Parental acceptance–rejection and child prosocial behavior: Developmental transactions across the transition to adolescence in nine countries, mothers and fathers, and girls and boys.

Abstract

Promoting children’s prosocial behavior is a goal for parents, healthcare professionals, and nations. Does positive parenting promote later child prosocial behavior, or do children who are more prosocial elicit more positive parenting later, or both? Relations between parenting and prosocial behavior have to date been studied only in a narrow band of countries, mostly with mothers and not fathers, and child gender has infrequently been explored as a moderator of parenting – prosocial relations. This cross-national study uses 1178 families (mothers, fathers, and children) from 9 countries to explore developmental transactions between parental acceptance-rejection and girls’ and boys’ prosocial behavior across three waves (child ages 9 to 12). Controlling for stability across waves, within-wave relations, and parental age and education, higher parental acceptance predicted increased child prosocial behavior from age 9 to 10 and from age 10 to 12. Higher age 9 child prosocial behavior also predicted increased parental acceptance from age 9 to 10. These transactional paths were invariant across 9 countries, mothers and fathers, and girls and boys. Parental acceptance increases child prosocial behaviors later, but child prosocial behaviors are not effective at increasing parental acceptance in the transition to adolescence. This study identifies widely applicable socialization processes across countries, mothers and fathers, and girls and boys.

‘Be the match’. Predictors of decisions concerning registration in potential bone marrow donor registry in a group of Polish young adults as an example of prosocial behaviour

“…The results indicated that among family factors, emotions in the family, and particularly the relation of love and concern and showing love and concern, exerted the most significant effect on the decision to register as a PBMD. This seems to confirm the results of a study emphasizing that a substantial effect of living in a family is supporting positive affective conditions (Carlson et al 1988), especially closeness (Kumru 2002;Tannen 2007;Putnick et al 2018). This takes place by messages which provide for family members the feeling of concern, respect, and being valued, i.e., emotional messages.…”

Children with Trans Parents: Parent–Child Relationship Quality and Psychological Well-being

“…Step cross-culturally (Putnick et al, 2015), including psychological adjustment (Rohner, 2010) and child prosocial behavior (Putnick et al, 2018), and as such the current findings indicate the likelihood of good future outcomes for the children in the current sample. Contrary to commonly held concerns about the potentially detrimental effects for children of growing up with a trans parent, the children and adolescents in the current sample showed good psychological adjustment and did not show elevated rates of problems in comparison to population norms.…”

Examining effects of parent warmth and control on internalizing behavior clusters from age 8 to 12 in 12 cultural groups in nine countries

“…When children were ages 8–10 and 12, mothers, fathers, and children completed the Parental Acceptance‐Rejection/Control Questionnaire‐Short Form; Rohner, ). This measure is translated and used in at least 60 countries and has demonstrated good reliability and validity when used in the cultural groups and at the ages included in this study (Putnick et al, ). Each parent reported on their own warmth and control, and children used the same scales to provide their own ratings about both their mothers' and fathers' warmth and control.…”