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This Finnish longitudinal study investigated the role of relationships with mothers (n = 631) and teachers (n = 56), and adolescents' (n = 848; 53.9% girls, 46.1% boys) temperament in the development of the adolescents' socioemotional functioning during the transition to lower secondary school (Grade 6 to Grade 7; age in Grade 6: M = 12.32, SD = 0.36). The results showed that mother–adolescent closeness predicted a higher level and teacher–adolescent closeness predicted a smaller decrease in prosocial behavior. Teacher–adolescent conflict predicted a higher level, and mother–adolescent conflict predicted an increase in externalizing problems. Only temperament predicted internalizing problems. In addition, relationship quality both mediated and moderated some of the associations between temperament and socioemotional functioning. peerReviewed

Compelling evidence demonstrates that peer influence is a pervasive force during adolescence, one that shapes adaptive and maladaptive attitudes and behaviors. This literature review focuses on factors that make adolescence a period of special vulnerability to peer influence. Herein, we advance the Influence-Compatibility Model, which integrates converging views about early adolescence as a period of increased conformity with evidence that peer influence functions to increase affiliate similarity. Together, these developmental forces smooth the establishment of friendships and integration into the peer group, promote interpersonal and intragroup compatibility, and eliminate differences that might result in social exclusion.

Moral identity and empathy are two important contributors of charitable donation. But there are also inconsistent findings which suggest the existence of moderating variables. This research investigated their effects on charitable donation when the fictional recipients have or have not responsibility for HIV infection. Through four between-subjects experiments, we respectively explored the effect of responsibility of AIDS patients (blameless vs. blameful; manipulated by different ways of HIV infection) on donation, and its interaction with trait moral identity (study 1a, n = 313, Mage = 19.37, 70% females), primed moral identity (study 1b, n = 392, Mage = 19.43, 72% females), trait empathy (study 2a, n = 310, Mage = 19.34, 67% females), and primed empathy (study 2b, n = 366, Mage = 19.39, 55% females). Measures of moral identity and empathy, and a priming technique with moral identity and empathy words as stimuli were used research tools. The results demonstrated that when AIDS patients were not responsible for their plight (blameless), moral identity and empathy (regardless of trait or activated) showed positive effects on donation. When AIDS patients were responsible for their plight (blameful), however, all positive effects disappeared. Trait moral identity even showed a negative effect on donation. These results indicated that the prosocial effects of moral identity and empathy are conditioned by characteristics of the beneficiaries.

The Ball State University Center for Peace and Conflict Studies in the United States has compiled altruistic stories from different countries such as India, Australia, the United States, and England since the onset of the COVID‐19 pandemic. We examined those stories to understand (1) who receives the most support, (2) what type of support is provided, (3) who those supporters are, and (4) why people support each other during the pandemic. Conducting a qualitative content analysis of 104 altruistic stories, we first identified that (a) older individuals , (b) people with sensitive health conditions, and disabilities, (c) frontline workers, and (d) working class and marginalized communities received the primary support. Second, we identified three types of support: (a) material, (b) social/emotional, and (c) psychological. Third, we found that support was coming from (a) different organizations, (b) advantaged groups, and (c) volunteers. Last, (a) sharing a community/humanity identity, (b) allyship, and (c) showing gratitude were the reasons behind altruistic and prosocial behavior. Our findings contribute to the literature by providing some possible reasons and ways that allies have supported disadvantaged communities via sharing the available resources and how showing gratitude can be a reason for altruism and prosocial behavior in a pandemic.

This research examined the effect of perceived elaboration on the relationship between attitudes and prosocial behaviour. Study 1 revealed that group fusion was more predictive of pro-group behaviour (donation to in-group members) when perceived elaboration was high rather than low. In Study 2, attitudes toward helping were more likely to guide prosocial behaviour (helping others in a learning task) for participants who reported higher levels of perceived elaboration. Studies 3 and 4 manipulated perceptions of elaboration, demonstrating that attitudes guided subsequent hiring decisions (Study 3) and an actual behavioural choice in a natural setting (Study 4), and that this link was stronger for those participants induced to believe that they engaged in high (vs. low) elaboration. Furthermore, Studies 2 and 4 revealed that the effects of perceived elaboration on attitude-behaviour correspondence were mediated by attitude certainty. The present research reveals that prosocial behaviour can be facilitated by taking into consideration meta-cognitive processes that accompany evaluation (perceived elaboration and attitude certainty), Research was supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación y Universidades, Gobierno de España (ES) [PSI2017-83303-C2-1-P]

