The Interplay of Self–Certainty and Prosocial Development in the Transition from Late Adolescence to Emerging Adulthood

The Impact of Increasing Subjective Economic Inequality on Prosocial Behavior Development: The Longitudinal Mediating Effect of Trust and Moderating Effect of Socioeconomic Status

While the adverse effects of economic inequality on prosocial behavior have been well-documented, the dynamic processes and underlying mechanisms during emerging adulthood remain equivocal. Whether this relation is consistent across different socioeconomic status groups also awaits to be unveiled. To address these gaps, this three-year longitudinal study shed light on the developmental nature of subjective economic inequality, trust, as well as prosocial behavior, and the nuance within such associations across low- and high-socioeconomic status groups. This study collected data from 1065 Chinese emerging adults (649 females; Mage = 18.34 years, SD = 0.77) at Time 1, with 981 (attrition rate = 7.88%), 874 (attrition rate = 10.91%), and 830 (attrition rate = 5.03%) participating in Time 2, Time 3, and Time 4, respectively. Results of latent growth modeling found that subjective economic inequality increased, whereas trust and prosocial behavior declined over time. Initial levels of subjective economic inequality were indirectly through initial trust linked to the initial levels of and changes in prosocial behavior. Multi-group results revealed that in the high-socioeconomic status group, initial subjective economic inequality affected subsequent growth in prosocial behavior via changes in trust, whereas in the low-socioeconomic status group, the effect occurred through initial trust. These findings highlight that declining trust is the central mechanism by which subjective economic inequality reduces prosocial behavior, with different influencing pathways across socioeconomic status groups in the Chinese cultural context.

Associations between moral disengagement and prosocial and antisocial behavior in sport: A systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to summarize the available evidence on the extent of the association between moral disengagement (MD) and prosocial behavior (PB) and antisocial behavior (AB) in sport.

DESIGN

A systematic review and meta-analysis.

METHODS

Seven databases were systematically searched and literature screening. The CMA Version 3.3 was applied to estimate confidence intervals for the average effect sizes. The Q statistic and I-squared index were used to test for heterogeneity. Funnel plots, fail-safe numbers (Nfs), and Egger's linear regression were used to analyze publication bias. Sensitivity analyses were used to identify outliers, and subgroup analyses and meta-regression were used to test potential moderators.

RESULTS

Twenty-nine studies were included, and the results showed the negative correlation between MD and PB in sport was small in size (r = -0.22, 95 % CI [-0.30, -0.14]), while the positive correlation between MD and AB in sport was large in size (r = 0.53, 95 % CI [0.48, 0.59]). More specifically, MD was negatively correlated with PB toward teammates (r = -0.07, 95 % CI [-0.12, -0.01]) and PB toward opponents (r = -0.09, 95 % CI [-0.18, -0.01]), with very small effect sizes, but positively correlated with AB toward teammates (r = 0.43, 95 % CI [0.35, 0.51]) and AB toward opponents (r = 0.56, 95 % CI [0.49, 0.63]), with medium to large effect sizes. Subgroup analyses revealed that individualism-collectivism and sports type moderated the association between MD and AB.

DISCUSSION

Mechanisms of moral disengagement were more strongly associated with antisocial behaviors than prosocial behaviors in sport. In the future, there is a necessity to conduct further research on non-contact sports and different subtypes of antisocial behavior using high-quality study designs.

Revisiting the musical reminiscence bump: insights from neurocognitive and social brain development in adolescence

Music listening is enjoyed across the lifespan and around the world. This has spurred many theories on the evolutionary purpose of music. The Music for Social Bonding hypothesis posits that the human capacity to make music evolved for the purpose of creating and preserving relationships between one another. Considering different time periods of music use across the lifespan, adolescence is especially a period of social reorientation away from family towards peers, characterized by new social bonds and increased prosocial behavior. This shift is accompanied by notable structural and functional changes in brain networks supporting reward processing and prosocial behavior. Reviewing the extant literature on developmental cognitive neuroscience and adolescent music use, we propose that neurocognitive changes in the reward system make adolescence an ideal developmental time window for investigating interactions between prosocial behavior and reward processing, as adolescence constitutes a time of relative increase in music reward valuation. Testing this hypothesis may clarify our understanding of developmental trajectories in music reward valuation, and offer insights into why music from adults' adolescence holds a great deal of personal significance.

