Does physical activity moderate the association between screen time and psychosocial development in early childhood? Analysis of a longitudinal infant cohort study in Ireland.

The objective of this study was to explore the extent to which the association between screen time and psychosocial development in preschool children differed between the sexes and according to their frequency of engagement in physical activity. Data are based on a prospective cohort of Irish children, collected between 2010 and 2013 when children were ages 3 (n=9786) and 5 years (n=9001). Children's screen time (h/day), psychosocial development (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire), and physical activity (bouts/week) were assessed via caregiver report. The magnitude of the association between screen time and changes in behavioural difficulties differed significantly between the sexes. For boys, the association between increased screen time and the onset of behavioural problems coincided directly with a reduction in their frequency of engagement in physical activity. The association between screen time and changes in behavioural difficulties was not moderated by girls' engagement in physical activity, however; and there was no difference in the association between screen time and prosocial behaviours at different frequencies of engagement in physical activity for either boys or girls.Conclusions: Results support recommendations to establish greater balance between physical activity and sedentary behaviours in token economy systems to minimise the negative effects of excessive screen time. What is Known: • Provision of screen time has become normalised as a behavioural reinforcer for use with young children. • Screen viewing above recommended guidelines is associated with behavioural problems that reflect poor self-regulation. What is New: • Boys' levels of engagement in physical activity moderated the relationship between screen time and changes in behavioural difficulties between the ages of 3 and 5 years. • Neither screen time nor physical activity was significantly associated with changes in prosocial behaviours between the ages of 3 and 5 years for either boys or girls.

Even Mists Have Silver Linings: Promoting LGBTQ+ Acceptance and Solidarity through Community-Based Theatre in India.

OBJECTIVES: This project aimed to assess the effectiveness of a community-based theatre intervention to improve attitudes towards and increase knowledge about LGBTQ+ communities among audiences in Mumbai, India. STUDY DESIGN: This study was a program evaluation using pre- and post-show surveys that incorporated an adapted version of The Riddle Scale: Attitudes Towards Difference and questions assessing self-reported knowledge about LGBTQ+-related issues to assess changes in attitudes and knowledge after viewing the theatre intervention. METHODS: An original 90-min devised play was created by a company of Indian, American, and Canadian theatre artists using Participatory Action Research methods and was designed to bring audiences to a deeper understanding of LGBTQ+ identity. The show was performed four times in Mumbai, India, and pre-/post-show surveys were collected at each performance. Audience survey responses were analysed using parametric and non-parametric descriptive statistics as appropriate, and Likert scale questions were compared using Wilcoxon Signed Rank for non-parametric data. RESULTS: A total 184 surveys were completed across four performances between March 7 and 14, 2020. Significant increases in audiences' self-reported knowledge of LGBTQ+ identity, impacts of discrimination, and struggles faced by LGBTQ+ communities were reported after viewing the show. Furthermore, attitudes towards LGBTQ+ rights, understanding of the challenges of being LGBTQ+ in India, and recognition of the contributions LGBTQ+ individuals make to society improved significantly among our audiences after test. The play further fostered increased acceptance of prosocial behaviours towards LGBTQ+ individuals with higher percentages of audiences recognizing the importance of standing up to homophobia and anti-gay attitudes. While these observations were seen across audiences, they were particularly pronounced among cisgender heterosexual men and audiences ages 18-24. CONCLUSION: Community-based theatre intervention is highly acceptable and effective as a medium for informing positive attitudes, improving knowledge, and promoting acceptance of and solidarity towards LGBTQ+ communities among young adult heterosexual audiences.

Essentialist beliefs affect children's outgroup empathy, attitudes and prosocial behaviours in a setting of intergroup conflict.

