Prosocial Behavior and Aggression in the Daily School Lives of Early Adolescents

Research has not adequately addressed a possible mutual co-regulatory influence of prosocial and aggressive behaviors in adolescents’ daily lives. This study explored bidirectional within-person associations between prosocial and aggressive behaviors in the daily school lives of early adolescents. The sample included 242 sixth-graders [Mage = 11.96 (SD = 0.18), 50% girls] and their teachers. Adolescents reported on daily prosocial behavior and reactive and proactive aggression for ten consecutive days. Teachers and adolescents reported on adolescents’ overall prosocial behaviors. Across-day prosocial behaviors increased after days when adolescents exhibited more reactive aggression but not among self-reported low-prosocial adolescents. Increased prosocial behaviors did not mitigate aggression the next day. The findings suggest prosocial behaviors are a plausible compensatory strategy after daily aggressive reactions.