Developmental changes of bodily self-consciousness in adolescent girls

The body and the self change markedly during adolescence, but how does bodily self-consciousness, the pre-reflexive experience of being a bodily subject, change? We addressed this issue by studying embodiment towards virtual avatars in 70 girls aged 10-17 years. We manipulated the synchrony between participants' and avatars' touch or movement, as well as the avatar visual shape or size relative to each participant's body. A weaker avatar's embodiment in case of mismatch between the body seen in virtual reality and the real body is indicative of a more robust bodily self-consciousness. In both the visuo-tactile and the visuo-motor experiments, asynchrony decreased ownership feeling to the same extent for all participants, while the effect of asynchrony on agency feeling increased with age. In the visuo-tactile experiment, incongruence in visual appearance did not affect agency feeling but impacted ownership, especially in older teenage girls. These findings highlight the higher malleability of bodily self-consciousness at the beginning of adolescence and suggest some independence between body ownership and agency.

Effect of parental rearing styles on adolescent ego identity: the mediating role of involutionary attitudes

Previous studies have found that negative parental rearing styles can negatively predict the acquisition of ego identity, while it has not been discussed whether the overcompetitive attitudes, a stable personality, will further hinder their ego identity development under the model of educational involutionary. The study used the Overcompetitive Attitude Scale, the Brief Parental Rearing Styles Questionnaire, and the Ego Identity Status Scale to investigate 550 young students in a school in Suzhou in order to explore the influence of parental rearing styles on adolescents' ego identity development and the role of involutional attitudes. The results showed that: (1) Adolescents' overcompetitive attitude was positively predicted by parental rejection and overprotection, while it was negatively predicted by parental emotional warmth. (2) Parental emotional warmth significantly predicted adolescents' ego identity status more favorably than parental rejection, overprotection, and overcompetitive attitude. (3) Overcompetitive attitude plays a partial intermediary role between parental rearing style and ego identity.

Educational identity and maternal helicopter parenting: Moderation by the perceptions of environmental threat

This four-wave study examined longitudinal associations between maternal helicopter parenting and college students' educational identity processes over 1 year, as well as the moderating effects of mothers' perceived environmental threats (i.e., uncertainty and competition). Participants were 349 first-year university students (39.8% male, Mage  = 18.20) and their mothers (Mage  = 49.10) in Hong Kong. Latent class growth analysis identified two subgroups based on levels of mothers' threat perceptions (i.e., lower vs. higher). Multi-group random-intercept cross-lagged models found that, at the within-person level, students' reconsideration of educational commitments positively predicted helicopter parenting only for mothers with higher threat perceptions. These findings mainly support youth-driven effects on overbearing parenting behaviors. Mothers' threat perceptions might exacerbate these excessive responses to youth's academic turbulence.

A neurocognitive model of early onset persistent and desistant antisocial behavior in early adulthood

It remains unclear which functional and neurobiological mechanisms are associated with persistent and desistant antisocial behavior in early adulthood. We reviewed the empirical literature and propose a neurocognitive social information processing model for early onset persistent and desistant antisocial behavior in early adulthood, focusing on how young adults evaluate, act upon, monitor, and learn about their goals and self traits. Based on the reviewed literature, we propose that persistent antisocial behavior is characterized by domain-general impairments in self-relevant and goal-related information processing, regulation, and learning, which is accompanied by altered activity in fronto-limbic brain areas. We propose that desistant antisocial development is associated with more effortful information processing, regulation and learning, that possibly balances self-relevant goals and specific situational characteristics. The proposed framework advances insights by considering individual differences such as psychopathic personality traits, and specific emotional characteristics (e.g., valence of social cues), to further illuminate functional and neural mechanisms underlying heterogenous developmental pathways. Finally, we address important open questions and offer suggestions for future research to improve scientific knowledge on general and context-specific expression and development of antisocial behavior in early adulthood.

