| This study explores the relationship between children's prosocial behavior and mothers' discipline styles and degree of nurturance. An adaptation of the Parental Discipline Questionnaire (Krevans, 1992) and the Rickel Modified Child Rearing Practices Report (Rickel & Biasatti, 1982) were completed by 41 mothers of fifth-grade students. These measures yielded scores for Nurturance, Restrictiveness, Induction, Power Assertion, Love Withdrawal, and Permissiveness. Classroom teachers completed a prosocial behavior ranking for their students. A significant result (p < .05) was found for restrictiveness. Consistent with previous research by Baumrind (1971) and Hoffman (1975), the restrictiveness scores of mothers of children in the unlikely prosocial group were significantly higher than the restrictiveness scores of mothers of children in the likely prosocial groups. Unexpectedly, statistically significant results were not found for nurturance and induction. Results of this study may be useful to family practitioners, educators, and researchers with an interest in the promotion of prosocial development. Family counselors, psychologists, and others who teach parenting skills could encourage parents to use child rearing methods based on respect and reason, rather than external control. Two additional findings from this study were that teachers judged a majority of their students to be prosocial, and that mothers often endorsed the parenting styles associated with prosocial behavior, those of nurturance and induction. In future studies, a less homogeneous sample of families, with varying socioeconomic status and ethnicity, should be used. Another important focus for future research is fathers' contribution to children's prosocial development. To evaluate the long-term effects of parental style on children's prosocial development and clarify issues of cause and effect, longitudinal studies are also needed. |