How socialization goals and peer social climate predict young children's concern for others: Evidence for a development shift between 2 and 4 years of age

Abstract

Children's concern for others is shaped through socialization, but current theories make different predictions as to how and when in development this socializing occurs. Here we found that mothers' prosocial socialization goals (SGs) predicted concern for others in 2‐year‐old (n = 804) and 4‐year‐old (n = 714) children. In contrast, preschool teachers' SGs predicted concern for others only for 4‐year‐old children. In addition, a positive social climate among classroom peers predicted 4‐year‐olds' prosociality. These results suggest that the nuclear family environment impacts toddlers' concern for others before the broader social environment shapes their prosociality at preschool age.

Prosocial Behavior in Preschoolers: Effects of Early Socialization Experiences With Peers

“…New data are provided confirming that daycare attendance does not appear to have an impact on the enactment of prosocial behaviors when considering the total amount of such behaviors, not only in the immediate ( Bleiker et al, 2019 ), but also in later periods ( Pingault et al, 2015 ; Schmerse and Hepach, 2021 ). However, at the same time, this early socialization experience appears to negatively influence, specifically, the production of prosocial acts following a request from a peer.…”

“…Indeed, the daycare experience requires children to create new relationships outside the family very early on, and this means to engage in interactions with peers, to adapt to teachers’ expectations and demands, and to test and modify their social-emotional abilities by experience ( Hyson and Taylor, 2011 ; Grazzani et al, 2016 ). As some studies have shown, while attending daycare children are frequently exposed to prosocial behaviors and, consequently, they are prone to enact such behaviors themselves for two main reasons: one refers to social imitation processing, the other to the evidence that through the care that the young children receive, they learn to care for others ( Quigley and Hall, 2016 ; McCormick, 2018 ; Bleiker et al, 2019 ; Schmerse and Hepach, 2021 ). Furthermore, the study of Over and Carpenter (2009) evidenced that the mere condition of familiarizing children with photographs in which group situations are represented, and thus clearly affiliative and social, leads them to enact more helping behaviors than children who have been exposed to non-affiliative pictures, in which isolated individuals are represented.…”

“…Moreover, considering this period of life it is also possible to investigate whether and how early socialization may foster or inhibit prosociality (Tomasello, 2016(Tomasello, , 2019Flook et al, 2019;Schmerse and Hepach, 2021). Many studies have focused on the psychological outcomes that may emerge if children also receive early socialization outside of the family context, i.e., in daycare, where they have various experiences with the peer group, under the guidance of one or more teachers (McCormick, 2018;Bleiker et al, 2019).…”

“…It is important to underline that also daycare teachers often promote prosocial behavior among children ( Quigley and Hall, 2016 ; McCormick, 2018 ; Bleiker et al, 2019 ; Schmerse and Hepach, 2021 ), focusing their attention on others’ distress as the mothers usually did ( Döge and Keller, 2014 ) and encouraging helping behaviors ( Grazzani et al, 2016 ) more than cooperation during structured activities or play ( Li et al, 2016 ).…”

“…However, studies in this area of investigation are quite scarce. A recent study by Schmerse and Hepach (2021) found that both parent and teacher socialization goals, but also the social climate among peers in the classroom group, predicts young children’s concern for others and their subsequent acts of help between the ages of two and four: children who received good quality of care in both the family and daycare environments and who experienced a pleasant climate of peer interaction exhibited more prosocial behavior than children who grew up early only in the family context. These findings are consistent with those from previous studies that showed good daycare experience can promote prosociality ( Hyson and Taylor, 2011 ; Grazzani et al, 2016 ; Quigley and Hall, 2016 ; McCormick, 2018 ).…”