Prosocial Behaviors of Children

Abstract

The Prosocial Behaviors of Children instrument is a behavioral rating scale designed to assess positive social, emotional, and academic adjustment qualities in youth. Comprising 19 items, this scale measures behaviors indicative of the child’s ability to successfully navigate peer interactions, manage classroom expectations, and display appropriate emotion regulation skills. It is highly valuable in clinical and educational settings for identifying strengths and monitoring the development of prosocial behavior and social competence in children.

The instrument yields four distinct subscale scores, allowing for a nuanced understanding of a child’s functioning across different domains: General Prosocial Behavior and Social Competence, School Adjustment, Peer Preferred Behavior, and Teacher Preferred Behavior. Responses are recorded on a 5-point frequency scale, where higher scores consistently indicate a greater level of positive behavior.

Keywords

Prosocial behavior, Social competence, School adjustment, Peer relations, Teacher preferred behavior, Child psychology, Behavior assessment, Emotion regulation, Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group.

Authors

McConnell, Strain, Kerr, et al. (1984); Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group (CPPRG, 1991).

Purpose

The primary purpose of this psychological instrument is to provide a quantitative measure of observable positive social behaviors and adaptive functioning in children, particularly within the school environment. The scale is utilized by educators or observers to rate the frequency with which a child exhibits specific actions related to cooperation, self-management, and engagement with both peers and academic tasks.

By differentiating scores across subscales, the instrument serves to highlight specific areas where a child demonstrates exceptional strength (such as interaction with peers) or areas where further intervention might be beneficial (such as school adjustment or compliance with teacher expectations). This detailed measurement helps in the planning and evaluation of preventative programs focused on reducing negative conduct and fostering positive youth development.

Construct

The scale measures the overarching construct of positive youth adjustment, which is operationalized through four key sub-constructs:

• Prosocial Behavior and Social Competence: This global subscale incorporates all 19 items and reflects the child’s overall capacity for successful social interaction and adaptive functioning.
• School Adjustment: This focuses on the child’s ability to adhere to classroom rules, display effective work habits, follow instructions, and accept constructive feedback (Items 2, 7, 10, 11, 15, 18, and 19).
• Peer Preferred Behavior: This measures the child’s ability to initiate and maintain positive interactions with peers, including sharing, initiating conversations, and being sought out by others (Items 1, 3, 8, 9, 13, 16, and 17).
• Teacher Preferred Behavior: This assesses behaviors that facilitate a positive classroom environment and successful management by the teacher, such as compromising, coping appropriately with aggression, and accepting limits (Items 5, 6, 7, 12, and 14).

Validity

While specific psychometric data are detailed in the original technical reports by McConnell, Strain, Kerr, et al. (1984) and the Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group (1991), the scale’s items demonstrate strong face validity and content validity related to established criteria for positive child development. The items were selected to be direct, observable indicators of adaptive behavior across social and academic settings.

The consistent citation and inclusion of this instrument in authoritative compendia, such as those published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), suggest that it holds recognized empirical utility for measuring violence-related and positive counter-behaviors among youth populations.

Reliability

Detailed reliability information, including internal consistency (e.g., Cronbach’s alpha) and test-retest reliability, is typically presented in the corresponding technical documentation. The structure of the four distinct subscales implies that the items within each cluster demonstrate acceptable internal coherence, allowing researchers and practitioners to rely on the subscale scores as stable measures of their respective domains.

Factor Analysis

The structure of the scale, which utilizes four distinct subscales derived from various subsets of the 19 total items, strongly suggests that the instrument was subjected to factor analytic procedures. These procedures presumably confirmed the multidimensionality of the construct, supporting the extraction of factors corresponding to general social competence, academic engagement (School Adjustment), positive peer interaction, and compliance/management behavior (Teacher Preferred Behavior).

Instrument

Test Type: Behavioral Rating Scale

Format: 19-item frequency scale utilizing a 5-point Likert scale response format.

Language Available: English (Inferred)

Population Group: Children and Youth

Age Group: School-age children (Elementary and Middle School age inferred from item content)

Population Details: Used in studies focusing on behavioral intervention, conduct problems prevention, and social-emotional learning.

Test Methodology: Observer rating (typically completed by teachers or other supervising adults who have frequent opportunities to observe the child’s behavior).

Keywords

Prosocial behavior, Social competence, Child behavior assessment, Academic adjustment, Peer interaction, Teacher rating scale, Youth development, McConnell scale, CPPRG.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not specified in source data.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not specified in source data.

Correspondence Address: Correspondence regarding the initial technical report (1991) was handled by the Department of Psychology, Duke University.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The scale was initially developed around 1984 (McConnell, Strain, Kerr, et al., 1984), with a major technical report published in 1991 by the Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group. Information regarding contemporary permissions and usage fees is not provided in the source material, but usage is often permitted for non-commercial academic research when properly cited. The instrument is publicly available within the CDC compendium.

The original PDF of the compendium containing this instrument can be downloaded here: http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/YV_Compendium.pdf.

Reference’s

• McConnell, S. R., Strain, P. S., Kerr, M. M., et al. (1984). Original scale development (Specific title not provided in excerpt).
• Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group. (1991). Technical Report. Durham, NC: Department of Psychology, Duke University.
• Dahlberg, L. L., Toal, S. B., Swahn, M., & Behrens, C. B. (2005). Measuring Violence-Related Attitudes, Behaviors, and Influences Among Youths: A Compendium of Assessment Tools, 2nd ed. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.

Items of the Prosocial Behaviors of Children

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

1. Other children seek the child out to involve him/her in activities.
2. The child uses free time appropriately.
3. The child shares laughter with peers.
4. The child has good work habits (e.g.‚ is organized‚ makes efficient use of class time).
5. The child compromises with peers when a situation calls for it.
6. The child responds to teasing or name calling by ignoring‚ changing the subject‚ or some other constructive means.
7. The child accepts constructive criticism from peers without becoming angry.
8. The child plays or talks with peers for extended periods of time.
9. The child initiates conversation with peers in informal situations.
10. The child listens carefully to teacher instructions and directions for assignments.
11. The child displays independent study skills (e.g.‚ can work adequately with minimum teacher support).
12. The child appropriately copes without aggression from others (e.g.‚ tries to avoid a fight‚ walks away‚ seeks assistance‚ defends self).
13. The child interacts with a number of different peers.
14. The child can accept not getting his/her own way.
15. The child attends to assigned tasks.
16. The child keeps conversations with peers going.
17. The child invites peers to play or share activities.
18. The child does seatwork assignments as directed.
19. The child produces work of acceptable quality given her/his skill level.