Prosocial Behavior: Long-Term Trajectories and Psychosocial Outcomes

This study investigated developmental trajectories for prosocial behavior for a sample followed from age 10 - 18 and examined possible adjustment outcomes associated with membership in different trajectory groups. Participants were 136 boys and 148 girls, their teachers, and their parents (19.4% African American, 2.4% Asian, 51.9% Caucasian, 19.5% Hispanic, and 5.8% other). Teachers rated children's prosocial behavior yearly in grades 4 - 12. At the end of the 12^th grade year, teachers, parents, and participants reported externalizing behaviors and participants reported internalizing symptoms, narcissism, and features of borderline personality disorder. Results suggested that prosocial behavior remained stable from middle childhood through late adolescence. Group-based mixture modeling revealed three prosocial trajectory groups: low (18.7%), medium (52.8%), and high (29.6%). Membership in the high prosocial trajectory group predicted lower levels of externalizing behavior as compared to the low prosocial trajectory group, and for girls, lower levels of internalizing symptoms. Membership in the medium prosocial trajectory group also predicted being lower on externalizing behaviors. Membership in the high prosocial trajectory group predicted lower levels of borderline personality features for girls only.