The Influence of Gender, Verbal Ability, and Socioeconomic Adversity on the Development of a Prosocial Disposition in a Sample of Urban Adolescents
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Having a prosocial disposition is an important predictor of mental and physical health and is a key factor for one’s integration into society and the maintenance of a civil society. A prosocial disposition can be characterized as being inclined to act in ways that benefit other people or society. Common conceptualizations include altruism, helping behaviors, volunteerism, empathy, sympathy, and other-oriented perspective taking. The development of a prosocial disposition is known to be an age-salient developmental task which usually crystallizes during adolescence. The focus on factors that contribute to the positive development of adolescents is part of a burgeoning field that rejects the focus on antisocial behaviors and the characterization of adolescents as problems to be fixed. Rather, the positive youth development approach recognizes the innate and unique potential for successful, healthy, positive development that all young people possess. For these reasons, it is important to understand what encourages or inhibits adolescents’ development of a prosocial disposition. I focus on family and neighborhood correlates as opposed to only individual traits that have largely been the focus of research on the development of a prosocial disposition.
This study examines how gender, verbal ability, socioeconomic adversity, and several family- and neighborhood-level variables impact adolescents’ development of a prosocial disposition. Using data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN) study, I conduct hierarchical linear modeling on a 12 year old cohort. I find that, consistent with past research, being female, having a better verbal ability, and having reliable relationships with adults are all significantly associated with more prosociality. In contrast to previous research, I find no statistical relationship between socioeconomic status or parenting quality and the development of a prosocial disposition. Although socioeconomic adversity has been shown to negatively impact prosocial behaviors in several other studies, my findings do support research and theory that suggests that socioeconomic status alone cannot (and should not) be used to explain variations in well-being. Furthermore, I find that collective efficacy is a protective factor in the development of a prosocial disposition for boys, but not girls. I discuss these findings in the context of the theoretical and empirical contributions of my dissertation as well as policy implications, study limitations, and directions for future research.
Document number: kent1344608906
Permalink: http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1344608906
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