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Developmental Links between Well-Being, Self-Concept and Prosocial Behaviour in Early Primary School

Authors :
Caoimhe Dempsey
Rory Devine
Elian Fink
Claire Hughes
Source :
British Journal of Educational Psychology. 2024 94(2):425-440.
Publication Year :
2024

Abstract

Background: Well-being is a key aspect of children's education, yet measurement issues have limited studies in early primary school. Aims: The current 12-month longitudinal study assesses the temporal stability of child- and parent-reported school well-being and examines developmental links with academic self-concept and parent-rated prosocial behaviour. Sample(s): We tracked a sample of 206 children across the transition from the first (T1) to the second (T2) year of primary school (T1 child M[subscript age] = 5.3, SD = 0.46, 54.3% girls) and gathered ratings of well-being, prosocial behaviour and academic self-concept at both timepoints. Methods: We used cross-lagged analyses to investigate developmental links between these three constructs. Results: Parent and child reports of children's well-being showed similar temporal stability and converged over time, such that informants' reports showed a modest but significant correlation at T2. Girls reported greater well-being than boys at both timepoints and received higher parental ratings of well-being than boys at T2. For both girls and boys, associations between the constructs were asymmetric: early well-being predicted later self-concept and prosocial behaviour, but the reciprocal associations were not significant. Conclusions: These findings support the validity of young children's self-reported well-being, highlight the early onset of gender differences in school well-being and demonstrate that early well-being heralds later prosocial behaviour and positive academic self-concepts.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
0007-0998 and 2044-8279
Volume :
94
Issue :
2
Database :
ERIC
Journal :
British Journal of Educational Psychology
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
EJ1421714
Document Type :
Journal Articles<br />Reports - Research
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1111/bjep.12654