Developmental links between well‐being, self‐concept and prosocial behaviour in early primary school

Abstract

Abstract Background Well‐being is a key aspect of children's education, yet measurement issues have limited studies in early primary school.

Aims The current 12‐month longitudinal study assesses the temporal stability of child‐ and parent‐reported school well‐being and examines developmental links with academic self‐concept and parent‐rated prosocial behaviour.

Sample(s)

We tracked a sample of 206 children across the transition from the first (T1) to the second (T2) year of primary school (T1 child M

age

= 5.3, SD = .46, 54.3% girls) and gathered ratings of well‐being, prosocial behaviour and academic self‐concept at both timepoints.

Methods We used cross‐lagged analyses to investigate developmental links between these three constructs.

Results Parent and child reports of children's well‐being showed similar temporal stability and converged over time, such that informants' reports showed a modest but significant correlation at T2. Girls reported greater well‐being than boys at both timepoints and received higher parental ratings of well‐being than boys at T2. For both girls and boys, associations between the constructs were asymmetric: early well‐being predicted later self‐concept and prosocial behaviour, but the reciprocal associations were not significant.

Conclusions These findings support the validity of young children's self‐reported well‐being, highlight the early onset of gender differences in school well‐being and demonstrate that early well‐being heralds later prosocial behaviour and positive academic self‐concepts.