Psychopathic traits in the interpersonal context: Is the effect of psychopathic traits on prosocial behavior mediated by peer problems?

Psychopathic traits are often investigated within the individual, while most traits come to expression within the interpersonal context. Low social communion might even be an important overlooked core feature of psychopathy. This raises the question how psychopathic (i.e., Grandiose-Manipulative, Callous-Unemotional, and Irresponsible-Impulsive) traits affect the tendency to show prosocial behavior, and whether peer problems explain this relationship. Besides, the effects of gender on these subrelations are explored. In total, 541 community adolescents and emerging adults (26.4 % men; 16-25 years old, M_age = 21.7, SD_age = 2.50) completed questionnaires, measuring psychopathic traits, prosocial behavior, and peer problems. The relationship between psychopathic traits and prosocial behavior was investigated with three separate moderated mediation regression analyses (for Grandiose-Manipulative, Callous-Unemotional, and Impulsive-Irresponsible traits separately) including peer problems as mediator and gender as moderator. Significant direct negative effects of Grandiose-Manipulative and Callous-Unemotional traits on prosocial behavior were found, though not for Impulsive-Irresponsible traits. Peer problems did not mediate this relation and gender was no moderator. The significant moderation effect indicated that only for women a significant direct positive effect of Callous-Unemotional traits on peer problems was found, but not for men nor other psychopathic traits. More gender differences were found with men (vs. women) scoring significantly higher on all three psychopathic traits and lower on prosocial behavior. Implications of psychopathic traits within the interpersonal context are discussed and future research could further investigate how this relationship can be explained, for example by including different types of measures and other potential mediators (e.g., empathy).

Variability and change in adolescents' prosocial behavior across multiple time scales

We examined variability and change in adolescents' prosocial behaviors directed to peers and friends across four time scales: two-years, one-year, two-monthly, and daily. Data from three longitudinal datasets with a total of 569 adolescents (55.7% girl, M_age  = 15.23, SD = 3.90) were included. The overall time-related stability of prosocial behavior across time scales was moderate to excellent. Variability did not differ between early (age 10-15) and late (age 16-21) adolescence, but late adolescence was associated with higher mean levels of prosociality. Finally, results indicated that prosocial behaviors measured over longer periods (i.e., two-years and one-year) were positively associated with cognitive processes (perspective taking), whereas prosocial behaviors measured over shorter periods (i.e., two-monthly) were positively associated with affective processes (empathy).

Prosocial behavior predicts meaning in life during the COVID-19 pandemic: The longitudinal mediating role of perceived social support

The COVID-19 pandemic was an unexpected, long-term negative event. Meaning in life has been linked to better psychological adjustment to such events. The current study uses longitudinal data collected during the COVID-19 pandemic to discover whether perceived social support mediates the relationship between six dimensions of prosocial behavior (Altruistic, Anonymous, Public, Compliant, Emotional, and Dire) and meaning in life. A sample of Chinese college students (N = 514) was tracked at three time points (T1, T2, and T3) during the COVID-19 outbreak. A cross-lagged panel model (CLPM) was used for mediation analysis. The mediation effect was found in all the dimensions of prosocial behavior except for Public prosocial behavior. We also found a longitudinal, bidirectional association between perceived social support and meaning in life. The current study contributes to the growing literature on the significance of prosocial behavior in predicting meaning in life.

Longitudinal Relations Between School Climate and Prosocial Behavior: The Mediating Role of Gratitude

Purpose

The school climate, which refers to the quality and character of school life, is associated with a wide range of developmental outcomes. Although researchers have shown considerable interest in uncovering the links between school climate and prosocial behavior, the mechanisms underlying this association remain unclear. Therefore, the current study was designed to investigate the mediating role of gratitude between school climate and adolescents' prosocial behavior.

