Abstract

The acquisition of prosocial abilities and behaviours (i.e., actions that seek to meet others’ needs) is a valuable part of children’s social and emotional development and can be encouraged through parent-child conversations (Brownell et al., 2013; Nadler, 2015; Spinrad & Gal, 2018). This study investigated the similarities and differences between parent-child conversations that centered on an event wherein the child was a prosocial actor or prosocial target. The study was based on a sample of 56 mother-child dyads with children between the ages of 6-7 years old or 10-11 years old. Half of the dyads (n = 28) discussed a past event wherein the child was the agent of help (actor), while the other 28 discussed an event wherein the child was the recipient of help (target). Transcripts of conversations were reliably coded for references to prosocial acts, consequences, actors’ reasons, targets’ needs, evaluations, and lessons and insights. Results revealed that conversations included more references to reasons for helping and evaluations when the child was the actor, whereas consequences of help for targets were discussed more when children were targets of help. Across both events, there were more references to positive (rather than negative) evaluations and consequences. Conversations with girls included more references to target’s needs while boys included more evaluations. Overall, findings highlight the importance of investigating children’s experiences of both helping and being helped and reveal the role of parent-child conversations in supporting children’s prosocial understanding across both types of events.
Keywords: prosociality, helper, recipient, parents, conversations, socialization