How does the prosocial self-perception develop in childhood?

The purpose of this study was to examine the development of the prosocial self-perception (sense of value, efficacy). Thirty 5-year-olds, one hundred one 6-year-olds, sixty three 7-yearolds, eighty seven 8-year-olds, and seventy eight 9-year-olds were administrated the Prosocial Self-Perception Scale which consisted of 10 prosocial items. Children were asked their sense of value and efficacy for each item : how they thought they had better be prosocial (sense of value) and could be prosocial (efficacy). Their teachers assessed their prosocial behaviors. As the result, sense of value and efficacy of boys were lower than those of girls, and those of 9-year-olds were lower than those of others. There were developmental differences in the proportions of 4 types of prosocial self-perception, which were divided according to their scores on sense of value and efficacy, average-average (AA), low-low (LL), high-high (HH), high-low (HL). In the case of 8- and 9-year-olds, types of prosocial self-perception were related with prosocial behavior. HH and HL did more prosocial behaviors than other types. These results suggest that quality of prosocial self-perception develops from 5-year-olds to 9-year-olds