Helping, sharing, and comforting behaviours in primary school children: the effects of year group and well-being on prosocial behaviour

Prosocial behaviours have been shown to be influenced by both age and well-being in the developmental literature, both in terms of home and school environments. The current study aimed to investigate the influences of age and well-being upon prosocial behaviours and whether they are displayed by primary school children in years 1–6, aged 5–11 years. The current research measured sharing, helping, and comforting behaviours as three separate prosocial constructs as previous research identified these as three key types of behaviours. A total of 185 parents were asked to complete two online questionnaires about their child. The Child Prosocial Behaviour Questionnaire was completed to measure the child's prosocial behaviour, and the Personal Wellbeing Index – School Children was completed to evaluate the child's level of well-being. Results showed that both year group and well-being affected the constructs of prosocial behaviour. Children with a higher (more positive) well-being displayed more prosocial behaviours. The older age groups, aged 9–11 years in year groups 5 and 7, displayed more helping, sharing, and comforting behaviours than that of the middle age group consisting of children aged 7–9 in year groups 3 and 4. This was consistent with previous research. Results are discussed in relation to the prosocial behaviour literature and the consideration of parental influences and individual differences relating to the different age groups.