Methods

A sample of 632 Chinese adolescents (363 girls and 269 boys; M_age = 16.83 years at time 1, SD = 0.68 years) completed a battery of sociometric and self-report questionnaires that measured school climate, gratitude, and prosocial behavior in three waves.

Results

Correlation analysis showed that school climate, gratitude, and prosocial behavior were all significantly and positively intercorrelated across the three waves. Importantly, gratitude completely mediated the relationship between school climate and prosocial behavior (β = 0.005 [95% confidence interval = 0.001, 0.013]) in the three-wave longitudinal mediation model.

Conclusion

As a positive disposition, gratitude fosters prosocial behavior and serves as a mediator between school climate and prosocial behavior. This study provides a theoretical explanation for cultivating adolescents' prosocial behavior and theoretical guidelines for interventions of schools and other socializing agents.

Identities: A developmental social-psychological perspective

In this contribution, we review research that uses a cross-fertilisation approach to integrate developmental and social-psychological perspectives on how identities are formed and changed over time and how identity processes are genuinely social, being embedded in social contexts and fed by social contents. First, we outline the three-factor identity model as a parsimonious approach to understanding the dynamics of identity development. Second, we review empirical studies with longitudinal approaches to shed light on how identity processes are embedded in key contexts such as family, friendships and society at large through behaviours such as civic engagement. Third, we discuss the interplay between personal and social identities. We conclude by highlighting how adopting a cross-fertilisation approach that combines social-psychological and developmental perspective can significantly advance the theoretical understanding of identity dynamics. Finally, we address similarities and differences between personal identity and social identity approaches, and we provide an agenda for future research.

A whirlpool of emotion: How entrepreneurs’ empathy affects employees‘ emotional exhaustion

Drawing upon upper echelons and self-determination theories, we hypothesize and test a mediating process linking entrepreneurs’ empathy to employees‘ emotional exhaustion and the moderating role of psychological empowerment. Based on a dyadic-survey study of entrepreneurs and their employees in high-tech new ventures in China, we conducted the empirical test by using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) and found that entrepreneurs’ empathy has a negative effect on employees‘ emotional exhaustion, and psychological empowerment not only partially mediates the relationship between entrepreneurs’ empathy and employees‘ emotional exhaustion but also positively moderates the above relationship. This study frames an integrative perspective of emotions and psychologies and sheds a nuanced understanding of the mechanisms linking empathy with emotional exhaustion. Limitations and future directions are addressed.

"I Feel You!": The Role of Empathic Competences in Reducing Ethnic Prejudice Among Adolescents

Empathic competences might help adolescents navigate current multicultural societies by supporting harmonious intergroup relations. Yet it is unclear how each component of empathy (empathic concern and perspective-taking) is associated with different dimensions (affective, cognitive, behavioral) of ethnic prejudice. The current study aims to fill this gap. A total of 259 Italian adolescents (M_age = 15.60, 87.6% female) completed online questionnaires at three time points (i.e., April, May, and October 2021). The results of cross-lagged models indicated that empathic concern was directly and indirectly associated with reduced affective, cognitive, and behavioral ethnic prejudice, while perspective-taking was linked to increases in cognitive and one facet of behavioral (i.e., lower contact willingness) prejudice. Furthermore, the prevalence of affect over cognition was found, with the affective component of both empathic competences (i.e., empathic concern) and ethnic prejudice exerting the strongest influence on the cognitive ones.

Barriers and facilitators of willingness to vaccinate against COVID-19: Role of prosociality, authoritarianism and conspiracy mentality. A four-wave longitudinal study

AIM

We investigated longitudinal relations between individual willingness to undergo vaccination against COVID-19 and three social factors: conspiracy mentality, prosociality, and authoritarianism.

