@article{ref1,
title="Predicting sympathy and prosocial behavior from young children's dispositional sadness",
journal="Social Development",
year="2015",
author="Edwards, Alison and Eisenberg, Nancy and Spinrad, Tracy L. and Reiser, Mark and Eggum-Wilkens, Natalie D. and Liew, Jeffrey",
volume="24",
number="1",
pages="76-94",
abstract="The purpose of this study was to examine whether dispositional sadness predicted children's prosocial behavior and if sympathy mediated this relation. Constructs were measured when children (N = 256 at Time 1) were 18-, 30-, and 42-months old. Mothers and non-parental caregivers rated children's sadness; mothers, caregivers, and fathers rated children's prosocial behavior; sympathy (concern and hypothesis testing) and prosocial behavior (indirect and direct, as well as verbal at older ages) were assessed with a task in which the experimenter feigned injury. In a panel path analysis, 30-month dispositional sadness predicted marginally higher 42-month sympathy; in addition, 30-month sympathy predicted 42-month sadness. Moreover, when controlling for prior levels of prosocial behavior, 30-month sympathy significantly predicted reported and observed prosocial behavior at 42 months. Sympathy did not mediate the relation between sadness and prosocial behavior (either reported or observed).<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0961-205X",
doi="10.1111/sode.12084",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/sode.12084"
}