BACKGROUND Teacher instructional competency, the set of essential knowledge and skills needed to guide teaching practice, is critical to the successful implementation of school health education. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the Health Education Teacher Instructional Competency (HETIC) framework, a new conceptualization describing teacher characteristics, essential knowledge, and essential skills, which can influence instructional practice and improve student learning outcomes in health education. METHODS Data from 17 publicly available guidance documents, professional standards, published reports, and empirical studies relevant to the fields of public education, school health education, and sexual health education were abstracted and analyzed using qualitative thematic content analysis. RESULTS The framework describes 3 domains: personal characteristics, essential knowledge, and essential skills, which are believed to contribute to teachers' instructional competencies in delivering health education. The knowledge domain asserts 5 key categories, while the essential skills domain includes 3 categories (learning environments, content and delivery, and collaboration and learning) and contains 11 unique skills. Collectively, these domains are influenced by the learner, school/community, and policy-level factors that shape health education curriculum and instruction. CONCLUSIONS The HETIC framework presents a conceptual roadmap to guide quality health education preparation, job-embedded training, and delivery. Improving teachers' instructional competencies strengthens learning and prosocial environments that are inclusive, responsive, and affirming of students' health and learning needs. Teacher who demonstrate instructional competency can help students to achieve desired education and health outcomes, specifically acquiring the knowledge and skills needed to adapt, practice, and maintain healthy behaviors throughout their lifetime.

The novel coronavirus (COVID‐19) outbreak has resulted into global devastation. This study attempts to explore the positive phenomenal impact of perceived pandemic anxiety resulting in prosocial behaviour (PB) through the mechanisms of self‐awareness and spiritual transformation using terror management theory (TMT). The study also examines the moderating impact of conscious state expansion (CSE) on the self‐awareness and spiritual transformation relationship, and the impact of this moderation effect is further tested separately on two gender groups. The data (N = 573) for the study were collected from the Punjab state of India during the ascending phase of outbreak. The results of PLS‐SEM analysis reveal the significant influence of variables under study on prosocial behavioural outcomes. Taking insights from the findings of the study it becomes clear that during dreadful situations, when people experience the possibility of loss of life, their self‐awareness level increases, which in turn results in their spiritual transformation. Such mechanism is observed more in the people possessing higher spiritual consciousness. The study concludes by recognising the positive role played by spiritual transformation (ST) in the evolution of the attributes of care and compassion for others, resulting in positive social consequences. The discussion, implications, limitations, and future directions are presented and discussed.

Research suggests that the internet could be considered an arena for both virtuous and vicious behaviors, with observations of enhanced perspective-taking and honest self-reflections occurring alongside evidence of cyberbullying and deceptive communications. In the current study, we explore the role of three widely recognized sources of moral behavior - moral identity, moral disengagement and authoritative parenting – in predicting adolescents’ online empathy and online authenticity. Seven-hundred-and-eighty-eight UK adolescents aged 11-18 years (66% male) completed measures of these key constructs. Structural equation modelling results suggest that parental responsiveness and autonomy granting are positively related to adolescents’ moral identity. In turn, moral identity was positively related to both online empathy and online authenticity. Having a stronger moral identity also meant that adolescents were less likely to morally disengage, and moral disengagement was negatively related to online authenticity in adolescent females. Partial invariance across gender and age was observed. The findings indicate that moral identity encourages moral thoughts, feelings and actions in the online environment, including being authentic and empathic. As the formation and accessibility of one’s moral identity can be promoted, we discuss the implications of these findings for cultivating prosocial behavior in the online environment as well as future research avenues.

Empirical investigations into the psychological drivers of more or less expansive moral thinking are lacking from the psychological literature. One potential driver that warrants deeper investigation is compassion - a prosocial motivation to both identity and alleviate suffering. The current research examined the extent to which compassion, and fears of compassion, act as a driver and inhibitor, respectively, of a morally expansive mindset. We tested these associations across three studies (N = 749) and found robust support for our predictions. Specifically, stronger compassion to others, and greater fears of extending compassion to others, were linked to enhanced and reduced moral expansiveness, respectively. Moreover, over and above empathy and mindfulness, fears of compassion and compassion uniquely predicted moral expansiveness. Finally, compassion was found to consistently mediate the relationship between fears of compassion to others and moral expansiveness. Our findings further our understanding of the psychological factors that may drive and restrict morally expansive mindsets and hold implications for the broader domains of moral decision-making and prosocial motivation as well as the application of practices that are designed to facilitate a compassionate mindset (e.g., Compassionate Mind Training).