Empathy for salient outgroups can promote positive intergroup attitudes and prosocial behaviours. Less is known about which factors may promote empathy, particularly among children, in contexts of intergroup conflict. Empathy may depend on underlying cognitions, such as social essentialist beliefs, that is, believing that certain social categories have an underlying essence that causes members to share observable and non-observable properties. This study explored the influence of essentialist beliefs about ethno-religious categories on outgroup-directed empathy, attitudes and prosocial behaviours of children living in Northern Ireland (N = 88; M = 7.09, SD = 1.47 years old). Bootstrapped chain mediation found that lower essentialist beliefs predicted greater outgroup-directed empathy, which was positively related to outgroup attitudes, which in turn, predicted more outgroup prosocial behaviours. The findings highlight the importance of essentialist beliefs as an underlying factor promoting empathy, with links to prosocial behaviours in settings of intergroup conflict. The intervention implications are discussed.

Developmental trajectories of behaviour problems and prosocial behaviours of children with intellectual disabilities in a population-based cohort.

BACKGROUND: The study examined developmental trajectories of prosocial behaviours, internalising and externalising behaviour problems in children with intellectual disabilities (ID) between pre-school and middle childhood. METHOD: Growth models examined the best-fitting trajectories for internalising and externalising behaviour problems, as well as prosocial behaviours, in 555 children with ID between the ages of three and 11 years from the UK Millennium Cohort Study. Models were also fitted to examine the association of child outcomes with time-varying maternal psychological distress and life satisfaction. Finally, models were extended to compare trajectories with typically developing children. RESULTS: Externalising behaviour problems and prosocial behaviours generally improved, whereas internalising problems did not change systematically over time. A cubic trend indicated a slowing down of improvement between ages 5 and 7 for prosocial behaviours and externalising problems. Maternal psychological distress positively co-varied with internalising and externalising behaviour problems over time. Life satisfaction was not related to changes in child behaviours over time. Compared to behavioural trajectories in typical development, intercepts were worse and trajectories also differed in the ID group. CONCLUSIONS: Over an 8-year period, externalising behaviour problems and prosocial behaviours of children with ID tended to improve. These behavioural improvements slowed between five and seven years, possibly coinciding with school-related environmental changes. Children with ID significantly differ from children with typical development in both the initial level of difficulties (exhibiting higher externalising and internalising behaviours, and lower prosocial behaviours) and subsequent development as they age, showing comparatively lower decreases in both externalising and internalising behaviours, and lower increases in prosocial behaviours. Findings also highlight the significant role of maternal mental health problems in the trajectory of child behaviour problems.

Emotional - Behavioral Difficulties and Prosocial Behaviour among Vietnamese Adolescents: the Role of Social Support.

Background: In recent decades, a high prevalence of mental health problems among adolescents has been reported worldwide. In Vietnam, mental health problems such as emotional and behavioural difficulties are relatively common in the adolescent age group. Objective: This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of emotional-behavioural problems and prosocial behaviours in Vietnamese adolescents and identify the role of social support in these adolescents' strengths and difficulties. Methods: A population sample of 582 adolescents from sixth to ninth grade from four secondary schools in Vietnam voluntarily participated by completing the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (α = .64) and the Social Support Scale (α = .90). Results: The research results revealed that Vietnamese adolescents suffered from considerable levels of emotional-behavioural difficulties and prosocial behaviour problems. Through multible regression analysis, support from their families significantly predicted to decrease students' emotional and behavioural symptoms (ß\< 0; p\< .05) and increasing prosocial behaviours (ß> 0; p \< .05). In contrast, friend support only contribute to protecting adolescents from behavioural problems (ß = -.18; p \< .05) and encouraged prosocial behaviours (ß = .22; p \< .05). Discussion: Family support had a central role in its positive contribution to reducing emotional-behavioural and prosocial behaviour problems. Friend support only decreased behavioural problems and encouraged prosocial behaviours. These results are interpreted that educators could limit adolescents' emotional-behavioural difficulties and encourage prosocial behaviours through social support from their families and friends.

Meaning in life mediates the effects of sense of self and prosocial behaviours on anhedonia: A path analysis.

