Ioannis Katsantonis, a PhD candidate in Psychology and Education at the University of Cambridge, shares his research on the role parent-child interactions have on children’s mental health.
Inspiration for the study and significance
This study was inspired by the changing nature of the relationship between mental health and prosociality and the role of parent-child interactions in this association.
Although scholars know that having a warm and morocco rcs data consistent parenting style is predictive of better child adjustment (e.g. Katsantonis & Symonds and Bayer et al.), there is little evidence on whether the quality of the parent-child relationships in early childhood is predictive of the stable traits of mental health and prosociality from early childhood to late adolescence after removing any situational/contextual influences (e.g., income, or intergenerational transmission of mental health). Particularly, there was less evidence on how parent-child interactions predicted whether children will build a ‘personality’ trait of being kind, helpful, and compassionate.
What is prosociality?
Prosociality is something that is generally considered highly sought after in most societies. Prosocial behaviour or prosociality is defined as voluntary behaviour that aims to benefit another person [1] by caring, showing empathy, and offering psychological and/or physical assistance.