Perceived empathic self-efficacy and moral self-concept: Distinct relations with prosocial behavior in preschoolers

This study investigated the role of different self-related cognitions for prosocial behavior in early childhood. It examined whether moral self-concept (MSC) and perceived empathic self-efficacy (PESE) make distinct contributions to helping, sharing, and comforting in preschoolers. Additionally, we investigated the hypothesis that caregiver-child relationship quality relates to children’s prosocial self-views. In 153 four- to five-year-old children ( M age = 59.08 months; 79 boys; 79.74% White; 66.67% of primary caregivers held university degrees), we assessed children’s MSC, PESE, three prosocial behaviors (helping, sharing, comforting), and attachment representations as well as their mothers’ sensitivity. Path analysis revealed domain-specific associations between the distinct self-related cognitions and prosocial behaviors: MSC was uniquely related to comforting, while PESE was uniquely related to sharing. Attachment security predicted PESE, and there was preliminary evidence for an indirect association with sharing through PESE. The study provides a novel approach for investigating PESE in preschoolers and demonstrates that self-concept and self-efficacy beliefs are differently related to prosocial development.