Prosocial behavior from early to middle childhood: Genetic and environmental influences on stability and change

Ariel Knafo*, Robert Plomin

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

218 Scopus citations

Abstract

Prosocial behavior is important for the functioning of society. This study investigates the extent to which environment shared by family members, nonshared environment, and genetics account for children's prosocial behavior. The prosocial behavior of twins (9,424 pairs) was rated by their parents at the ages of 2, 3, 4, and 7 and by their teachers at age 7. For parent ratings, shared environmental effects decreased from.47 on average at age 2 to.03 at age 7, and genetic effects increased from.32 on average to.61. The finding of weak shared environmental effects and large heritability at age 7 was largely confirmed through the use of teacher ratings. Using longitudinal genetic analyses, the authors conclude that genetic effects account for both change and continuity in prosocial behavior and nonshared environment contributes mainly to change.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)771-786
Number of pages16
JournalDevelopmental Psychology
Volume42
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2006

Keywords

  • Change
  • Development
  • Environmental influences
  • Genetics
  • Prosocial behavior
  • Stability
  • TEDS

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