The global COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally changed the way we live and work in the short-term, but history suggests that the crisis may also exert deeper, longer-lasting effects. With the aim of providing preliminary insight into this possibility, we theoretically construct and empirically test hypotheses for how exposure to COVID-19 stimuli (e.g., reading or watching media coverage, observing relief efforts) relates to the deep-seated values that guide workers' attitudes and behaviors. Specifically, we build from prior work to posit that exposure to COVID-19 stimuli is positively associated with workers' self-transcendent prosocial values, which motivate prosocial behaviors directed toward society as a whole (i.e., charitable donations) and coworkers (i.e., helping). Extend the extant literature, we further argue that exposure to COVID-19 stimuli will be positively associated with conservation values emphasizing self-restraint, submission, protection of order, and harmony in relations, which in turn influences workers' willingness to tolerate mistreatment by authorities (i.e., abusive supervision, authoritarian leadership, exploitation). Evidence from 2,929 full-time Chinese employees tracked for nearly 2 months and a diverse sample of 310 workers in the United States generally support our arguments, but also provide insight into potential cultural nuances. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)

AIM Despite the literature on nursing leadership, the research on the quality of exchange relationship between nursing leaders and nurses is in its initial stages. Also, the underlying mechanism that exists between leader-member exchange and employee outcomes warrants further inquiry. This study aimed to fill these gaps by investigating the role of leader-member exchange relationships and organizational identification in nurses' intentional violation of hospital regulations to promote their patients' welfare, also called pro-social rule-breaking. In contrast to a vast number of previous studies, we argue that pro-social rule-breaking can be positive for organizations. Therefore, nurses should be given margin and autonomy to break hospital rules when needed by establishing a high-quality exchange relationship with the supervisor. DESIGN A quantitative study was conducted on nurses working in hospitals in Pakistan by utilizing a non-probability convenience sampling technique. METHOD Data from nurses and their colleagues (n = 224) were collected at three-time points between June 2019 and August 2019 through questionnaires. RESULTS The results proved that nurses' possessing a high-quality exchange relationship with their supervisor feels a higher level of identification with their organization. In turn, they are more likely to engage in pro-social rule-breaking as a form of constructive deviance.

The paper studies tax evasion in an evolutionary setting. In addition to standard variables such as the fine individuals may have to pay if found guilty or the probability of being audited, agents' inclination to engage in tax evasion may also be affected by social interactions. Moreover, expected payoffs may include reputational costs or rewards awarded by society after an individual is audited. The paper shows how (i) social norms may play a very important role in defining the long-run evolution of tax evasion and, consequently, that (ii) policymakers should consider reforms that would increase social awareness and information rather than more (financially and politically) expensive traditional auditing instruments; in addition, (iii) fiscal/auditing policies should be carefully tailored to the particular economic and social setting in place in a country. Web of Science 89 4 405 385

Culture shapes the experience of obligation. Comparing participants from three countries with different cultural backgrounds, this study investigated the effect of obligation to help on positive affect and satisfaction of basic psychological needs. Adult participants from Japan, Romania, and the United States recalled either a situation in which they helped spontaneously, without being directly requested to do so (agentic help), or a situation in which they felt obligated to respond to a direct request for help (obligated help). The results revealed that obligation reduced benefactors' positive affect, but less so in Japan. The effect of obligation on satisfaction of basic psychological needs did not differ by culture. The results suggest that obligation to help may have less detrimental effects on positive affect in countries such as Japan, where social expectations to help are more fully internalized.

To resolve the major controversy about why prosocial behaviors persist in large-scale human societies, we propose that two questions need to be answered. First, how do social interactions in small-scale and large-scale societies differ? By reviewing the exchange and collective-action dilemmas in both small-scale and large-scale societies, we show they are not different. Second, are individual decision-making mechanisms driven by self-interest? We extract from the literature three types of individual decision-making mechanism, which differ in their social influence and sensitivity to self-interest, to conclude that humans interacting with non-relatives are largely driven by self-interest. We then ask: what was the key mechanism that allowed prosocial behaviors to continue as societies grew? We show the key role played by new social interaction mechanisms-change in the rules of exchange and collective-action dilemmas-devised by the interacting individuals, which allow for self-interested individuals to remain prosocial as societies grow.

