Family support and prosocial behaviors in U. S. Mexican and European American young adults : the intervening roles of respect and sociocognitive/emotive traits

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] The primary aim of this study is to consider mothers, fathers, and siblings as socialization agents of young adult's prosocial behaviors and to consider the mediating roles of cultural values and sociocognitive/emotive traits. In order to build on previous work, these relations are examined in a sample of European American and U.S. Latino young adults. The final sample included 184 U.S. Latino (N = 143, 78.6 % female; M age = 20.68, SD =2.05) and 348 European American young adults (N = 275, 79.5 % female; M age = 19.52, SD =1.11). Results from path analyses demonstrate complex and differential predictors associated with prosocial behaviors, as distinguished by the target of helping. Cultural values and young adults' sociocognitive and emotive traits largely served as underlying mechanisms in the relations between family support and prosocial behaviors, although these relations were differentiated by the target of helping. There was also evidence for the moderating role of young adults' gender in the model assessing prosocial behaviors toward family members, such that for men, there were several indirect and direct effects of paternal support (but not maternal or sibling support) in fostering prosocial behaviors toward family members. Discussion will focus on the integration of socialization, cognitive developmental, and cultural theories in predicting prosocial behaviors towards different helping targets.