Contemporaneous and Longitudinal Relations of Dispositional Sympathy to Emotionality,Regulation,and Social Functioning

Abstract

Individual differences in 10-through 12-year-olds’sympathetic tendencies were examined in relation to their regulation, negative emotionality, and social functioning contemporaneously as well as 2, 4, and 6 years earlier. Information was obtained for 33 girls and 31 boys from the school and home context. In general, adults’(teachers and parents) reports of young adolescents’sympathetic tendencies were associated with high regulatory abilities, low negative emotionality, and constructive social behaviors contempora-neously and, to some degree, 2, 4, and 6 years previously. Furthermore, in regression analyses, regulatory abilities during early adolescence as well as 2 years earlier uniquely predicted young adolescents’sympathetic tendencies after controlling for the effects of negative emotionality. Although findings were fairly similar across contexts, the majority of findings at school were for girls, whereas the pattern of findings at home was somewhat more consistent for boys than for girls.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Asher, S. R. , Singleton, L. C. , Tinsley, B. R. , & Hymel, S. (1979). A reliable sociometric measure for preschool children. Developmental Psychology, 15, 443-444.

Batson, C. D. (1991). The altruism question: Toward a social-psychological answer. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Benenson, J. F. (1990). Gender differences in social networks. Journal of Early Adolescence, 10, 472-495.

Block, J. (1983). Differential premises arising from differential socialization of the sexes: Some conjectures. Child Development, 54, 1335-1354.

Block, J. (1994). Studying personality the long way. In D. C. Funder , R. D. Parke , C. Tomlinson-Keasey , & K. Widaman (Eds.), Studying lives through time: Personality and development(pp. 9-41). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Block, J. H. , & Block, J. (1980). The role of ego-control and ego-resiliency in the organization of behavior. In W. A. Collins (Ed.), Development of cognition, affect, and social relations. Minnesota Symposia on Child Psychology (Vol. 13, pp. 39-101). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Block, J. , & Kremen, A. M. (1996). IQ and ego-resiliency: Conceptual and empirical connections and separateness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 349-361.

Bryant, B. K. (1982). An index of empathy for children and adolescents. Child Development, 53, 413-425.

Coie, J. D. , Terry, R. , Dodge, K. A. , & Underwood, M. K. (1993). A teacher checklist of children’s social behavior. Unpublished manuscript, Duke University.

10.

Collins, W. A. (1990). Parent-child relationships in the transition to adolescence: Continuity and change in interaction, affect, and cognition. In R. Montemayor , G. R. Adams , & T. P. Gullotta (Eds.), From childhood to adolescence: A transitional period? (pp. 85-106). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

11.

Davis, M. H. (1994). Empathy: A social psychological approach. Madison, WI: Brown & Benchmark.

12.

Derryberry, D. , & Rothbart, M. K. (1988). Arousal, affect, and attention as components of temperament. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 55, 958-966.

13.

Eisenberg, N. , & Fabes, R. A. (1990). Empathy: Conceptualization, assessment, and relation to prosocial behavior. Motivation and Emotion, 14, 131-149.

14.

Eisenberg, N. , & Fabes, R. A. (1992). Emotion, regulation, and the development of social competence. In M. S. Clark (Ed.), Review of personality and social psychology, Vol. 14. Emotion and social behavior (pp. 119-150). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

15.

Eisenberg, N. , & Fabes, R. A. (1998). Prosocial development. In W. Damon & N. Eisenberg (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology, Vol. 3: Social, emotional, and personality development (pp. 701-778). New York: John Wiley.

16.

Eisenberg, N. , Fabes, R. A. , Bernzweig, J. , Karbon, M. , Poulin, R. , & Hanish, L. (1993). The relations of emotionality and regulation to preschoolers’social skills and sociometric status. Child Development, 64, 1418-1438.

17.

Eisenberg, N. , Fabes, R. A , Murphy, B. , Karbon, M. , Maszk, P. , Smith, M. , O’Boyle, C. , & Suh, K. (1994). The relations of emotionality and regulation to dispositional and situational empathy-related responding. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66, 776-797.

18.

Eisenberg, N. , Fabes, R. A , Murphy, B. , Karbon, M. , Smith, M. , & Maszk, P. (1996). The relations of children’s dispositional empathy-related responding to their emotionality, regulation, and social functioning. Developmental Psychology, 32, 195-209.

19.

Eisenberg, N. , Fabes, R. A , Murphy, B. , Maszk, P. , Smith, M. , & Karbon, M. (1995). The role of emotionality and regulation in children’s social functioning: A longitudinal study. Child Development, 66, 1239-1261.

20.

Eisenberg, N. , Fabes, R. A. , Schaller, M. , Carlo, G. , & Miller, P. A. (1991). The relations of parental characteristics and practices to children’s vicarious emotional responding. Child Development, 62, 1393-1408.

21.

Eisenberg, N. , Fabes, R. A. , Schaller, M. , Miller, P. A. , Carlo, G. , Poulin, R. , Shea, C. , & Shell, R. (1991). Personality and socialization correlates of vicarious emotional responding. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61, 459-471.

22.