METHOD

This longitudinal study comprised four measurement points. The first wave sample included 1130 responses and was representative of the Polish population in terms of gender, age, and place of residence. Analyses were performed using random intercept cross-lagged panel models.

RESULTS

We observed bidirectional positive cross-lagged relationships between prosociality and willingness to undergo vaccination in the first three waves of measurement. Authoritarianism and conspiracy mentality translated into a lower willingness to vaccinate between the third and fourth points of measurement when the vaccination became a near-term possibility.

CONCLUSIONS

Eliciting prosocial motivation to vaccinate can be paramount in overcoming vaccine hesitancy. Because conspiracy thinking may be a crucial barrier to willingness to be vaccinated, it is critical to focus on planning interventions and campaigns undermining conspiracy theories about COVID-19.

The Psychological Motivations to Social Innovation and Transmitting Role of Social Worth

Social innovation has a great chance to overcome problems in complex environments. Individuals' concern for environmental, social, and ethical issues has gradually grown, prompting the rise of new types of consumers, who shift their environmental concerns into action. Social entrepreneurship participants mostly act as beneficiaries and initiators in the process of social innovation. Social exchange theory explains the linkage between individual psychological factors and personal social cognitive perceptions that inspire social innovation intention. The current research framework is constructed to inspect the individual mental process of psychological motivation associated with social innovation intention. The purpose is to understand the relationships between the psychological level of moral idealism, ecological concern, and prior experience on cognitive perceptions of social worth; subsequently, social worth, prosocial motivation, perspective-taking, and positive feelings are examined to discover their influence on social innovation behavioral intention. The transmitting role of social worth exercises a transformative function between participants' psychological motivation, social cognition, and social innovation intention. The research is conducted using partial least squares (PLS) analysis software. The research results reinforce our understanding of theories of individual psychological motivations on social innovation. The findings also offer some suggestions for sustainability education to social enterprise practitioners with respect to recruiting young people and continuing to generate new ideas.

Adolescent identity development in context

One of the key developmental tasks in adolescence is to develop a coherent identity. Studies have increasingly begun to go beyond the study of mean level identity change and examine the underlying mechanisms of identity development at the intraindividual, microlevel, that is, at the level where development is taking place: within the person, in here and now experiences and relationships. Identity development during adolescence is characterized by both systematic maturation and substantial stability. Life events and transitions, as well as accumulating real-time experiences, might play a role in identity development. Optimal development of identity is embedded in high-quality family relationships and friendships in which constructive narrative processes take place.

Dynamics of Identity Development in Adolescence: A Decade in Review

One of the key developmental tasks in adolescence is to develop a coherent identity. The current review addresses progress in the field of identity research between the years 2010 and 2020. Synthesizing research on the development of identity, we show that identity development during adolescence and early adulthood is characterized by both systematic maturation and substantial stability. This review discusses the role of life events and transitions for identity and the role of micro-processes and narrative processes as a potential mechanisms of personal identity development change. It provides an overview of the linkages between identity development and developmental outcomes, specifically paying attention to within-person processes. It additionally discusses how identity development takes place in the context of close relationships.

Disentangling between- and within-person associations between empathy and prosocial behaviours during early adolescence

INTRODUCTION

Although empathy has been found to be related to prosocial behaviour, little is known about the longitudinal links between these two concepts during early adolescence, a unique window into developmental changes on empathy and prosocial behaviour considering the physical, cognitive, socio-emotional and contextual changes occurring during this period. Even though changes in adolescent empathy have been associated to changes in adolescent prosocial behaviour, studies examining this link on the within-person level are lacking. The present study investigated the within-adolescents longitudinal relations among empathy and prosocial behaviour.

METHODS

383 French adolescents (M_ageT1 = 12.15, 50.4% male) reported on their empathy and prosocial behaviour each year across three years. In order to disentangle between-adolescent differences from within-adolescent processes, Random-Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Models were applied.

RESULTS

At the between-person level, there was a strong positive association between empathy and prosocial behaviour. At the within-person level, adolescents who reported more empathy than usual reported higher than usual prosocial behaviour one year later.

