What is it about?
Why do children choose to share, especially when sharing comes at a personal cost? This study followed 299 children over four years to understand how their personal values and their acts of kindness influence one another as they grow. We focused on two types of prosocial behavior: - Costly sharing: Giving a sticker or marble to another child even when it means losing one yourself. - Non-costly giving: Sharing when it does not require any personal sacrifice. Children also completed a picture-based tool that helped them indicate how important they find caring for others. We found a reciprocal link between values and behavior, but only when sharing required real personal cost. Children who valued caring were more likely to engage in costly sharing later on, and children who shared at a personal cost later showed small increases in caring values. Importantly, the role of values in behavior development was stronger than the role of behavior in value development. In contrast, sharing was much more common when it came at no personal cost. However, since this behavior is easier and strongly encouraged socially, it was not linked to differences in children’s personal values.
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Why is it important?
Middle childhood is a key period in which children build their moral identity while interacting with peers, siblings, and adults. These findings show that even at this young age, values are not just abstract ideas, they actively guide children’s behavior when something meaningful is at stake. Children are especially likely to share when they truly care about caring for others. We also show that practicing generosity can reinforce caring values, though values appear to play the larger role. For parents and educators, the message is clear: Helping children internalize caring values early on, can increase the likelihood of generous behavior later, especially in situations where kindness requires personal sacrifice.
Perspectives
Our findings highlight that values matter already in middle childhood, and they matter most when kindness is difficult. When sharing required giving something up, children relied on what they personally believed, not just on social expectations. This underscores the importance of nurturing caring values in young children, because those values continue to guide them years later.
Naama Rozen
Tel Aviv University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Values and prosociality in middle childhood: A longitudinal examination of costly sharing and noncostly giving., Developmental Psychology, December 2025, American Psychological Association (APA),
DOI: 10.1037/dev0002116.
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