A longitudinal study of prosocial behaviors predicting later academic performance in US Latine early adolescents

IntroductionScholars have asserted and provided evidence on the developmental benefits of prosocial behaviors on later academic performance and well-being. However, research directly examining these links in US Latine early adolescents and work that explains the positive link between prosocial behaviors and academic outcomes is scarce. The present study investigated whether social skills and self-efficacy mediate the positive relations between prosocial behaviors and US Latine early adolescents' educational performance.MethodParticipants were 543 low-income, US Latine middle school students (Mage = 11.7, SD = 0.73; 275 girls) attending after-school programs. Measures of prosocial behaviors, social skills, self-efficacy, and academic performance were administered at three-time points.ResultsFindings showed that prosocial behaviors were significantly and positively linked to later self-efficacy, which in turn, was subsequently positively linked to academic performance. In contrast, the paths among prosocial behaviors, social skills, and academic performance were not significant.ConclusionThe discussion focuses on the central role of self-efficacy in understanding the relations between prosocial behaviors and educational performance in US Latine early adolescents.