Social competence is important for engaging in meaningful interactions with other people. An important aspect of social competence is prosocial behaviour. Some prosocial behaviours can be costly...Show moreSocial competence is important for engaging in meaningful interactions with other people. An important aspect of social competence is prosocial behaviour. Some prosocial behaviours can be costly and by showing sensitivity in their parent-child interaction, children learn and adopt behaviour from their parents. Therefore, we investigated the relation between parental sensitivity and costly prosocial behaviour because parents might influence their children's prosocial behaviour. Moreover, differential susceptibility markers such as the temperamental trait perceptual sensitivity contribute to responding to environmental cues. Therefore, we investigated whether perceptual sensitivity had a moderation effect on the relation between parental sensitivity and costly prosocial behaviour in terms of donation in middle childhood. This study focused on this developmental period because it is an important, transitional stage of children’s development. This study is cross-sectional and our sample consisted of participants (N=216) aged 7-9 that were part of a larger experimental cohort-sequential longitudinal twin study (L-CID). Parental sensitivity was measured with an observational task in which parent-child interaction was observed during a structured situation. A donation task was performed to assess the amount of money that children donate after watching a charity video. Self-report measures were used to access the temperament trait in terms of perceptual sensitivity. Firstly, we hypothesized that there was a positive relation between parental sensitivity and costly prosocial behaviour. After performing a regression analysis, we found no relation within our sample. Secondly, we also hypothesized that perceptual sensitivity moderated the relation between parental sensitivity and costly prosocial behaviour. However, after performing moderation analysis, there was found no interaction effects between our constructs. Our findings indicate that there is not a direct association in how the level of sensitivity in parents influences their children donating behaviour but that other factors such as individual characteristics or environmental factors might be further researched in order to know predictors of costly prosocial behaviour in middle childhood.Show less
Evidence suggests the existence of a possible correlation between oxytocin levels, degree of empathy and in turn prosocial behavior. To further our understanding, the current study examined the...Show moreEvidence suggests the existence of a possible correlation between oxytocin levels, degree of empathy and in turn prosocial behavior. To further our understanding, the current study examined the hypothesis whether donating behaviour could be explained by an influence of endogenous oxytocin on empathic concern. Thirty undergraduate 18-30 year old female students were selected from a larger study (van IJzendoorn, Huffmeijer, Alink, Brakermans-Kranenburg & Tops, 2011), which consisted of two experimental sessions. The current study conducted a secondary analysis of some of the data gathered during the second session of the original study, specifically from the participants who received a saline solution in the second experimental session. Levels of endogenous oxytocin in saliva samples, measures of empathy (interpersonal reactivity index questionnaire) and donations to measure donating behavior; were gathered in the original study and were also analyzed in the current study. Several simple regression analyses as well as a multiple regression analysis were conducted to test the hypothesis. The findings revealed no significant explanatory power of endogenous oxytocin and empathic concern on donating behaviour. Thus, the hypothesis was not confirmed. Both the use of an out-group individual as a recipient of the donations and the fact that all participants were likely highly socially proficient and empathic, may explain the null results. For future research it is recommended to use a more diverse sample including participants with both high and low social skills and to compare donating behaviour to in-group and out-group recipients. Finally, the differences between the prosocial effects of endogenous versus exogenous oxytocin levels should be determined.Show less