CONCLUSIONS

Adolescents with higher empathy compared to their peers tended to be those who reported higher prosocial behaviour. Changes in empathy within-adolescents were related to later within-adolescents' change in prosocial behaviour.

Effects of an intergenerational program on adolescent self-concept clarity: A pilot study

OBJECTIVE

This pilot study examined the effects of a newly developed intergenerational program on self-concept clarity (SCC) of adolescent participants.

METHOD

In 12 encounter groups, 58 secondary school students and 50 nursing home residents shared their life stories and discussed existential questions about life (e.g., important values in life, how to deal with failure and regret). The life story encounter program (LSEP) is based on the dyadic Life Story Interview and was expanded into a group format consisting of ten 90-min sessions. SCC was measured with the SCC Scale before, shortly after, and three months after the end of the LSEP.

RESULTS

Analyses suggest that adolescent LSEP participants' SCC improved compared to a control group (no LSEP participation). Findings also indicate that increases in SCC were associated with LSEP participants' extraversion and agreeableness.

CONCLUSIONS

The LSEP is a promising program for fostering SCC in adolescence. Implications for the application of the LSEP are discussed.

Better self-concept, better future choices? Behavioral and neural changes after a naturalistic self-concept training program for adolescents

A large number of adolescents experience difficulty when choosing a suitable higher education program that matches their self-views. Stimulating self-concept development could help adolescents to increase their chances of finding a suitable major. We addressed this issue by examining the effects of a naturalistic self-concept training within a gap year context on behavioral and neural correlates of self-evaluations, as well as the long-term effects for future educational decision-making. In total, 38 adolescents/young adults (ages 16-24 years) participated in a 4-wave longitudinal study, with lab visits before, during, and after the training, including behavioral assessments and fMRI. During fMRI-scanning, they rated themselves on positive and negative traits in academic, (pro)social, and physical domains, and additionally filled out questionnaires related to self-esteem and self-concept clarity. Results showed that the positivity of domain-specific self-evaluations, self-esteem, and self-concept clarity increased during the training. Second, participants with lower medial PFC activity during self-evaluation before training showed larger self-esteem increases over the year. Moreover, mPFC activity increased after training for the evaluation of positive but not negative traits. Furthermore, individual differences in the rate of change (slope) in self-concept clarity and social self-evaluations positively predicted social adjustment to college and academic performance 6 months after training. Together, these findings suggest that self-concept can be modulated in late adolescents, with an important role of the medial PFC in relation to enhanced positive self-evaluations, and self-concept clarity as a predictor of future educational outcomes.

Does Trauma Shape Identity? Exploring the Links Between Lifetime Trauma Exposure and Identity Status in Emerging Adulthood

In emerging adulthood, coherent identity plays a protective role against the development of the disturbed psychosocial functioning and is seen as one of the defining characteristics of positive youth development. The factors that shape the identity are still understudied and little quantitative research has addressed, how trauma exposure is linked to emerging adults' identity. Therefore, the current study aimed to investigate how exposure to traumatic experiences over the lifetime is associated with current identity status among emerging adults in an academic environment and to explore links between different types of traumatic experiences as well as the severity of exposure to trauma and identity statuses. The study sample consisted of 1,614 first-year undergraduate students from Lithuania with the age range of 18-29 years (M = 19.09, SD = 1.05, 68.28% female). The three distinct identity profiles were identified using the Latent Class Analysis, representing diffused, undifferentiated, and coherent identity statuses. The results provided no clear evidence of links between traumatic experiences and identity status for overall exposure and most types of traumatic events. However, our study concerns the potential importance of severe traumatic experiences, such as sexual trauma, on identity.

From mentors to leaders: leader development outcomes for mentors

Purpose

The present study examines leader development as one of the potential outcomes for mentors and investigates whether the provision of mentoring contributes to developing mentors' leader identity and leader self-efficacy.

