A mixed-methods study

“…Overall, we found examples of kindness and gratitude that are similar to those given by Western participants in previous research (e.g. Binfet, 2020). Examples of giving and receiving instrumental support were most frequent, and the concrete descriptions of support were very similar in the two experimental groups (kindness and gratitude).…”

“…While some positive-psychology interventions give examples of acts of kindness (Nelson et al, 2015) or expressions of gratitude reported by participants (Emmons & McCullough, 2003), fewer have actually analyzed people's definitions of kindness and gratitude in-depth. Focusing on children's and adolescents' definitions of kindness, Binfet and his colleagues reveal that kindness is mostly understood as helping, showing respect, giving, and encouraging (Binfet, 2020;Binfet & Passmore, 2019;Binfet & Whitehead, 2019). Another thematic analysis of adolescents' conceptualizations of kindness found themes such as helping, emotional support, generosity, forgiveness, honesty, and inclusion (Cotney & Banerjee, 2019).…”

Contributing to an Evidence-Based Practice in Canadian School Psychology

“…(Segal & Collin-Vézina, 2019) Social and emotional learning. (Binfet, 2020; Boudreau et al, 2019; Exner-Cortens et al, 2020a; Santos & Langill, 2020) Mental Health. (Exner-Cortens et al, 2020b; Rodger et al, 2019) Assessment.…”

“…Social and emotional learning. (Binfet, 2020; Boudreau et al, 2019; Exner-Cortens et al, 2020a; Santos & Langill, 2020)…”