Abstract

Prosocial behavior typically emerges during an infant's second year. Because it is posited to be continuous from infancy to adulthood, and past research has identified numerous positive outcomes associated with prosocial behavior, it is important to understand the mechanisms involved in early prosocial behavior, such as prosocial media. Past research has examined the relation between prosocial media and prosocial behavior in preschool children, but no studies have explored this association with infants. The current study includes 60 infants and their primary caregivers. Data about media use, parent-infant media interactions, and infant prosocial helping was collected through survey and observational measures. Results showed that prosocial media exposure and parent joint media engagement were not associated with infant instrumental prosocial behavior. Additionally, parent joint media engagement did not act as a moderator between prosocial media exposure and infant instrumental prosocial behavior. Discussion focuses on the implications of infant age, infant attention level, and age appropriateness of media on infant instrumental prosocial behavior, as well as potential problems within the measurement and cross-sectional study design.

Degree

MS

College and Department

Family, Home, and Social Sciences; Family Life

Rights

https://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/

Date Submitted

2020-07-27

Document Type

Thesis

Handle

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/etd11353

Keywords

instrumental prosocial behavior, prosocial media, parent joint media engagement, infant

Language

english

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