Design/methodology/approach

Relying on a quasi-experimental design, data were collected at four points in time over eight months from a mentor (n = 46) and an equivalent nonmentor group (n = 25). Participants in the mentor group were volunteer mentors from a doctoral mentoring program that was implemented at a large Canadian university.

Findings

Participants in the mentor group experienced a more positive change in leader identity and leader self-efficacy, compared to the participants in the nonmentor group. Further analysis of the participants in the mentor group suggests that the extent to which mentors provide career and psychosocial support explains the growth rate in the development outcomes.

Practical implications

By documenting benefits of mentoring for mentors, program administrators may be able to recruit mentors who are more engaged in the process. In addition, they can encourage their members to volunteer as mentors to gain leader development outcomes.

Originality/value

This longitudinal study connects the areas of mentoring and leadership development. While the majority of mentoring studies focus exclusively on mentoring outcomes for protégés, the present study shows that mentoring can benefit mentors as well.

Self and Others in Adolescence

Research has demonstrated that adolescence is an important time for self- and other-oriented development that underlies many skills vital for becoming a contributing member of society with healthy intergroup relations. It is often assumed that these two processes, thinking about self and thinking about others, are pitted against each other when adolescents engage in social decision making such as giving or sharing. Recent evidence from social neuroscience, however, does not support this notion of conflicting motives, suggesting instead that thinking about self and others relies on a common network of social-affective brain regions, with the medial prefrontal cortex playing a central role in the integration of perspectives related to self and others. Here, we argue that self- and other-oriented thinking are intertwined processes that rely on an overlapping neural network. Adolescents’ motivation to contribute to society can be fostered most when self- and other-oriented motives align.

Socioeconomic Status in Adolescents: A Study of Its Relationship with Overweight and Obesity and Influence on Social Network Configuration

Socioeconomic status (SES) influences all the determinants of health, conditioning health throughout life. The aim of the present study was to explore the relationship between socioeconomic status and obesity in adolescence through an analysis of the patterns of contact between peers as a function of this parameter. A cross-sectional study was performed, analyzing a sample of 235 students aged 14 to 18 and 11 class networks. Social network analysis was used to analyze structural variables of centrality from a sociocentric perspective. We found that adolescents with a medium-low SES presented a two-fold higher probability of being overweight, but we did not detect any differences in the configuration of their social networks when compared with those of normal-weight adolescents. However, we did find significant differences in the formation of networks according to SES in the overall sample and disaggregated by gender, whereby adolescents with a high SES in general presented a higher capacity to form wider social networks. Elucidating the relationship between SES and overweight and its influence on social network formation can contribute to the design of preventative strategies against overweight and obesity in adolescents, since their social environment can provide them with several resources to combat excess weight.

Prosocial Behavior in Adolescence: Gender Differences in Development and Links with Empathy

Although adolescents' prosocial behavior is related to various positive outcomes, longitudinal research on its development and predictors is still sparse. This 6-wave longitudinal study investigated the development of prosocial behavior across adolescence, and examined longitudinal associations with perspective taking and empathic concern. Participants were 497 adolescents (M age t1 = 13.03 years, 43% girls) who reported on their prosocial behaviors, empathic concern, and perspective taking. The results revealed marked gender differences in the development of prosocial behavior. For boys, levels of prosocial behavior were stable until age 14, followed by an increase until age 17, and a slight decrease thereafter. For girls, prosocial behavior increased until age 16 years and then slightly decreased. Regarding longitudinal associations, empathic concern was consistently related to subsequent prosocial behavior. However, perspective taking was only indirectly related to prosocial behavior, via its effect on empathic concern. Tests of the direction of effects showed support for the notion that earlier prosocial behavior predicts subsequent empathy-related traits, but only for girls. The findings support cognitive-developmental and moral socialization theories of prosocial development and the primary role of moral emotions in predicting prosocial behaviors. Our findings inform strategies to foster prosocial behaviors by emphasizing moral emotions rather than moral cognitions during adolescence.