The development of prosocial skills is considered pivotal to childhood development. The friendship unit of the Preschool Life Skills program teaches early prosocial skills likely to facilitate socially desirable behaviors in young children; however, the friendship unit is the most understudied unit and has produced modest, inconsistent outcomes across children. The current study aimed to evaluate procedures necessary to (a) teach friendship skills to 4 children, with and without developmental disabilities, in an applied context and (b) promote the use of these skills with a same-aged peer. Teaching 5 friendship skills in a 1-to-1 format with the addition of tangible reinforcement, if necessary, was efficacious at increasing the children's friendship skills with an adult. Additional tactics were necessary to promote prosociality with a peer. We discuss refinements to the teaching procedures and additional considerations to improve the social acceptability and durability of prosocial skills.

Previous research located two opposite findings and frequently used threat perceptions and value‐support to explain the relationship between religiosity and attitudes toward immigrants: Religious individuals have negative attitudes toward immigrants because they support conservative values and feel threatened by unfamiliar groups. Second, they are open toward immigrants because they integrate prosocial and altruistic teachings of religion into their daily lives. Both lines have been confirmed repeatedly, which is puzzling. I argue that we need to consider all three factors (religiosity, value‐support, threat perceptions) simultaneously and explore their mutual interactions. In this study, I test this line of argumentation empirically with data from the European Social Survey (Round 7). The analyses reveal that religiosity has the weakest direct effect on attitudes toward immigrants. Threat perceptions, on the other hand, have the strongest direct effects, followed by value‐support. However, religiosity affects the attitudes toward immigrants indirectly via threat perceptions. These findings highlight that religiosity, value‐support, and threat perceptions are closely linked and need simultaneous consideration to make reliable claims about their effects.

Prosocial P2P lending platforms are a novel and powerful example of a digital social innovation (DSI) in which the operating model relies primarily on digital technologies and the overarching focus is on the ‘social’ aspect of the innovation. These platforms establish a virtual connection between low-income individuals and lenders, helping the former access loans at low rates of interest. In realizing their mission of fighting poverty, prosocial P2P lending platforms maintain a challenging hybrid – online and offline – focus. This paper explores how prosocial P2P lending platforms enact their hybrid orientation. It draws on an inductive qualitative study of Rang De, India’s first prosocial P2P lending platform. The analysis highlights five clusters of actions: digital attention-building, digital credibility-building, digital empathy-building, intermediary relationship-building and borrower relationship-building. The paper argues that significant strengths on the online side help establish a sustainable business model. A willingness and commitment to maintain a high degree of engagement with the complex offline world of low-income borrowers helps develop the model as an impactful social innovation.

Background Pain empathy enables a person to experience and understand other's pain state by observing others in pain condition. Such prosocial ability is deficient in many psychopathological disorders. Somatosensory alpha suppression is considered as neural correlates of pain empathy and is hypothesized as a target for enhancement of pain empathy. Researches demonstrated that alpha suppression could be enhanced by transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) at alpha frequency non‐invasively. Aims We applied alpha tACS over the primary somatosensory cortex of healthy subjects to investigate whether alpha tACS is able to enhance the pain empathy performance. Results The results showed that there was no difference of pain empathy performance between alpha tACS and sham tACS either when tACS was applied during the task or before task. While in the alpha tACS group, the pain empathy performance was positively correlated with empathic concern of male subjects, the sub‐component of personal trait empathy. Conclusions Alpha tACS cannot alter the empathy performance overall, but the modulation effect of alpha tACS on pain empathy is dependent on the gender and trait empathy of subjects., We tested whether alpha tACS could enhance the empathy ability, which is deficit in many psychopathological disorders such as autism and alexithymia. We did not find overall modulation effect of alpha tACS on pain empathy performance either online or offline. While the pain empathy was positively correlated with empathy concern of male subjects indicating the gender and trait empathy‐dependent characteristics of alpha tACS on pain empathy.

