Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Feb;52(2):253-258.
doi: 10.1037/dev0000076.

Prosocial behavior and childhood trajectories of internalizing and externalizing problems: The role of neighborhood and school contexts

Eirini Flouri  1 , Zahra Sarmadi  1
Affiliations

Prosocial behavior and childhood trajectories of internalizing and externalizing problems: The role of neighborhood and school contexts

Eirini Flouri et al. Dev Psychol. 2016 Feb.

Abstract

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 context was captured by the proportion of subsidized (social rented) housing in the neighborhood and school context by school-level achievement. Even after adjustment for child- and family-level covariates, prosocial behavior was related both to lower levels of problem behavior at school entry and to its trajectory before and after. Neighborhood social housing was related to the trajectory of problem behavior, and school-level achievement to lower levels of problem behavior at school entry. The negative association between prosocial and problem behavior was stronger for children attending low-performing schools or living in disadvantaged neighborhoods. The adverse "effect" of low prosocial behavior, associated with low empathy and guilt and with constricted emotionality, on internalizing and externalizing problems appears to be exacerbated in high-risk contexts.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Predicted trajectories of total difficulties by prosocial behavior for children in high- and low-performing schools (Model 3). “Low-performing school” is the bottom decile of schools based on school-level Key Stage I average point scores, and “high-performing school” is the top decile. “High prosocial score” is the top decile of prosocial behavior score, and “low prosocial score” is the bottom decile. Predictions are plotted for the reference group for each categorical variable and at the mean of each continuous variable. See the online article for the color version of this figure.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Predicted trajectories of total difficulties by prosocial behavior for children in neighborhoods with high and low proportions of social renters (Model 3). “Low neighborhood-level social housing” is the bottom quintile of neighborhoods based on the proportion of adult residents in social rented housing, and “high neighborhood-level social housing” is the top quintile. “High prosocial score” is the top decile of prosocial behavior score, and “low prosocial score” is the bottom decile. Predictions are plotted for the reference group for each categorical variable and at the mean of each continuous variable. See the online article for the color version of this figure.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Biglan A., & Hinds E. (2009). Evolving prosocial and sustainable neighborhoods and communities. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 5, 169–196. 10.1146/annurev.clinpsy.032408.153526 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Caprara G. V., Kanacri B. P. L., Gerbino M., Zuffianò A., Alessandri G., Vecchio G., et al. Bridglall B. (2014). Positive effects of promoting prosocial behavior in early adolescence: Evidence from a school-based intervention. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 38, 386–396. 10.1177/0165025414531464 - DOI
    1. Crick N. R., & Dodge K. A. (1994). A review and reformulation of social information-processing mechanisms in children’s social adjustment. Psychological Bulletin, 115, 74–101. 10.1037/0033-2909.115.1.74 - DOI
    1. Egger H. L., & Angold A. (2006). Common emotional and behavioral disorders in preschool children: Presentation, nosology, and epidemiology. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 47, 313–337. 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2006.01618.x - DOI - PubMed
    1. Eisenberg N., Fabes R. A., & Spinrad T. L. (2006). Prosocial development In Lerner R. M., Damon W., & Eisenberg N. (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology (6th ed., Vol. 3, pp. 646–718). New York, NY: Wiley.

Publication types