Prosocial behaviors of young children related to parental childrearing attitudes

Thirty preschool children from 3 to 6 years of age whose parents had shown congruence or lack of congruence in their attitudes toward adult control were observed in their homes on three occasions. Prosocial behaviors of children were observed and parent attitudes were measured by a revised Parent as a Teacher Inventory. While the chi-square was not significant, data show that 5 of the 6 children with the lowest percentages of prosocial behaviors had mothers with scores which represented a high need for adult control. Likewise, all eight of the children who exhibited the lowest level of prosocial behavior had fathers whose scores were all below the factor mean. There is a need for further investigation of the effects of congruence between parent attitudes, parent behavior and child behavior.