{"title":"The effect of socially supportive church ministry on children's prosocial behavior: An experimental study of Latin American Protestant Congregations.","authors":"Erin I Smith, Robert G Crosby","doi":"10.1080/10852352.2021.1924591","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The church is commonly assumed to scaffold individuals' socially supportive relationships and prosocial behavior. If true, that would make the church an important support for individual development and community change, facilitating and fostering healthy relationships and positive interactions with others. In this study, we analyzed experimental data collected from 30 churches in three Latin American countries to assess the impact of an intervention targeting relational ministry practices on 6- to 14-year-old children's perceived support and prosocial behavior. Data were collected from children before (<i>n</i> = 710) and after (<i>n</i> = 612) the intervention in treatment (<i>n =</i> 25 churches) and control (<i>n</i> = 5 churches) conditions. Results indicated that the introduction of socially supportive practices in church children's ministries increased children's prosocial behavior, an effect mediated by changes in perceived support. Implications for children's development and the church as a means of community change are discussed.</p>","PeriodicalId":46123,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Prevention & Intervention in the Community","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.9000,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/10852352.2021.1924591","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Prevention & Intervention in the Community","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10852352.2021.1924591","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1
Abstract
The church is commonly assumed to scaffold individuals' socially supportive relationships and prosocial behavior. If true, that would make the church an important support for individual development and community change, facilitating and fostering healthy relationships and positive interactions with others. In this study, we analyzed experimental data collected from 30 churches in three Latin American countries to assess the impact of an intervention targeting relational ministry practices on 6- to 14-year-old children's perceived support and prosocial behavior. Data were collected from children before (n = 710) and after (n = 612) the intervention in treatment (n = 25 churches) and control (n = 5 churches) conditions. Results indicated that the introduction of socially supportive practices in church children's ministries increased children's prosocial behavior, an effect mediated by changes in perceived support. Implications for children's development and the church as a means of community change are discussed.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Prevention & Intervention in the Communityis on the cutting edge of social action and change, not only covering current thought and developments, but also defining future directions in the field. Under the editorship of Joseph R. Ferrari since 1995, Prevention in Human Services was retitled as the Journal of Prevention & Intervention in the Communityto reflect its focus of providing professionals with information on the leading, effective programs for community intervention and prevention of problems. Because of its intensive coverage of selected topics and the sheer length of each issue, the Journal of Prevention & Intervention in the Community is the first-and in many cases, primary-source of information for mental health and human services development.