A Meta-Analysis on age differences in helping and sharing behaviors, from infancy to adolescence

The emergence and development of prosocial behavior has been of considerable research interest since the early 1970s, yet the developmental trajectory of these behaviors is still not clear. Some researchers propose that these behaviors increase in frequency and complexity through adolescence (e.g., Eisenberg & Fabes, 1998; Eisenberg, Fabes, & Spinrad, 2006), while others suggest a decrease with age, as children become more self-regulated and selective in their behaviors (e.g., Hay, 1994; Hay, Castle, Davies, Demetriou, & Stimson, 1999. The latest meta-analysis that synthesized age differences in children’s and adolescences’ prosocial behavior (Fabes & Eisenberg, 1998) was conducted approximately two decades ago. However, many empirical studies that examined prosocial behaviors have been published since then. Thus, the current meta-analysis aims to depict the development of sharing and helping behaviors from infancy to adolescence. A literature search using the PsychInfo and Web of Science database identified 148 articles that examined the target behaviors (helping and/or sharing using either observation or experimental methods) with at least two age groups under 18 years. We divided the age groups into five categories (infants, toddlers, preschoolers, school-age children, and adolescents) and compared age difference both between and within those age categories. Cohen’s D and the Q-test were computed using the meta-analysis macro in the statistical software SPSS V.22.0. Detailed results are shown in Table 1. For helping behavior, results of observational studies yielded a significant, positive mean effect size for age differences comparing school-age children (younger children to older children), no significant results were found for other age comparisons. For experimental settings, results yielded a significant positive mean effect size for age differences comparing infants to toddlers , age groups within toddlerhood, and comparing preschoolers to school-age children. For sharing behavior, no significant results for any age group comparisons were found for observational studies. For experimental studies, several age differences were found examining whether children choose to share. There was a significant, positive mean effect size for age differences comparing infants to toddlers, younger to older preschoolers and within school-age children, but a significant, negative effect size when comparing toddlers to preschoolers and children to adolescents. In addition, regarding the number items children share, there was a significant, positive mean effect size for age differences comparing toddlers to preschoolers, within preschoolers, preschoolers to children, and within school-age children. However, no age differences were found when comparing younger to older children, while a decrease with age was found from comparing children to adolescence. Thus, a decrease in sharing was found in both whether children share and how many they share. The findings imply an increase in the early development of helping behavior that continues throughout childhood. For sharing, there is an increase from toddlerhood to childhood, but a decrease from childhood to adolescence. These findings support the perspective that children are becoming more selective in sharing during childhood. Moderator analysis will be conducted to examine potential mechanism beneath this development.