The Role of Perceived Family Obligations in the Relation between Positive Parenting and Adolescents' Prosocial Behavior.
Prosocial behaviors are defined as voluntary, desirable behaviors aimed at the benefit of others.
A substantial number of studies converge in supporting the beneficial role of prosocial behaviors on children's adjustment (Eisenberg, Spinrad & Knafo, 2014) and successful youth development (Lerner, Dowling, & Anderson, 2002).
In the present project we aim to understand if positive parenting processes and adolescents family values may prompt, cultivate, or discourage the emergence and the consolidation of prosocial behaviors in adolescence. In particular, we want to examine if the relations between positive parenting and children's prosocial behavior are mediated by the endorsement of adolescents family values.
This is a cross-sectional study that will involve about 400 adolescents between the age of 11-14, and their mothers/fathers, from the metropolitan area of Rome and its surrounding.
Firstly, we will perform a Structural Equation Model model using Mplus in order to test our mediational hypotheses. Specifically, we will evaluate our hypotheses of indirect effects via the product of coefficients method, using the currently recommended technique of generating asymmetric confidence intervals for the product terms from the bias-corrected bootstrap (Hayes & Scharkow, 2013). Then, we will perform multi-group analysis in order to establish the cross gender and age (11-12 and 13-14) invariance of the previous model.