The promocion of prosocial behaviors and parenting skills at school.

RICHAUD DE MINZI, CRISTINA; LEMOS, VIVIANA; VARGAS RUBILAR, JAEL

Cape Town

Congreso; XXX International Congresss of Psychology Cape Town, South Africa.; 2012

Comission of International Congress of Psychology

Eisenberg et al. (1999) asserts that prosocial behavior is a voluntary behavior intended to benefit others. There is considerable evidence that prosocial behavior begins as early as 6 years old (Persson, 2005; Scourfield, John, Martin, & McGuffin, 2004). Although both individual and environmental factors affect children?s prosocial behavior (Knafo & Plomim, 2006), it is possible to increase it using improving programs. In this work we hypothesize that parental styles of relationships with their children and attachment modulate the results of intervention programs in prosocial behavior. This study included a sample of 50 middle-low socioeconomic stratum children, aged 10 -11 years, from primary schools in Paraná, Argentina. Measures included were: 1) Prosocial Behavior Scale (CP) (Caprara & Pastorelli, 1993) translated and adapted into Spanish by Del Barrio, Moreno & López (2001); 2) Richaud Argentine Scale of Perception of Relationships with Parents for 8 to 12-year old children (Acceptance, Acceptable Control, Strict Control, Pathological Control, and Extreme Autonomy or Negligence), and 3) Kerns Attachment Security, translated and adapted to Argentina children by Richaud, Sacchi, and Moreno (2003). We developed an intervention program that included various activities to encourage prosocial behavior: helping physically and verbally, giving and sharing, providing comfort, positive value of other, and cooperation. These activities were carried out during two school years following both: a specific program and activities integrated in the school curriculum content. To test the hypothesis we conducted a repeated measure ANOVA corresponding to pre and post intervention program in prosocial behavior, with parental styles and attachment as covariance variables.