0000000000424074
AUTHOR
Meredith Mcginley
The interplay of emotional instability, empathy, and coping on prosocial and aggressive behaviors
Abstract Mediating and moderating effects of socioemotive traits and coping styles on aggression and prosocial behaviors were examined. A sample of 1557 students from Spain (53% male, M age = 13.12) completed self-report instruments of coping, empathy, emotional instability, physical aggression, and prosocial behaviors. Structural equation analysis showed support for two mediation models but little support for moderation. Emotional instability positively predicted emotion-focused coping, which in turn, positively predicted aggression. In contrast, empathy positively predicted problem-focused coping, which in turn, positively predicted prosocial behaviors. Moreover, problem-focused coping po…
The Protective Role of Prosocial Behaviors on Antisocial Behaviors: The Mediating Effects of Deviant Peer Affiliation
Prosocial behaviors, actions intended to help others, may serve a protective function against association with deviant peers and subsequent delinquent and antisocial behaviors. The present study examined the relations among specific types of prosocial behaviors, deviant peer affiliation, and delinquent and aggressive behaviors. Six hundred and sixty-six adolescents (46% girls; M age = 15.33, SD = .47) from Valencia, Spain completed questionnaires of prosocial behaviors, affiliation with deviant peers, antisocial behaviors, and aggression. Results showed that antisocial behaviors were negatively related only to specific forms of prosocial behaviors. Further analyses showed that deviant peer …
The Structure and Correlates of a Measure of Prosocial Moral Reasoning in Adolescents from Spain
Examined the structure and correlates of a measure of prosocial moral reasoning in a sample of young and middle-aged adolescents. 1556 students (53% male, M age = 13.12, SD = .87) from Valencia, Spain completed paper-and-pencil measures of prosocial moral reasoning (PROM), empathy, prosocial behaviors, and aggression. As expected, a series of confirmatory factor and structural equation modeling analyses revealed a four-factor solution of the PROM to have the best fit (as compared to alternative models) among Spanish youth (across gender and grade). Moreover, higher level and other-oriented forms of prosocial moral reasoning were generally positively related to empathy and prosocial behavior…