BACKGROUND: Anhedonia, the loss of interest and pleasure, is a core symptom of depression that is resistant to treatment. Anhedonic young people describe a weakened sense of self and reduced meaning in life. Knowing if these experiences predict anhedonia could reveal novel targets for intervention development. METHODS: We recruited young people (N = 429, mean age: 20 years) with a range of depression scores. Using path analysis, we examined anhedonia, sense of self, meaning in life, and prosocial behaviours cross-sectionally and longitudinally at ∼5-month follow-up (N = 160). RESULTS: Cross-sectionally, sense of self (ß =. 81, p < .001) and prosocial behaviours (ß = 0.37, p < .001) had direct effects on meaning in life, and meaning in life had a direct effect on anhedonia (ß = -0.11, p < .001). Sense of self (ß = -0.09, p < .001) and prosocial behaviours (ß = -0.04, p < .001) had indirect effects on anhedonia, mediated by meaning in life. In the longitudinal analysis, sense of self at T1 had a direct effect on meaning in life at T2 (ß = 0.36, p < .01) and an indirect effect on anhedonia at T2 (ß = -0.05, p < .01), mediated by meaning in life. LIMITATIONS: Approximately 70 % of the participants were female. Future studies should include equal numbers of males and females. CONCLUSION: We provide novel evidence that targeting meaning in life, sense of self, or prosocial behaviours in psychotherapeutic interventions could be effective in alleviating anhedonia.

The effect of prosocial behaviours on Chinese undergraduate nursing students' subjective well-being: The mediating role of psychological resilience and coping styles.

This study aimed to explore the effect of prosocial behaviours on Chinese undergraduate nursing students' subjective well-being (SWB) and examine the roles of psychological resilience and coping styles. The sample for this study included 683 nursing students from two undergraduate universities in Henan Province, China. SWB, prosocial behaviours, psychological resilience, and coping styles were assessed by the Index of Well-Being, the Prosocial Behavioural Tendency Scale, the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, and the Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire, respectively. We adopted Pearson's correlation analysis and the PROCESS Macro Model 81 in regression analysis to explore the relationships among prosocial behaviours, psychological resilience, coping styles, and SWB. Prosocial behaviours of undergraduate nursing students had a positive predictive effect on SWB; psychological resilience and coping styles both were the mediating variable between prosocial behaviours and undergraduate nursing students' SWB; psychological resilience and coping styles played a chain mediating role between the prosocial behaviours and SWB of undergraduate nursing students. The results indicated that prosocial behaviours not only directly affected the SWB of undergraduate nursing students but also affected the SWB of undergraduate nursing students via psychological resilience and coping styles. These results offer certain theoretical support and guidance for the research and improvement of undergraduate nursing students' SWB and emphasize the importance of interventions to increase prosocial behaviours, improve psychological resilience, promote positive coping styles, and address negative coping styles.

Prosocial advice to close versus non-close others.

Six studies (two pre-registered, total N = 1861) examined whether individuals would be more likely to give advice to close rather than non-close others against engaging in prosocial behaviours. The results consistently showed that participants were less inclined to advise close (vs. non-close) others to donate blood (Studies 2 and 3), to donate money (Study 5) and to engage in volunteer activities (Studies 1-6). Moreover, Studies 3, 5 and 6 also provided evidence suggesting that prosocial advice given to close others was more contingent on cost judgements than that given to non-close others. These findings have significant implications for the understanding of social influences on prosocial behaviours.

Prosocial behaviours under collective quarantine conditions. A latent class analysis study during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown in Italy.

