Laura M. Padilla-Walker

Brigham Young University - Provo Main Campus | BYU · School of Family Life

Research has found that media is associated with children's prosocial behavior (PB) from an early age, and that parents play a key role in children's media use and behavior. However, few studies explore these relations as early as infancy while also controlling for well‐established predictors of PB (e.g., empathic concern). Thus, the present study...

Prosociality is a multifaceted concept referring to the many ways in which individuals care about and benefit others. Human prosociality is foundational to social harmony, happiness, and peace; it is therefore essential to understand its underpinnings, development, and cultivation. This handbook provides a state-of-the-art, in-depth account of scie...

This study used a person-centred approach to consider profiles of parent–child sex communication. We sought to determine whether profiles of sex communication were distinguishable from one another based on aspects of both the parent and the child. Participants included 596 US young people (51% female at birth; Mage = 14.55, SD = 1.70, 56% white), a...

The development of problematic media use in early childhood is not well understood. The current study examined long-term associations between parental media efficacy, parental media monitoring, and problematic media use across a three-year period of time during early childhood. Participants included 432 parents who reported on their own parenting a...

Ethical Values Assessment (EVA) in Turkish (other languages are also available). This questionnaire assesses the use of the "big three" ethics of Autonomy, Community, and Divinity, including their importance, which constitute core values in a participant's life, and any additional emic values of importance to participants. There is an 18-item long...

Ethical Values Assessment (EVA) in English (other languages are also available). This questionnaire assesses the use of the "big three" ethics of Autonomy, Community, and Divinity, including their importance, which constitute core values in a participant's life, and any additional emic values of importance to participants. There is an 18-item long...

Ethical Values Assessment (EVA) in Thai (other languages are also available). This questionnaire assesses the use of the "big three" ethics of Autonomy, Community, and Divinity, including their importance, which constitute core values in a participant's life, and any additional emic values of importance to participants. There is an 18-item long for...

Ethical Values Assessment (EVA) in German (other languages are also available). This questionnaire assesses the use of the "big three" ethics of Autonomy, Community, and Divinity, including their importance, which constitute core values in a participant's life, and any additional emic values of importance to participants. There is an 18-item long f...

Ethical Values Assessment (EVA) in Arabic (other languages are also available). This questionnaire assesses the use of the "big three" ethics of Autonomy, Community, and Divinity, including their importance, which constitute core values in a participant's life, and any additional emic values of importance to participants. There is an 18-item long f...

Ethical Values Assessment (EVA) in Spanish (other languages are also available). This questionnaire assesses the use of the "big three" ethics of Autonomy, Community, and Divinity, including their importance, which constitute core values in a participant's life, and any additional emic values of importance to participants. There is an 18-item long...

Ethical Values Assessment (EVA) in Polish (other languages are also available). This questionnaire assesses the use of the "big three" ethics of Autonomy, Community, and Divinity, including their importance, which constitute core values in a participant's life, and any additional emic values of importance to participants. There is an 18-item long f...

Ethical Values Assessment (EVA) in Turkish (other languages are also available). This questionnaire assesses the use of the "big three" ethics of Autonomy, Community, and Divinity, including their importance, which constitute core values in a participant's life, and any additional emic values of importance to participants. There is an 18-item long...

The goal of the current study was to examine the protective role that maternal media monitoring might have for adolescents. This was done by considering whether styles of media monitoring either directly reduced media use, or whether they buffered the associations between aggressive media use and adolescents’ prosocial behavior, aggression, and del...

During adolescence, the need for social connection increases. Yet, fostering emotional closeness in relationships becomes more complex, as the need for autonomy also increases and social environments must adapt to become conducive to these seemingly competing needs. This complexity necessitates more research on what happens to close relationships d...

Infants can help and share in the second year of life. However, there is limited knowledge as to variability in these behaviors as a function of target (e.g., caregiver vs. unfamiliar adult) and the influence of caregiver support on infant prosocial behavior. Infants (N = 268, 124 female) at 1-2 years of age (M = 1.47, SD = .27) and again at 2-3 ye...

Evidence suggests an impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health, particularly among emerging adults. However, theories on altruism born of suffering or adversarial growth suggest that we might also see prosocial behavior as a function of the pandemic, which may protect against mental health challenges. Because cultural values are central in d...

