Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
  • Publication
    The Developmental Peacebuilding Model (DPM) of children’s prosocial behaviors in settings of intergroup conflict
    (Wiley, 2020-09)
    The persistence of intergroup conflicts around the world creates urgency for research on child development in such settings. Complementing the existing knowledge about internalizing and externalizing developmental outcomes, this article shifts the focus to children’s prosocial behaviors, and more specifically, introduces the Developmental Peacebuilding Model (DPM). The DPM makes three main contributions. First, the DPM integrates a developmental intergroup framework and socio-ecological perspective, with a peacebuilding paradigm, to examine the target and type of children’s prosocial behavior in settings of intergroup conflict. Second, DPM outlines how children’s outgroup prosocial behaviors, which promote constructive change at different levels of the social ecology, can be understood as peacebuilding and fostering social cohesion. Third, the article concludes with the DPM’s implications for research and global policy.
      119Scopus© Citations 38
  • Publication
    Adolescent outgroup helping, collective action, and political activism in a setting of protracted conflict
    This article examines the role of empathy for outgroup helping, collective action and political activism among youth in Northern Ireland, a setting of protracted conflict. Integrating the Empathy-Attitudes-Action model with the Developmental Peacebuilding Model, a two-wave study was conducted to assess youth’s behavioural intentions and actual behaviours toward refugees. Across two waves (N = 383, 52% male, 48% female; 14-16 years old), empathy at Time 1 predicted more positive attitudes toward ethnic minorities at Time 2, which in turn was positively related to four outcomes aiming to foster prosocial change for refugees: helping behaviour and realistic helping at the interpersonal level, collective action intentions at the structural level, and signing a petition aiming for cultural change. That is, outgroup attitudes mediated the link from empathy to three types of prosocial action toward refugees. The findings suggest that youth not only volunteer to help an individual outgroup member, but also support broader structural and cultural change that will benefit those they may never meet. Implications for recognising and supporting the constructive agency of youth toward disadvantaged groups in conflict settings are discussed.
    Scopus© Citations 11  37
  • Publication
    Predicting Longitudinal Changes in Familism in an Emerging Immigrant Context
    Familism is a core Latinx value that emphasizes deference to family and prioritizing family over the self, and is typically examined as a predictor of positive psychosocial outcomes in Latinx youth and their families (Stein et al., 2014). Few studies have examined predictors of familism in Latinx youth, with the majority of work focusing on how familism contributes to adjustment, psychopathology, and well-being (Hernández & Bámaca, 2016). The few studies that have explored this association have found that ethnic identity (e.g., affect toward one’s ethnic group, perceptions of others’ views of their group) and family processes are two factors that play a significant role in predicting familism values (Carlo, White, Streit, Knight, & Zeiders, 2017; Stein, Rivas-Drake, & Camacho, 2016). This relation has been established through cross-sectional as well as longitudinal studies; however, research that has examined longitudinal associations has typically been conducted in traditional immigrant destinations (i.e., California, Kiang & Fuligni, 2009; Arizona, Knight et al., 2014). Additionally, no studies to our knowledge have examined how familism develops or changes across time in relation to core ethnic identity processes (i.e., public and private regard) and familial experiences (i.e., familial support). How cultural and familial processes intersect with familism values may differ in emerging immigrant communities, as these communities lack the cultural resources present in established destinations (Stamps & Bohon, 2010). This study extends past research by testing the longitudinal associations between familism values, and ethnic identity and family processes within an emerging immigrant context.
    Scopus© Citations 4  111
  • Publication
    Outgroup prosocial behaviour among children and adolescents in conflict settings
    (Elsevier, 2022-04) ;
    Over 420 million children live amid political conflict. In such settings, understanding the development of prosocial behaviours, specifically directed at outgroups, can provide opportunities for peacebuilding. Informed by research on intergroup competition and structural inequality, we focus on outgroup prosocial behaviour targeting conflict rivals. Already from a young age, children are politically socialised and show intergroup biases that dampen helping behaviours toward conflict rivals, which continues into adulthood. We review factors that shape youth’s interpersonal helping, as well as broader forms of prosociality, such as civic engagement, across group lines. We conceptualise outgroup prosocial behaviour along a continuum, ranging from interpersonal acts to broader structural and cultural constructive change. We conclude with directions for future research.
    Scopus© Citations 13  34
  • Publication
    Empathy to action: Child and adolescent outgroup attitudes and prosocial behaviors in a setting of intergroup conflict
    The paper explored how to promote constructive intergroup relations among children and young people in a context of protracted conflict. Across two studies, the Empathy‐Attitudes‐Action model was examined in middle childhood and adolescence. More specifically, we tested the relations among dispositional empathy, outgroup attitudes, and prosocial behaviors for youth born after the peace agreement in Northern Ireland. In one correlational (Study 1: N = 132; 6‐ to 11‐years‐old: M = 8.42 years, SD = 1.23) and one longitudinal design (Study 2: N = 466; 14‐ to 15‐years‐old), bootstrapped mediation analyses revealed that empathy was associated with more positive attitudes toward the conflict‐related outgroup, which in turn, was related to higher outgroup prosocial behaviors, both self‐report and concrete actions. Given that outgroup prosocial acts in a setting of intergroup conflict may serve as the antecedents for peacebuilding among children and adolescents, this study has intervention implications.
    Scopus© Citations 30  301