We aimed to identify the patterns of prosocial behaviours under collective quarantine conditions. Survey data were collected from a sample of Italian adults during the March May 2020 COVID-19 lockdown in Italy. Participants reported on offline and online prosocial behaviours, sense of community responsibility (SoC-R) and perceptions of community resilience. Latent class analysis (LCA) was used for data analysis. A total of 4,045 participants completed the survey, and 2,562 were eligible (72% female; mean age 38.7 years). LCA revealed four classes of prosocial behaviours: Money donors (7%), Online and offline helpers (59%), Online health information sharers (21%) and Neighbour helpers (13%). The classes were partially invariant across age groups (18-35 and 35-65 years). Being a man, having achieved a higher educational level and higher SoC-R scores were associated with belonging to the Online and offline helper class. The members of this class also reported the greatest perceptions of community resilience. The results provide insight on the multidimensionality of prosociality under collective quarantine conditions. Online and offline helpers could be targeted for promoting sustained altruism and involvement in community organisations. For the other groups, programmes should aim at eliminating barriers to help others in multiple ways. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement.

Compassionate goals, prosocial emotions, and prosocial behaviours during the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important for people to engage in prosocial behaviours to support one another. The aim of this research is to answer a key question: in a social crisis, what motivates Americans to help others? Guided by research on appraisal theories and ecosystem theory, we examined the role of compassionate goals and prosocial emotions in promoting prosocial behaviours towards either out-group or in-group members. Study 1 (N = 943) was conducted in February 2020, before the widespread transmission of COVID-19 began in the United States. Results show that people with high compassionate goals are more likely to experience sympathy, which in turn makes them more willing to help people suffering from COVID-19 in China. Study 2 (N = 1,009) was conducted with a nationally representative sample after COVID-19 became more prevalent in the United States. Although people with high compassionate goals still experience more sympathy and solidarity, sympathy does not predict donation intention. Instead, solidarity mediates the relationship between compassionate goals and donation intention. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement.

Interpersonal distance modulates the influence of social observation on prosocial behaviour: An event-related potential (ERP) study.

This study aimed to explore the influence of interpersonal distance and social observation on prosocial behaviour. Participants were instructed to make costly prosocial decisions towards different interpersonal distance targets (friends, acquaintances or strangers) under the (non) observable condition, with simultaneous electroencephalogram recording. The behavioural results demonstrated that participants made more prosocial choices-unaffected by social observation-towards friends than towards acquaintances and strangers; nonetheless, participants made more prosocial choices towards acquaintances and strangers under the observable than under the non-observable condition. Event-related potential results showed that when participants made prosocial decisions towards friends, the P3 and N2 amplitudes remained unchanged between the observable and non-observable conditions; however, when participants made prosocial decisions towards acquaintances and strangers, a smaller N2 and a larger P3 were observed under the observable than those under the non-observable condition. These findings suggest that prosocial behaviour towards friends is driven by social preferences regarding the welfare of others, regardless of the possibility of reputation management. However, prosocial behaviour towards acquaintances and strangers might be motivated by a positive reputation, because individuals may bear in mind the potential future benefits.

Effect of wither application of an analogue of pig appeasing pheromone on encounters between unfamiliar mini-pigs.

