This study assessed maternal caregiving quality and children's prosocial behavior as related to changes in child self-esteem from early childhood across the transition into formal schooling. Although a robust literature indicates that sensitive caregiving promotes self-esteem, less is known about the potential contribution of children's positive social behavior to enhanced self-esteem. This study drew on a diverse sample of young children (N = 250; M_age = 4.085, SD = .249; 50% female, 50% male; 46% Latinx) to evaluate prospective relations between an observational assessment of sensitive maternal caregiving at the age of 4 and child reports of self-esteem at the age of 8 as mediated by teacher-reports of children's prosocial behavior at the age of 6. Analyses revealed a significant indirect pathway whereby sensitive maternal caregiving promoted children's self-esteem via children's prosocial behavior. These findings highlight both sensitive caregiving and children's prosocial behavior as promising points of intervention to bolster children's self-esteem.

中文翻译：

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童年中期的母亲照顾、亲社会行为和自尊

本研究评估了母亲照料质量和儿童的亲社会行为与儿童从幼儿时期到正规学校过渡期间自尊的变化有关。尽管有大量文献表明，敏感的照顾可以促进自尊，但人们对儿童积极的社会行为对增强自尊的潜在贡献知之甚少。这项研究利用了不同的幼儿样本（N  = 250；M_年龄 =  4.085，SD = .249; 50% 女性，50% 男性；46% Latinx) 评估 4 岁时对敏感母亲照料的观察性评估与 8 岁时儿童自尊报告之间的前瞻性关系，由教师对 6 岁儿童亲社会行为的报告介导。分析揭示了一条重要的间接途径，即敏感的母亲照顾通过儿童的亲社会行为促进儿童的自尊。这些研究结果强调了敏感的照料和儿童的亲社会行为都是有希望的干预点，以增强儿童的自尊心。