Links Between Adolescents' Expected Parental Reactionsand Prosocial Behavioral Tendencies: The Mediating Roleof Prosocial Values

摘要

The purpose of the present study was toexamine relations between adolescents' social cognitionsregarding parenting practices and adolescents' prosocialbehavioral tendencies. A mediation model was testedwhereby the degree to which adolescents perceived theirparents as responding appropriately to their prosocial andantisocial behaviors was hypothesized to predict adoles-cents' tendencies toward prosocial behavior indirectlyby way of adolescents' prosocial values. Adolescents(N = 140; M age = 16.76 years, SD = .80; 64% girls;91% European Americans) completed measures of proso-cial values and of the appropriateness with which theyexpected their parents to react to their prosocial and anti-social behaviors. In addition, teachers and parents rated theadolescents' tendencies for prosocial behaviors. A struc-tural equation model test showed that the degree to whichadolescents expected their parents to respond appropriatelyto their prosocial behaviors was related positively to theirprosocial values, which in turn was positively associatedwith their tendencies to engage in prosocial behaviors (asreported by parents and teachers). The findings provideevidence for the central role of adolescents' evaluationsand expectancies of parental behaviors and of the role of values in predicting prosocial tendencies. Discussionfocuses on the implications for moral socialization theoriesand on the practical implications of these findings inunderstanding adolescents' prosocial development.