Drawing upon the Self-Determination Theory of motivations, this 3-year longitudinal study examined whether adolescents’ perceptions of intrusive parental monitoring predicted adolescent disclosure and secrecy with parents through internalization of values regarding unsupervised daily activities. Sample consisted of 448 adolescents from the United S...

Despite theoretical underpinnings that social influences increase in salience with age, it is currently unclear how relationships with mothers, fathers, and siblings might change during the transition to adulthood and what roles the quality of those relationships play in young adults’ longitudinal adjustment. Therefore, the purpose of the present s...

Social power predicts numerous important life outcomes and social orientations. Thus far, the research literature has mainly examined how an individual’s own power shapes interactions with others, whereas whether a target’s power affects social interactions has been relatively neglected. In particular, does a target’s power have an effect on the ag...

This study explored mothering and fathering as possible mediators of the relationship between parent and adolescent mental health concerns and considered the adolescents’ biological sex as a potential moderator. Using structural equation modeling, the longitudinal links between parents’ mental health, parental psychological control, parent-adolesce...

Research on sexual consent has increased in recent years, but we know almost nothing about how beliefs about consent are socialized during adolescence, which likely has important implications for behaviors related to obtaining sexual consent. The current study explored the frequency of parent–adolescent consent communication, as well as demographic...

Early conversations are an important source in shaping children's cognitive and emotional development, and it is vital to understand how parents use media as a platform to engage in conversations with their young children and what might predict the quality of these interactions. Thus, in the current study we explored the nature of parent–child disc...

Parent-child sex communication is a complex and multidimensional construct, and effective measurement tools that reflect this complexity are scarce. The purpose of this study was to develop and test an assessment tool of parent-child sex communication that reflects the multidimensional nature of the construct and which can be flexibly administered...

Purpose Parents can be effective and consistent sex educators of their children, but research suggests that most parents only engage in a one-time talk about sex with their children. That being said, we know little about the potential variability in trajectories of parent–child sex communication over time. Thus, the present study took a person-cent...

The purpose of this exploratory longitudinal study was to examine stability and change of helicopter parenting throughout the first few years of emerging adulthood and to examine child and parent–child relational factors that might predict helicopter parenting. Participants included 453 emerging adults from a northwestern city in the United States...

The current study used a multidimensional approach to prosocial behavior by (a) exploring various types of adolescent prosocial behavior toward friends (physical helping, sharing, defending, emotional support, including), and (b) examining longitudinal associations among prosocial behavior toward friends, friendship quality, and mental health and w...

In the original publication, under Abstract section and in the Participants (2.1)

This study assessed latent growth in behavioral inhibition, anger regulation, and goal-setting from ages 12 to 18, as well as links between latent growth and depression, externalizing behavior, and prosocial behavior at age 19. A second goal included examining whether latent growth in these constructs and associations with distal outcomes varied by...

Introduction The purpose of this study was to conduct a meta‐analysis investigating the consistency and strength of relations between prosocial behavior, externalizing behaviors, and internalizing symptoms from preadolescence (i.e., 1–9 years) to late adolescence (i.e., 19–25 years). This study directly addresses inconsistencies and gaps in the ava...

Introduction Couched in Positive Youth Development (PYD) theory and relevant empirical work, this study investigated bidirectional associations between intentional self‐regulation and prosocial behavior toward strangers from age 12 to age 18. Method Participants included 500 adolescents (52% female, 77% European American; age Time 1 = 12 years, Ti...

This chapter draws on a myriad of theoretical backgrounds and past research as a comprehensive foundation for discussion that focuses on how family members (e.g., parents, siblings, extended family) are important in the socialization of diverse aspects of moral development (e.g., emotions, cognitions, behaviors) and how these moral outcomes in turn...

Introduction: Identifying protective factors against internalizing behaviors during adolescence is a public health priority, as rates of depression and anxiety are rising. As such, the purpose of this study was to examine whether prosocial engagement toward strangers and family members is protective against depressive and anxiety symptoms, and whe...

Theory and research indicate considerable changes in parental control across adolescence (e.g., declining behavioral control), but the developmental course and significance of psychological control remains largely unknown. This study examined trajectories of adolescents’ reports of mothers’ and fathers’ psychological control from ages 12 to 19, pre...

Without a doubt, parents play a critical role in socializing moral development in their children. This handbook provides a collection of state-of-the-art theories and research on the important role that parents play in moral development. The contributors take a comprehensive, yet nuanced approach to considering the links between parenting and diffe...

