Is it better to give than receive?
Children who experienced compassionate parenting were more generous than
peers

Date:
December 1, 2020
Source:
University of California - Davis
Summary:
Young children who have experienced compassionate love and empathy
from their mothers may be more willing to turn thoughts into action
by being generous to others, a University of California, Davis,
study suggests.

Lab studies were done of children at ages 4 and 6.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Young children who have experienced compassionate love and empathy from
their mothers may be more willing to turn thoughts into action by being generous to others, a University of California, Davis, study suggests.


==========================================================================
In lab studies, children tested at ages 4 and 6 showed more willingness
to give up the tokens they had earned to fictional children in need when
two conditions were present -- if they showed bodily changes when given
the opportunity to share and had experienced positive parenting that
modeled such kindness. The study initially included 74 preschool-age
children and their mothers. They were invited back two years later,
resulting in 54 mother-child pairs whose behaviors and reactions were
analyzed when the children were 6.

"At both ages, children with better physiological regulation and
with mothers who expressed stronger compassionate love were likely
to donate more of their earnings," said Paul Hastings, UC Davis
professor of psychology and the mentor of the doctoral student who
led the study. "Compassionate mothers likely develop emotionally close relationships with their children while also providing an early example
of prosocial orientation toward the needs of others," researchers said
in the study.

The study was published in November in Frontiers in Psychology: Emotion Science. Co-authors were Jonas G. Miller, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University (who was a UC Davis doctoral
student when the study was written); Sarah Kahle of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, UC Davis; and Natalie R. Troxel,
now at Facebook.

In each lab exercise, after attaching a monitor to record children's
heart-rate activity, the examiner told the children they would be earning tokens for a variety of activities, and that the tokens could be turned
in for a prize. The tokens were put into a box, and each child eventually earned 20 prize tokens.

Then before the session ended, children were told they could donate all or
part of their tokens to other children (in the first instance, they were
told these were for sick children who couldn't come and play the game,
and in the second instance, they were told the children were experiencing
a hardship.) At the same time, mothers answered questions about their compassionate love for their children and for others in general. The
mothers selected phrases in a survey such as: "I would rather engage in
actions that help my child than engage in actions that would help me."
"Those whom I encounter through my work and public life can assume that
I will be there if they need me." "I would rather suffer myself than
see someone else (a stranger) suffer." Taken together, the findings
showed that children's generosity is supported by the combination of
their socialization experiences -- their mothers' compassionate love --
and their physiological regulation, and that these work like "internal
and external supports for the capacity to act prosocially that build on
each other." The results were similar at ages 4 and 6.

In addition to observing the children's propensity to donate their
game earnings, the researchers observed that being more generous also
seemed to benefit the children. At both ages 4 and 6, the physiological recording showed that children who donated more tokens were calmer
after the activity, compared to the children who donated no or few
tokens. They wrote that "prosocial behaviors may be intrinsically
effective for soothing one's own arousal." Hastings suggested that
"being in a calmer state after sharing could reinforce the generous
behavior that produced that good feeling."

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
University_of_California_-_Davis. Original written by Karen
Nikos-Rose. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Jonas G. Miller, Sarah Kahle, Natalie R. Troxel, Paul
D. Hastings. The
Development of Generosity From 4 to 6 Years: Examining Stability and
the Biopsychosocial Contributions of Children's Vagal Flexibility
and Mothers' Compassion. Frontiers in Psychology, 2020; 11 DOI:
10.3389/ fpsyg.2020.590384 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/12/201201103626.htm

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