Eisenberg, N. , Fabes, R. A. , Shepard, S. A. , Murphy, B. C. , Guthrie, I. K. , Jones, S. , Friedman, J. Poulin, R. , & Maszk, P. (1997). Contemporaneous and longitudinal prediction of children’s social functioning from regulation and emotionality. Child Development, 68, 642-664.

23.

Eisenberg, N. , Fabes, R. A. , Shepard, S. A. , Murphy, B. C. , Jones, S. , & Guthrie, I. K. (1998). Contemporaneous and longitudinal prediction of children’s sympathy from dispositional regulation and emotionality. Developmental Psychology, 34, 910-924.

24.

Eisenberg, N. , Guthrie, I. K. , Fabes, R. A. , Reiser, M. , Murphy, B. C. , Holgren, R. , Maszk, P. , & Losoya, S. (1997). The relations of regulation and emotionality to resiliency and competent social functioning in elementary school children. Child Development, 68, 295-311.

25.

Eisenberg, N. , & Miller, P. (1987). The relation of empathy to prosocial and related behaviors. Psychological Bulletin, 101, 91-119.

26.

Eisenberg, N. , & Mussen, P. (1989). The roots of prosocial behavior in children. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

27.

Eisenberg, N. , & Okun, M. A. (1996). The relations of dispositional regulation and emotionality to elders’empathy-related responding and affect while volunteering. Journal of Personality, 64, 157-183.

28.

Gilligan, C. (1982). In a different voice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

29.

Goldsmith, H. H. , & Rothbart, M. K. (1991). Contemporary instruments for assessing early temperament by questionnaire and in the laboratory. In A. Angleitner & J. Strelau (Eds.), Explorations in temperament (pp. 249-272). New York: Plenum.

30.

Golombok, S. , & Fivush, R. (1994). Gender development. New York: Cambridge University Press.

31.

Gorsuch, R. (1983). Factor analysis. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

32.

Guerin, D. W. , & Gottfried, A. W. (1994). Developmental stability and change in parent reports of temperament: A ten-year longitudinal investigation from infancy through preadolescence. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 40, 334-355.

33.

Harter, S. (1979). Perceived competence scale for children: Manual. Denver, CO: University of Denver.

34.

Harter, S. (1990). Processes underlying adolescent self-concept formation. In R. Montemayor , G. R. Adams , & T. P. Gullotta (Eds.), From childhood to adolescence: A transitional period?(pp. 205-239). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

35.

Hoffman, M. L. (1982). Development of prosocial motivation: Empathy and guilt. In N. Eisenberg (Ed.), The development of prosocial behavior (pp. 281-313). New York: Academic Press.

36.

Hoffman, M. L. (1984). Interaction of affect and cognition in empathy. In C. E. Izard , J. Kagan , & R. B. Zajonc (Eds.), Emotions, cognitions, and behavior (pp. 103-131). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

37.

Hubbard, J. , & Coie, J. D. (1994). Emotional determinants of social competence in children’s peer relationships. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 40, 1-20.

38.

Kendall, P. C. , & Wilcox, L. E. (1979). Self-control in children: The development of a rating scale. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 47, 1020-1030.

39.

Klohnen, E. C. (1996). Conceptual analysis and measurement of the construct of ego-resiliency. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 1067-1079.

40.

Larsen, R. J. , & Diener, E. (1987). Affect intensity as an individual difference characteristics: A review. Journal of Research in Personality, 21, 1-39.

41.

Lochman, J. E. , & the Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group . (1995). Screening of child behavior problems for prevention programs at school entry. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 63, 549-559.

42.

Mize, J. , & Ladd, G. W. (1988). Predicting preschoolers’ peer behavior and status from their interpersonal strategies: A comparison of verbal and enactive responses to hypothetical social situations. Developmental Psychology, 24, 782-788.

43.

Montemayor, R. , Adams, G. R. , & Gullotta, T. P. (Eds.). (1990). From childhood to adolescence: A transitional period? Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

44.

Parke, R. D. (1994). Progress, paradigms, and unresolved problems: Recent advances in our understanding of children’s emotions. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 40, 157-169.

45.

Rothbart, M. K. , Ahadi, S. A. , & Hershey, K. L. (1994). Temperament and social behavior in childhood. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 40, 21-39.

46.

Saarni, C. (1990). Emotional competence: How emotions and relationships become integrated. In R. A. Thompson (Ed.), Socioemotional development (pp. 115-182). Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.

47.

Thompson, R. A. (1994). Emotion regulation: A theme in search of definition. In N. A. Fox (Ed.), The development of emotion regulation. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 59(Serial No. 240), 25-52.

48.

Ungerer, J. A. , Dolby, R. , Waters, B. , Barnett, B. , Kelk, N. , & Lewin, V. (1990). The early development of empathy: Self-regulation and individual differences in the first year. Motivation and Emotion, 14, 93-106.

49.

Watson, D. , Clark, L. A. , & Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS Scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 1063-1070.

50.

Wood, J. V. , Saltzberg, J. A. , & Goldsamt, L. A. (1990). Does affect induce self-focused attention? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58, 899-908.