The purpose of this paper was to analyze change over time in a specific aspect of prosocial behavior, emotional support toward friends, using two different methodologies. We examined how emotional support changes during the transition to adulthood and whether gender‐based group comparisons yield different gender patterns than person‐centered growth...

The present study examined the intraindividual, longitudinal, cross-lagged associations between adolescents' perceptions of mothers' and fathers' psychologically controlling parenting and their self-regulation from ages 11-17. Using 7 waves of data involving 500 families and their adolescents (Mage = 11.29; SD = 1.01 at Wave 1), results indicated t...

Although time spent using media has been linked to internalizing problems, few studies have explored the role that parents might play in these associations. The current study explored how controlling and autonomy-supportive restrictive and active parental media monitoring were associated with adolescents’ internalizing problems via time spent using...

Prosocial violent media (e.g., media that combines both violent and prosocial content) is especially popular in entertainment media today. However, it remains unclear how parental media monitoring is associated with exposure to prosocial violent content and adolescent behavior. Accordingly, 1,193 adolescents were asked about parental media monitori...

Parental monitoring of adolescent media use has been associated with decreased negative effects of media on adolescent behavior, but we know little about the explanatory mechanisms behind these associations. The current study sought to explore the links between parental media monitoring and adolescent behaviors via adolescents’ levels of media disc...

The current study examined heterogeneity in emerging adult children’s routine and self-disclosure to parents using mixture modeling and explored predictors and outcomes associated with the patterns of disclosure. Participants consisted of 449 emerging adults (49% male, 68% European American, 65% college students, 33% single-parent families) who com...

The current study used a person-centered approach to investigate different profiles of helicopter parenting in conjunction with parental psychological control and parental warmth. Child outcomes of parenting profiles were also examined. Participants consisted of 458 emerging adults who completed questionnaires at age 19 (51% female, 33% from single...

This 18-item (long form) and 12-item (short form) questionnaire assesses use of the three Ethics of Autonomy, Community, and Divinity. The scale has excellent reliability and validity. See: Padilla-Walker, L. M., & Jensen, L. A. (2016). Validation of the long- and short-form of the Ethical Values Assessment (EVA): A questionnaire measuring the thre...

This 18-item (long form) and 12-item (short form) questionnaire assesses use of the three Ethics of Autonomy, Community, and Divinity. The scale has excellent reliability and validity. See: Padilla-Walker, L. M., & Jensen, L. A. (2016). Validation of the long- and short-form of the Ethical Values Assessment (EVA): A questionnaire measuring the thre...

This 18-item (long form) and 12-item (short form) questionnaire assesses use of the three Ethics of Autonomy, Community, and Divinity. The scale has excellent reliability and validity. See: Padilla-Walker, L. M., & Jensen, L. A. (2016). Validation of the long- and short-form of the Ethical Values Assessment (EVA): A questionnaire measuring the thre...

This 18-item (long form) and 12-item (short form) questionnaire assesses use of the three Ethics of Autonomy, Community, and Divinity. The scale has excellent reliability and validity. See: Padilla-Walker, L. M., & Jensen, L. A. (2016). Validation of the long- and short-form of the Ethical Values Assessment (EVA): A questionnaire measuring the thre...

This 18-item (long form) and 12-item (short form) questionnaire in assesses use of the three Ethics of Autonomy, Community, and Divinity. The scale has excellent reliability and validity. See: Padilla-Walker, L. M., & Jensen, L. A. (2016). Validation of the long- and short-form of the Ethical Values Assessment (EVA): A questionnaire measuring the t...

This 18-item (long form) and 12-item (short form) questionnaire assesses use of the three Ethics of Autonomy, Community, and Divinity. The scale has excellent reliability and validity. See: Padilla-Walker, L. M., & Jensen, L. A. (2016). Validation of the long- and short-form of the Ethical Values Assessment (EVA): A questionnaire measuring the thre...

This 18-item (long form) and 12-item (short form) questionnaire assesses use of the three Ethics of Autonomy, Community, and Divinity. The scale has excellent reliability and validity. See: Padilla-Walker, L. M., & Jensen, L. A. (2016). Validation of the long- and short-form of the Ethical Values Assessment (EVA): A questionnaire measuring the thre...

