{"id":137622,"date":"2016-02-01T12:35:59","date_gmt":"2016-02-01T17:35:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=137622"},"modified":"2017-12-05T11:58:57","modified_gmt":"2017-12-05T16:58:57","slug":"teens-are-more-caring-when-they-feel-support-from-others-137622","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/teens-are-more-caring-when-they-feel-support-from-others-137622\/","title":{"rendered":"Teens are more caring\u00a0when they feel support from others"},"content":{"rendered":"

Research from the University of Rochester finds that caring for others dips during adolescence. But when young people feel supported from their social circles, their concern for others rebounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cYoung people often perceive relationships they have as being less supportive during middle and early high school years,\u201d said Laura Wray-Lake<\/a>, an assistant professor in psychology<\/a>. \u201cOur study showed that youth perceptions of supports from parents, school, friends, and the community decreased across adolescence. \u00a0Social responsibility\u2014values that support caring for the welfare of others\u2014declined in concert with these decreases in support.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s an instructive take-away. \u201cRelationships with parents, schools, and peers do get more complex during adolescence, and some young people may start to feel less bonded to those around them,\u201d Wray-Lake said. \u201cBut, if a student has support from their parents and their school, and they also have supportive friends, those relationships are going to give them a boost in terms of prosocial engagement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wray-Lake and her colleagues also looked at students\u2019 individual behaviors and found that over time, volunteering resulted in an increase in values of caring. The actual experience of being civically engaged appears to enhance social responsibility values, the researchers said.<\/p>\n

The opposite is true, however, for substance use.\u00a0 An increase in substance use is related to lower social responsibility over time.\u00a0 According to the study, which was published in Developmental Psychology<\/em><\/a>, young people who get involved with risky behavior might have values that are more hedonistic\u2014living in the moment and having fun\u2014which can conflict with social values that lead to helping and caring for other people.<\/p>\n

Wray-Lake and her team conducted the longitudinal study with over 3,500 American adolescents from rural, suburban, and urban communities. Participants were asked to rate their beliefs using a 5-point scale ranging from strongly disagree <\/em>to strongly agree.\u00a0 <\/em>They were presented with a series of questions with the stem, \u201cIt\u2019s very important to me,\u201d including:<\/p>\n