Background The increased adoption and dependence of electronic devices have potential implications on parent-child relationships, including parental responsiveness. Few studies have examined the association between parent-child technology interference and developmental outcomes. The objective of this study was to examine the associations between parent-child technology interference and cognitive and social-emotional development in preschool-aged children (3-5 years). Methods Participants were 100 parents and their preschool-aged child from Edmonton, Canada. Parent-child technology interference across six different devices (i.e., cell phone/smartphone, tablet, iPod, television, computer and video game console) was parental reported using an adapted version of the Technology Device Interference Scale, and a total score was calculated. Cognitive development was objectively measured using three iPad-based tasks from the Early Years Toolbox to capture executive functions (i.e., working memory and response inhibition) and language development (i.e., expressive vocabulary). Social-emotional development was parental reported using the Child Self-Regulation and Social Behaviour Questionnaire, and seven subscales (i.e., sociability, externalizing, internalizing, prosocial and behavioural, cognitive, and emotional self-regulation) were calculated. Multiple linear regression models that adjusted for several potential confounders were conducted. Results The mean total parent-child technology interference score was 4.2 units, which equates to approximately 12-16 interruptions per day due to an electronic device. Approximately 60% of the score was due to interference by a cell phone/smartphone. After removing influential cases based on Cook's distance values, higher parent-child technology interference was significantly associated with lower response inhibition (B = -0.015, 95% CI: -0.028, -0.002) and emotional self-regulation (B = -0.095, 95% CI: -0.163, -0.028) scores and higher log externalizing (B = 0.033, 95% CI: 0.002, 0.063) and log internalizing (B = 0.034, 95% CI: 0.013, 0.056) scores. Conclusions Electronic devices, in particular the cell phone/smartphone, appear to interrupt parents' conversations and activities with their preschool-aged child multiple times per day. Higher parent-child technology interference may be adversely associated with several subdomains of early childhood development. Future longitudinal and experimental research is needed to confirm these findings.

We examined whether people who are prone to believe COVID‐19 conspiracy theories are characterised by an especially strong concern for others or an especially strong concern for the self, and whether these orientations are associated with willingness to take a COVID‐19 vaccine. We surveyed 4,245 participants from eight nations; three months later we re‐contacted 1,262 participants from three nations. Belief in COVID‐19 conspiracy theories was related to greater concerns about one’s own safety, and lower concerns about the safety of close others. Furthermore, conspiracist ideation at Wave 1 predicted reluctance to take a COVID‐19 vaccine at Wave 2, mediated through relative concern for self versus other. In sum, people who are high in conspiracy beliefs have relatively higher concern for the self relative to others, with troubling implications for public health.

BACKGROUND: Alcohol can be instrumentalized to achieve goals that without the drug would either not be achievable or would be so only with considerably more workload. While an understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms of alcohol instrumentalization is emerging, little information is available concerning instrumentalization goals in controlled consumers and how these goals change during the development of an alcohol use disorder (AUD). METHODS: We surveyed instrumentalization goals in 103 male and 78 female inpatients with AUD (before / after onset of the disorder) and compared them with the goals of 124 male and 96 female age-matched non-addicted controls. We also investigated whether instrumentalization goals predict 24-month alcohol-related hospital readmissions in the patients using a false discovery rate (FDR) approach. RESULTS: Separately for both sexes, the most frequently (>25%) self-reported alcohol instrumentalization goals in patients were "stress coping," "craving for alcohol," and "reduction of anxiety and / or depressive mood" and in controls "facilitation of social interaction." Relative to controls, and in a sex-dependent manner, patients with AUD reported the goals "facilitation of social interaction" and "search for a partner" significantly less frequently and "reduction of anxiety and / or depressive mood," "stress coping," "improvement of sexual activity," "improvement of concentration," "euphoria," and "craving for alcohol" more frequently. During the transition to addiction, many of the instrumentalization goals changed significantly, some in a sex-dependent manner. In female AUD patients, a goal of "euphoria" nominally predicted a lower risk of alcohol-related readmission, although not significantly when FDR corrected. CONCLUSIONS: We identified cross-sectional and intra-individual differences in instrumentalization goals that support the assumption that the onset of an AUD coincides with a shift in instrumentalization goals from prosocial instrumentalization toward the self-management of aversive mental states.

