Prosocial behavior in students with intellectual disabilities: Individual level predictors and the role of the classroom peer context
Prosocial behavior at school, such as helping and sharing, contributes to positive individual development, peer relations, and classroom climate. Students with intellectual disabilities (ID) may have difficulty to demonstrate prosocial behavior, but little is known about the levels of prosocial beha...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2023-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9910739/?tool=EBI |
| _version_ | 1811166106870611968 |
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| author | Eline Wagemaker Verena Hofmann Christoph M. Müller |
| author_facet | Eline Wagemaker Verena Hofmann Christoph M. Müller |
| author_sort | Eline Wagemaker |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Prosocial behavior at school, such as helping and sharing, contributes to positive individual development, peer relations, and classroom climate. Students with intellectual disabilities (ID) may have difficulty to demonstrate prosocial behavior, but little is known about the levels of prosocial behavior and its predictors in this population. This study aims to describe the prosocial behavior of students with ID attending special needs schools and related individual (i.e., age, sex, and general functioning) and classroom level (i.e., classmates’ mean prosocial behavior) predictors. School staff members assessed prosocial behavior of 1022 students with ID (69.5% boys; Mage = 11.34 years, SD = 3.73, range: 4–19 years) at the beginning and the end of a schoolyear. We found that students with ID on average demonstrated moderate levels of prosocial behavior, this was lower compared to norms of typically developing students. Correlations within each timepoint proved that prosocial behavior was more present in older students, girls, and students with higher general functioning. Using a longitudinal multilevel model, we found that, prosocial behavior increased more over the schoolyear in older students and in students with higher general functioning. Classmates’ mean levels of prosocial behavior did not affect later individual prosocial behavior. We conclude that prosocial behavior in students with ID depends on several individual characteristics, but less on the levels of prosocial behaviors in their special needs classroom peer context. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T15:47:10Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-27ddd64f6c124c538d7e5d443f87723a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T15:47:10Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-27ddd64f6c124c538d7e5d443f87723a2023-02-12T05:31:10ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032023-01-01182Prosocial behavior in students with intellectual disabilities: Individual level predictors and the role of the classroom peer contextEline WagemakerVerena HofmannChristoph M. MüllerProsocial behavior at school, such as helping and sharing, contributes to positive individual development, peer relations, and classroom climate. Students with intellectual disabilities (ID) may have difficulty to demonstrate prosocial behavior, but little is known about the levels of prosocial behavior and its predictors in this population. This study aims to describe the prosocial behavior of students with ID attending special needs schools and related individual (i.e., age, sex, and general functioning) and classroom level (i.e., classmates’ mean prosocial behavior) predictors. School staff members assessed prosocial behavior of 1022 students with ID (69.5% boys; Mage = 11.34 years, SD = 3.73, range: 4–19 years) at the beginning and the end of a schoolyear. We found that students with ID on average demonstrated moderate levels of prosocial behavior, this was lower compared to norms of typically developing students. Correlations within each timepoint proved that prosocial behavior was more present in older students, girls, and students with higher general functioning. Using a longitudinal multilevel model, we found that, prosocial behavior increased more over the schoolyear in older students and in students with higher general functioning. Classmates’ mean levels of prosocial behavior did not affect later individual prosocial behavior. We conclude that prosocial behavior in students with ID depends on several individual characteristics, but less on the levels of prosocial behaviors in their special needs classroom peer context.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9910739/?tool=EBI |
| spellingShingle | Eline Wagemaker Verena Hofmann Christoph M. Müller Prosocial behavior in students with intellectual disabilities: Individual level predictors and the role of the classroom peer context PLoS ONE |
| title | Prosocial behavior in students with intellectual disabilities: Individual level predictors and the role of the classroom peer context |
| title_full | Prosocial behavior in students with intellectual disabilities: Individual level predictors and the role of the classroom peer context |
| title_fullStr | Prosocial behavior in students with intellectual disabilities: Individual level predictors and the role of the classroom peer context |
| title_full_unstemmed | Prosocial behavior in students with intellectual disabilities: Individual level predictors and the role of the classroom peer context |
| title_short | Prosocial behavior in students with intellectual disabilities: Individual level predictors and the role of the classroom peer context |
| title_sort | prosocial behavior in students with intellectual disabilities individual level predictors and the role of the classroom peer context |
| url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9910739/?tool=EBI |
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