Prosocial foundations of children's academic achievement

The present longitudinal research demonstrates robust contributions of earl y prosocial behavior to children's developmental trajectories in academic a nd social domains. Both prosocial and aggressive behaviors in early childho od were tested as predictors of academic achievement and peer relations in adolescence 5 years later: Prosocialness included cooperating, helping, sha ring, and consoling, and the measure of antisocial aspects included pronene ss to verbal and physical aggression. Prosocialness had a strong positive i mpact on later academic achievement and social preferences, but early aggre ssion had no significant effect on either outcome. The conceptual model acc ounted for 35% of variance in later academic achievement, ann 37% of varian ce ill social preferences. Additional analysis revealed that early academic achievement did not contribute to later academic achievement after control ling for effects of early prosocialness. Possible mediating processes by wh ich prosocialness may affect academic achievement and other socially desira ble developmental outcomes are proposed.