BACKGROUND: The practice of mixing unfamiliar pigs on farms is common but results in fighting, welfare problems and performance issues. Pigs have different ways of resolving social conflicts, including aggressive and affiliative behaviours. Synthetic appeasing pheromones have demonstrated many positive effects in animal husbandry and are regularly used by breeders to improve animal welfare and performance. The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of a new method of applying pig appeasing-pheromone (PAP) to the withers in an experimental model of pig mixing to determine whether PAP reduced aggression and fighting, increased prosocial behaviours, and improved behavioural and physiological indicators of welfare. RESULTS: PAP reduced fighting between mini-pigs (df = 1; F = 13.47; P = 0.001; mixed logistic regression). Even if not significant, agonistic behaviours tended to be reduced when the treatment was applied (df = 1; F = 4.14; P = 0.058; mixed logistic regression). Likewise, mini-pigs seemed to be scored as not aggressive at all (df = 1; F = 3.61; P = 0.070; GLMM) and to be less aggressive toward the other pig than when placebo was applied. Concerning the latency of the first contact without aggression, a significant effect was found between the PAP and placebo groups (df = 1; χ2 = 4.74; P = 0.0295; Cox model). Moreover, even if not significant, the treated mini-pigs seemed to spent more time looking at each other (df = 1; F = 3.59; P = 0.071; GLMM) and immobile and/or ground sniffing (df = 1; F = 3.18; P = 0.088; GLMM) than those that received placebo. No significant difference was found between groups for salivary cortisol concentration (df = 1; F = 0.10; P = 0.752; GLMM), but variances between groups were heterogeneous at every time. No significant difference was found between groups regarding alpha-amylase activity (df = 1; F = 0.25; P = 0.621; GLMM), but variances between groups were heterogeneous at T0, T1 and T3. These results indicate that the variability (dispersion) within each group was lower when PAP was applied than when the placebo was applied. CONCLUSIONS: The new method of applying PAP improved welfare of mini-pigs (as models of domestic pigs) by reducing fighting, among other interesting results. PAP seems thus a promising biomimetic tool to enhance animal welfare in pig production systems.

Personal and Social Responsibility Programme Effects, Prosocial Behaviours, and Physical Activity Levels in Adolescents and Their Families.

The aim of this study was to analyse a personal and social responsibility programme in students and their family's perceptions relative to responsibility, prosocial behaviours, empathy, violence perception and physical activity levels. A sample consisting of 57 physical education students between 11 and 14 years old (mean (M) = 11.93; standard deviation (SD) = 0.73) that included 32 of their parents (M = 49.31; SD = 6.39) was distributed into experimental and control groups. The main results indicate that there were initial significant differences in favour of the control group for personal and social responsibility compared to the experimental group and they disappeared at the end of the treatment. There was an increase in antisocial behaviours for the control group at the end of the treatment. The experimental group also enhanced the values in violence perception for both students and families as compared to the control group. These results seem contradictory, which may be due in part to a short-time intervention programme and a low number of participants in the sample. More studies will clarify the improvements this kind of programme can bring to the variables studied.

Parents' observed responses to children's emotional distress: Relations with social competence in preschool.

Although affective interactions in the family are important for development, home observational data are sparse. We replicated and extended one such study, Roberts & Strayer (1987, Developmental Psychology, 23, 415). Interactions in 33 two-parent families (mean child age = 4.8 years; 48% girls) were observed for four evenings, from suppertime until the child settled for the night. Parents completed the Child Rearing Practices Q-sort. Peer interactions and friendship networks in preschool were observed over four days. Teachers and observers completed the Preschool Behavior Q-Sort. Based on Q-rated peer competence and aggression, three expected groups of children were identified, one of them high on both aggression and peer competence. Although socially active and accepted by peers, they were, compared with other children, less cooperative with adults, less prosocial with peers, more impulsive, less achievement oriented, less purposive, and less happy (mean η2  = .52). Parenting, especially observed impatience, threats, and use of force when children were emotionally distressed, showed important differences across groups.

An Inclusive View of the Disability of Secondary School Students.

Achieving the educational inclusion of students with special educational needs (SEN) is one of the significant challenges of the current Spanish educational system. This is a group of students with a high rate of bullying that leads to academic failure, as well as significant psychological and social consequences. Despite the fact that the behaviours and psychological characteristics of their peers seem to influence the degree of inclusion, there is no detail on this subject. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to determine the relationship between emotional intelligence, psychological flexibility, prosocial behaviour and inclusive behaviour. To carry out this study, a sample of 642 students between the ages of 12 and 19 years old participated and answered four questionnaires, one for each variable under study. The relationships established were extracted from different statistical analyses and a hypothesised predictive model. The results obtained revealed that emotional intelligence is positively related to psychological flexibility and prosocial behaviour and that these, in turn, are positively related to the development of inclusive behaviour. Therefore, the importance of considering the variables under study during the teaching-learning processes carried out in the classroom is highlighted.