Prosocial Behavior during Adolescence

Prosocial behaviors are an aspect of adolescents’ positive development that has gained greater attention in the developmental literature since the 1990s. In this article, the authors review the literature pertaining to prosocial behaviors during adolescence. The authors begin by defining prosocial behaviors as prior theory and empirical studies have done. They describe antecedents to adolescents’ prosocial behaviors with a focus on two primary factors: socialization and cultural orientations. Accordingly, the authors review prior literature on prosocial behaviors among different ethnic/cultural groups throughout this article. As limited studies have examined prosocial behaviors among some specific ethnic groups, the authors conclude with recommendations for future research. Adolescence is a period of human development marked by several biological, cognitive, and social transitions. Physical changes, such as the onset of puberty and rapid changes in body composition (e.g., height, weight, and sex characteristics) prompt adolescents to engage in greater self-exploration (McCabe and Ricciardelli, 2003). Enhanced cognitive abilities permit adolescents to engage in more symbolic thinking and to contemplate abstract concepts, such as the self and one’s relationship to others (Kuhn, 2009;  2005). Furthermore, adolescence is marked with increased responsibilities at home and in the school context, opportunities for caregiving within the family, and mutuality in peer relationships (American Psychological Association, 2008). Moreover, society demands a greater level of psychosocial maturity and expects greater adherence to social norms from adolescents compared to children (Eccles et al., 2008). Therefore, adolescence presents itself as a time of major life transitions. In light of these myriad transitions, adolescents are further developing prosocial behaviors. Although the emergence of prosocial behaviors (e.g., expressed behaviors that are intended to benefit others) begins in early childhood, the developmental transitions described above allow adolescents to become active agents in their own developmental process. Behavior that is motivated by adolescents’ concern for others is thought to reflect optimal social functioning or prosocial behaviors (American Psychological Association, 2008). While the early literature focused primarily on prosocial behaviors among young children (e.g., Garner, 2006; Garner et al., 2008; Iannotti, 1985) there are several reasons to track prosocial development into adolescence. First and foremost, individuals develop cognitive abilities that allow them to better phenomenologically process and psychologically mediate life experiences that may facilitate (e.g., completing household chores and caring for siblings) or hinder (e.g., interpersonal conflict and perceptions of institutional discrimination) prosocial development (e.g., Brown and Bigler, 2005). Adolescents express more intentionality in which activities they will engage in and become selective in where they choose to devote their energies (Mahoney et al., 2009). Finally, adolescents are afforded more opportunities to express helping behaviors in other social spheres beyond the family context, such as in schools, communities, and civic society (Yates and Youniss, 1996). Origins and Definitions of Prosocial Behaviors Since the turn of the twenty-first century, there has been growing interest in understanding the relationships that exist between the strengths of individuals and resources within communities (e.g., person 4 context) in order to identify pathways for healthy development, or to understand how adolescents’ thriving can be promoted. This line of thinking is commonly described as the positive youth development perspective (e.g., Lerner et al., 2009). Although the adolescent literature still predominantly focuses on problematic development (e.g., delinquency and risk-taking behaviors), studies on adolescents’ prosocial development have increased substantially since the 1990s (Eisenberg et al., 2009a), paralleling the paradigm shift from a deficit-based model of development to one focusing on positive attributes of youth (e.g., Benson et al., 2006; Lerner, 2005). Generally described as the expression of voluntary behaviors with the intention to benefit others (Carlo, 2006; Eisenberg, 2006; see full review by Eisenberg et al., 2009a), prosocial behavior is one aspect among others of positive adolescent development that is gaining greater attention in the literature. Theory on prosocial development is rooted in the literature on moral development, which includes cognitive aspects of moral reasoning (e.g., how individuals decide between moral dilemmas; Kohlberg, 1978), moral behaviors (e.g., expression of behaviors that benefit society; Eisenberg and Fabes, 1998), and emotions (e.g., empathy; Eisenberg and Fabes, 1990). Empirical studies on adolescents’ prosocial development have found that different types of prosocial behaviors may exist. For example, Carlo and colleagues (e.g., Carlo et al., 2010; Carlo and Randall, 2002) found six types of prosocial tendencies (intentions to help others): compliant, dire, emotional, altruistic, anonymous, and public. Compliant helping refers to an individual’s intent to assist when asked. Emotional helping refers to helping in emotionally evocative situations (e.g., witnessing another individual crying). Dire helping refers to International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2nd edition, Volume 19 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.23190-5 221 International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, Second Edition, 2015, 221–227 Author's personal copy