"Direct and indirect effects of parental involvement, deviant peer affiliation, and school connectedness on prosocial behaviors in U.S. Latino/a youth"

Professor Gustavo Carlo (left) and postdoctoral scholar Zehra Gülseven (right) published an article in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships exploring parental involvement and adolescent prosocial behaviors, deviant peer affiliation and school connectedness.

The title of the article is “Direct and indirect effects of parental involvement, deviant peer affiliation, and school connectedness on prosocial behaviors in U.S. Latino/a youth.” Co-authors are Sahitya Maiya (first author, University of Missouri) and Lisa Crockett (University of Nebraska, Lincoln).

Carlo’s primary research interest focuses on understanding positive social development and health in culturally diverse children and adolescents. Many of his projects study U.S. ethnic/racial groups, including Latino/a youth and families. He has published more than 200 books, chapters, and research papers. He currently serves as a member of the Society for Research in Child Development Governing Council, as associate editor of the International Journal of Behavioral Development, and as co-editor of the upcoming APA Handbook of Adolescent Development. Carlo is director of UCI’s Cultural Resilience and Learning Center.
 
Gülseven's research focuses on parental, cultural, and contextual correlates of prosocial behaviors and moral development in children and adolescents. She is collaborating with Drs. Sandra Simpkins, Deborah Vandell, Jacquelynne Eccles, and Nicole Zarrett in the Templeton Character Development Project to explore the development of five character virtues including prosocial behavior, cooperative behavior, self-control, emotion regulation, and hard work from childhood through adolescence. Gülseven received her B.S. in Psychology from Abant İzzet Baysal University, in Turkey and her M.S. and Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Science from the University of Missouri.

Abstract
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Parental involvement has been associated with increased adolescent prosocial behaviors, but we know little about the peer and school-level explanatory mechanisms behind these associations. The current study aimed to examine the intervening roles of deviant peer affiliation and school connectedness in links between parental involvement and prosocial behaviors among U.S. Latino/a adolescents. Participants included 306 U.S. Latino/a adolescents (Mage = 15.50 years, SD = .42 years, 46% girls, 81.0% U.S. Mexican) from communities in the Northern Great Plains, who reported on parental involvement, deviant peer affiliation, school connectedness, and prosocial behaviors. Path analyses showed that parental involvement was directly and indirectly related to prosocial behaviors via both deviant peer affiliation and school connectedness. Parental involvement was related to lesser deviant peer affiliation, which was in turn related to greater school connectedness, which was further related to higher prosocial behaviors. The discussion focuses on the importance of studying the interplay of parent, peer, and school factors in understanding prosocial behaviors among U.S. Latino/a youth.