Despite high profile examples that are highlighted in the popular media, we know little about high-cost prosocial behaviors such as defending and including, and how these behaviors might change over time and vary by individual. Thus, this study explored defending and including behaviors across the transition to adulthood by assessing growth and pro...

Purpose: Research suggests that parents can be important sources of sex education for their children, but we know little about how this type of communication changes developmentally. Thus, the current study explored longitudinal change in child-, mother-, and father-reports of parent-child communication about sexuality, and how change might be ass...

Relatively little is known about the degree to which subcomponents of self-regulation change during early to middle adolescence. This study considered familial predictors (maternal/paternal regulatory support, antagonistic parenting, and parent-child closeness) of rank-order change in behavioral, emotional and cognitive regulation and perseverance...

The current study examined bidirectional relations between parenting and prosocial behavior for both European- and Asian-American emerging adults. Participants included 297 undergraduate students (Mage = 19.61 at Time 1, 59% European-American) who reported on prosocial behavior toward family members, positive parenting, and negative/controlling par...

This study examined differential patterns of time spent using social media in a sample of 457 adolescents over a 6‐year period. The majority of adolescents (83%), termed moderate users, reported steady social media use over time. A second group (increasers: 12%) reported low social media use that increased gradually and ended high at the end of the...

Technoference has been defined as interruptions to social interactions because of technology. Previous research has examined technoference in parent-child relationships, but little research has been conducted examining the influence of technoference on parent-adolescent relationships. Previous researchers have shown that parental technoference in p...

The purpose of this study was to explore whether routine child disclosure to parents was longitudinally related to adolescent prosocial and delinquent outcomes via the parent–child relationship (parental knowledge, parental autonomy granting, and parental warmth/support). The participants included 463 adolescents (48% male, 73% European American, 3...

Though recent research has highlighted prosocial behavior as negatively associated with problem behavior during adolescence, we know little about how these variables might be associated longitudinally, whether there are bidirectional effects, and whether there might be different patterns of co-occurrence of behaviors for different individuals. Thus...

The goal of the current study was to examine the protective role that maternal media monitoring might have for adolescents. This was done by considering whether styles of media monitoring either directly reduced media use, or whether they buffered the associations between aggressive media use and adolescents' prosocial behavior, aggression, and del...

The present study used a person-centered approach to examine heterogeneity in children’s patterns of routine disclosure (i.e., sharing information regarding their whereabouts and activities to parents) across adolescence and explored predictors and outcomes of different trajectories. Participants included 500 adolescents (51% female, 67% White, 33%...

There is little understanding about how prosocial behavior toward different targets might change over time, and what might promote initial levels and age-related changes in prosocial behavior. Thus, this study examined longitudinal change in prosocial behavior toward strangers, friends, and family from early adolescence through the transition to ad...

Studies examining the effects of exposure to prosocial media on positive outcomes are increasing in number and strength. However, existing meta-analyses use a broad definition of prosocial media that does not recognize the multidimensionality of prosocial behavior. The aim of the current study is to conduct a meta-analysis on the effects of exposur...

The present study examined the relations between financial entitlement and adolescent gratitude, prosocial behavior, and aggression; and the mediating role of sympathy. The sample consisted of 321 children (160 boys, Mage at Time 2 = 12.29, SD = 1.02) from Times 2, 3, and 4 of the Flourishing Families Project. Adolescents reported on financial enti...

The present study examined age-trends and longitudinal bidirectional relations in self-esteem and prosocial behavior toward strangers, friends, and family over a four-year time period (age 11 to 14). A total of 681 adolescents were recruited in the United States (51% girls, 28% single parent families). A longitudinal panel model was conducted and t...

This study examined growth trajectories of texting (and other media) over a 6-year time period. Participants were 425 adolescents from Washington, USA (age 13 at Time 1, age 18 at Time 6; 48% male, 68% European American). Analyses suggested a curvilinear pattern for texting and social media use, with rates peaking during midadolescence. There was a...

The current study sought to address gender differences in prosocial behavior by creating and validating a multidimensional measure of prosocial behavior that more fully captures the ways that men help others. The new measure is directed toward family, friend, and strangers, and has five factors: defending, emotional support, inclusion, physical hel...

The focus of this study was to understand both parental and peer influence on adolescents’ prosocial and substance use outcomes. Data were drawn from the Flourishing Families Project, which consisted of 500 individuals (Mage at Time 1 = 11.83; 51.6% female; 33% were from single-parent families) who participated at six time points, each approximatel...

