Correlates of Prosocial Behaviors in Male and Female Adolescents

The variables studied in relation to adolescents' prosocial behaviors were grade, prosocial moral reasoning, empathy, self-esteem, parental prosocial behaviors, support and marital conflict, social economic status, peer prosocial behaviors and support, teacher support, school life satisfaction and achievement. The sample consisted of 837 seventh and tenth grade adolescents. Statistics and methods used for the data analysis were Cronbach's alpha, frequency, percentage, t-test, Pearson's correlation and multiple regression. Several major results were found from the analysis. First, female students had more prosocial behaviors than male students. Second, male and female students' prosocial behaviors showed positive correlations with grade, prosocial moral reasoning, empathy, self-esteem, parental and peer prosocial behaviors and support, teacher support and school life satisfaction. However, female students' prosocial behaviors had a negative correlation with parental marital conflict. Third, important variables predicting male and female students' prosocial behaviors were empathy, peer prosocial behaviors and parental prosocial behaviors. Important variables predicting male students' prosocial behaviors were teacher support and prosocial moral reasoning. On the other hand, the important variable predicting female students' prosocial behaviors was self-esteem.