Longitudinal Relations Between Early Prosocial Behaviors Toward Parents and Later Prosocial and Aggressive Behaviors in Turkish Early Adolescents

Abstract

Because Turkish early adolescents learn and practice many essential prosocial behaviors (i.e., helping, sharing) within the family context, it is important to examine whether early adolescents' prosocial behaviors toward parents at age 10 (Time 1) were related to their later prosocial and aggressive behaviors at age 13 (Time 3) via perceived parental psychological control at age 12 (Time 2). Participants were 355 early adolescents (M-age = 9.89 years, SD = 0.32; 51% girls) from Türkiye at Time 1. Early adolescents reported their prosocial behaviors toward mothers and fathers at age 10, perceived maternal and paternal psychological control at age 12, and prosocial and aggressive behaviors at age 13. Mediation analyses showed that early adolescents' greater prosocial behaviors toward parents were significantly related to less perceived psychological control, which, in turn, was related to less altruistic and reactive prosocial behaviors but related to greater reactive and proactive aggressive behaviors. Importantly, these associations were robust across boys and girls, and all indirect effects were statistically significant. The findings inform theories that suggest interindividual stability in youth's levels of prosocial behavior and reciprocal relations between parenting and youth behaviors but extend such findings to a non-Western, relatively collectivist-oriented, predominantly Muslim culture.