During the COVID‐19 pandemic, it is important for people to engage in prosocial behaviours to support one another. The aim of this research is to answer a key question: in a social crisis, what motivates Americans to help others? Guided by research on appraisal theories and ecosystem theory, we examined the role of compassionate goals and prosocial emotions in promoting prosocial behaviours towards either out‐group or in‐group members. Study 1 (N = 943) was conducted in February 2020, before the widespread transmission of COVID‐19 began in the United States. Results show that people with high compassionate goals are more likely to experience sympathy, which in turn makes them more willing to help people suffering from COVID‐19 in China. Study 2 (N = 1,009) was conducted with a nationally representative sample after COVID‐19 became more prevalent in the United States. Although people with high compassionate goals still experience more sympathy and solidarity, sympathy does not predict donation intention. Instead, solidarity mediates the relationship between compassionate goals and donation intention. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement.

The current study investigated two types of punishment (prosocial and proself punishment) in the ultimatum game (UG) and examined the impact of individuals' prosocial orientation on the costly punishment in the UG in a representative sample of Chinese undergraduate students (N = 344). The prosocial orientation was measured with individuals' performance in the dictator game (DG), social value orientation (SVO), and the personal norm of reciprocity. Prosocial and proself punishers were established with responses in advantage and disadvantage offers in the UG. Results showed that prosocial and proself punishers coexisted in the UG, and prosocial punishers were more likely to be prosocial in SVO and allocated more resources to the recipient in the DG than proself punishers, but differences in positive/negative reciprocity between prosocial and proself punishers were not found. Further regression analysis found that SVO type and generosity in the DG could predict the type of punishers in the UG, but not positive/negative reciprocity. These findings indicate that individuals rejecting unfair offers in the UG may be motivated by either prosocial motivation with strict fairness concern (prosocial punishment) or selfish motivation with maximizing self-interest concern (proself punishment). Moreover, SVO type and generosity in the DG might be effective measures to discriminate prosocial and proself punishers in the UG.

There has been increasing scholarly attention to the study of maternal sensitivity as a multidimensional construct. This report investigated the predictive value of three dimensions of sensitivity during mother-infant interactions in an effort to gain greater understanding of how specific facets of sensitivity relate to child socioemotional outcomes. Maternal cooperation/attunement (accurate interpretation of infant cues and capacity to adjust the interaction correspondingly), positivity (positive attitude toward the infant), and accessibility/availability (consistent attentiveness) were assessed observationally in 195 mothers of 1-year-old infants. Child socioemotional functioning was assessed using behavioral tasks and maternal and teacher reports when children were 4 years of age. The results revealed that maternal accessibility/availability was predictive of less externalizing behavior, more prosocial behavior (mother- and teacher-reported), and better theory of mind, while maternal positivity predicted effortful control. These results highlight the advantages of a multidimensional assessment in understanding how sensitivity predicts different developmental outcomes.

This study investigates how adolescents' daily prosocial behaviors to friends are related to diurnal cortisol using between- and within-subject analyses. Further, we examine whether role fulfillment (i.e., feeling like a good friend) moderates links between prosocial behaviors and cortisol. Ethnically diverse adolescents (N = 370; ages 11-18) reported whether they provided instrumental and emotional support to friends for 5 days, and provided four saliva samples/day for 4 days. On the daily level, providing emotional support predicted lower cortisol awakening response the next day, and providing instrumental assistance to friends was associated with a flatter cortisol slope the same day (a cardiovascular risk factor). Adolescents also provided more emotional support on days they had lower CAR and steeper cortisol slopes. On the average level, providing more instrumental support was associated with steeper cortisol slopes among adolescents who felt high levels of role fulfillment, but not among adolescents who felt low levels of role fulfillment. Providing instrumental support may be physiologically taxing from day to day but, across the long term, linked to lower cardiovascular risk for adolescents who experience helping as highly fulfilling.

This study examines the proposition that friend characteristics forecast changes in perceptions of relationship negativity. The participants (ages 9 to 11) were 240 pre- and young adolescents (114 boys, 126 girls) involved in 120 same-sex best friendships that were stable across a period of 4 to 12 weeks. Each friend described perceptions of negativity in their relationship. Prosocial behavior and relational aggression were assessed via peer nominations. Dyadic analyses indicated that one friend's prosocial behavior and relational aggression uniquely forecast changes in the other friend's perception of negativity in the relationship. Greater initial levels of prosocial behavior anticipated decreases in perceived negativity, whereas greater initial levels of relational aggression forecast increases in perceived negativity.