Human Development and Family Science, The Ohio State University, 135 Campbell Hall, 1787 Neil Ave., Columbus, OH, 43210, USA,
J Youth Adolesc. 2013 Dec;42(12):1858-72. doi: 10.1007/s10964-012-9900-6. Epub 2013 Jan 3.
Children's empathy and prosocial behavior play an important role in their social competence. Of the influential factors, research has demonstrated that parental behaviors and the quality of the parent-child relationship are important correlates of children's development of empathy and prosocial behavior. The current study examined the associations between different types of parental behaviors (i.e., parental knowledge, parental solicitation, and parental psychological control), "balanced connectedness" in the parent-child relationship, which allows for both closeness and autonomy, and empathy and prosocial behavior in adolescents. The participants were 335 married couples (more than 80 % European American) and their adolescent child (49.0 % female; 10-13 years). Data were collected at three time points for parental behaviors, balanced parent-child connectedness, and adolescents' empathy and prosocial behavior, respectively. The results of structural equation modeling suggested that adolescents' perceptions of parental solicitation and parental psychological control may be associated with their empathy and prosocial behavior through their perceived balanced connectedness with parents. These findings suggest that enhancing balanced connectedness in the parent-child relationship may contribute to promoting empathy and prosocial behavior in adolescents over time. Further, this study suggests that parental solicitation may play a role in adolescents' empathic and prosocial development, possibly depending on the quality of the parent-child relationship.
儿童的同理心和亲社会行为对其社会能力起着重要作用。在众多影响因素中，已有研究表明，父母的行为和亲子关系的质量是儿童同理心和亲社会行为发展的重要相关因素。本研究考察了不同类型的父母行为（即父母知识、父母询问和父母心理控制）、允许亲密和自主的“平衡连接”与青少年同理心和亲社会行为之间的关系。参与者为 335 对已婚夫妇（超过 80%为欧洲裔美国人）及其青少年子女（49.0%为女性；年龄为 10-13 岁）。分别在三个时间点收集了父母行为、平衡的亲子连接以及青少年同理心和亲社会行为的数据。结构方程模型的结果表明，青少年对父母询问和父母心理控制的感知可能通过他们与父母的感知平衡连接与他们的同理心和亲社会行为相关。这些发现表明，随着时间的推移，增强亲子关系中的平衡连接可能有助于促进青少年的同理心和亲社会行为。此外，本研究表明，父母询问可能在青少年的同理心和亲社会发展中发挥作用，这可能取决于亲子关系的质量。
