Bernadette Paula Luengo Kanacri

Positive Effects of Promoting Prosocial Behavior in Early Adolescence: Evidence from a School-Based Intervention.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a pilot school-based intervention called CEPIDEA, designed to promote prosocial behavior in early adolescence. The study took place in a middle school located in a small city near Rome. The intervention group included 151 students (52.3% males; Mage = 12.4), and the control group 173 students (50.3% females; Mage = 13.0). Both groups were assessed at three time points, each 6 months apart. A Latent Growth Curve analysis revealed that the intervention group, compared to the control group, showed an increase of helping behavior along with a decrease of physical and verbal aggression across time. Current results also showed that the increase of helping behavior mediated the decline of verbal aggression in adolescents who had attended the intervention. Participants of CEPIDEA also attained higher grades than the control group at the end of middle school. Overall, findings suggest that promoting prosocial behavior may serve to counteract aggressive conduct and enhance academic achievement during adolescence.

Prosociality During the Transition From Late Adolescence to Young Adulthood The Role of Effortful Control and Ego-Resiliency

The present prospective study examined the prediction of prosociality from effortful control and ego-resiliency from late adolescence to emerging adulthood. Participants were 476 young adults (239 males and 237 females) with a mean age of 16 years (SD = .81) at T1, 18 years (SD = .83) at T2, 20 years (SD = .79) at T3, 22 years (SD = .81) at T4, and 26 years (SD = .81) at T5. Controlling for the stability of the examined variables and the effect of potential confounding variables (i.e., sex, socioeconomic status [SES], and age), results supported a model in which a temperamental dimension, effortful control, positively predicted a specific behavioral tendency (i.e., prosociality) indirectly through mediation by a personality factor (i.e., ego-resiliency). Practical implications of the results are discussed in terms of the importance of early prevention efforts designed to enhance the capacity to cope effectively with emotional reactions and difficult situations.

The Mediational Role of Values in Linking Personality Traits to Civic Engagement in Italian Youth

In recent decades, given new forms of political participation, the involvement of young people in the civic domain begins to be a focus of many studies. The present study examined the role of personality traits and personal values in the prediction of civic engagement (CE) in Italian youth ranging in age from 19 to 29 years old involved in an ongoing longitudinal study. The multidimensionality of a scale tapping CE has been demonstrated with the examination of confirmatory factor analysis. Structural equation modeling corroborated a mediational model in which benevolence fully mediated the relationship of the traits of agreeableness and openness with civic associationism, whereas power fully mediated the relationship of the traits of agreeableness and openness with political associationism. In this mediational model men reported higher levels of power than women, whereas women reported higher levels of agreeableness and openness traits. Since basic personal traits have been identified as the root of any behavioral tendency and values have been recognized as the more flexible and changeable variables, future interventions aimed to foster CE in youth could be designed considering the strength relationship between the examined dimensions in the present study.

The Relation of Pro-Sociality to Self-Esteem:The Mediational Role of Quality of Friendships

The present longitudinal study examined the role of quality of friendship in mediating the relation of pro-sociality to self-esteem over time. Participants were 424 Italian young adults (56% females) assessed at two waves (M(age) = 21.1 at Time 1; M(age) = 25 at Time 2). An autoregressive cross-lagged panel model was used to test the mediational model. Self- and friend-report measures of pro-sociality, quality of friendship, and self-esteem were included in the analyses. Results were in line with the hypothesized paths, with quality of friendship mediating the relation of pro-sociality to later self-esteem above and beyond its high stability. Self-esteem, in turn, predicted pro-sociality 4 years later. Overall, the present findings support the potential benefits of behaving pro-socially for an actor in terms of increased perceived self-worth and also expand previous work by outlining the specific mediational role of the quality of friendships. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.

Civic engagement and giving behaviors: The role of empathy and beliefs about poverty

ABSTRACT The current study explores different routes to civic involvement by identifying how a context-specific dimension of empathy and beliefs of autonomy and dependency might jointly predict different types of giving behaviors (i.e., monetary donations), which in turn should predict civic engagement. The sample consisted of 1,294 participants (656 females) between the ages of 18 to 64 (Mage = 38.44, SD = 14.71), randomly selected from seven different cities in Chile. Even after controlling for gender, age, and the socioeconomic status of participants, results mainly support the role of giving behaviors as drivers of actual engagement in civic life. Monetary donations, in turn, are predicted by higher levels of empathy toward poverty and autonomy-oriented beliefs. Implications of these findings are discussed in terms of agentic perspectives on civic participation.