The current study examined how parental mediation of media (restrictive mediation, active mediation, and coviewing) influenced child outcomes. Three meta-analyses, 1 for each type of mediation, were conducted on a total of 57 studies. Each analysis assessed the effectiveness of parental mediation on 4 pertinent child outcomes: media use, aggression...

The current study examined longitudinal relations between parental media monitoring and adolescent behavior, and explored indirect effects via sympathy and self-regulation. A sample of adolescents and their mothers from Northwestern and Mountain West cities in the USA participated in a study at three time points, approximately one year apart (N = 6...

The goal of this study was to explore bidirectional associations between teens’ self-regulation and maternal and paternal parenting styles (i.e., authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive-indulgent) over one year. As part of an ongoing longitudinal study, 489 teens ages 11-16 (51% female, 70% European American, 69% in two-parent households) and...

Despite the importance of understanding sympathy and prosocial behaviors, research on the development of these tendencies in adolescence remains relatively sparse. In the present study, we examined age trends and bidirectional longitudinal relations in sympathy and prosocial behaviors across early to middle adolescents. Participants were 500 12-yea...

The current study examined the influence that parental warmth/support and verbal hostility had on adolescents' prosocial behavior toward multiple targets (stranger, friend, family) using multiple reporters (self, parent, observations). Data were taken from Times 2 and 3 of a longitudinal project and included 500 adolescents and their parents (M age...

The purpose of this study was to examine the moderating role of parental warmth in the relation between helicopter parenting and indices of child adjustment (i.e., self-worth and school engagement) and maladjustment (i.e., risk behaviors) in emerging adulthood. Participants included 438 undergraduate students from four universities in the United St...

The current study examined bidirectional, longitudinal links between prosocial and problem behavior. Participants (N = 500) were recruited from a Northwestern city in the United States and assessed for 3 consecutive years from 2009 to 2011 (Mage of youth at Time 1 = 13.32, SD = 1.05; 52% girls; 67% European American, 33% single-parent families). Re...

Siblings play an important role in relational and individual development throughout adolescence and beyond through several mechanisms. Central to this role and the mechanisms of sibling influence is the notion that siblings provide a constant and meaningful frame of reference for social comparison. This study examined the role of sibling social com...

The current study examined longitudinal cross-lagged associations between prosocial TV (content and time) and prosocial and aggressive behavior during adolescence, and explored the mediating role of empathic concern and self-regulation. Participants were 441 adolescents who reported on their 3 favorite TV shows at 2 time points, approximately 2 yea...

The current study examined longitudinal associations between listening to aggression, sex, and prosocial behavior in music on a number of behavioral outcomes across a one-year period during adolescence. Adolescents (N = 548, M age = 15.32, 52% female) completed a number of questionnaires on musical preferences, general media use, aggression, sexual...

Moral psychology has been moving toward consideration of multiple kinds of moral concepts and values, such as the Ethics of Autonomy, Community, and Divinity. While these three ethics have commonly been measured qualitatively, the current study sought to validate the long and short forms of the Ethical Values Assessment (EVA), which is a questionna...

Questions addressing people's moral lives, similarities and differences in the moral concepts of cultural groups, and how these concepts emerge in the course of development are of perennial interest. In a globalizing world, addressing what is universal and what is culturally distinctive about moral development is pressing. More than ever, well-subs...

The purpose of this study was to examine differences in how young people view the period of life from the late teens to the mid-to-late twenties and how different perspectives of the time period may be differentially associated with indices of adjustment and maladjustment. Participants included 772 college students in the United States with an aver...

The purpose of this study was to explore other-oriented motivations for moral behavior, including community orientation and fear of negative evaluation from others and to examine how differences in the way that these motivations are balanced might be linked to prosocial behavior, identity development and well-being. Participants included 550 univer...

Four hundred Danish emerging adults ages 17-29 were surveyed regarding their conceptions of adulthood and their self-assessments of their adult status. A majority of the 17-24-year-olds and nearly half the 25-29-year-olds viewed themselves as being adults in some ways but not others. Participants reported feeling most adult when with co-workers or...

The study explored whether sibling affection and hostility were longitudinally associated with adolescents' prosocial, externalizing, and depressive behaviors, after controlling for parent–child and best friend relationship quality. Sympathy was examined as a possible mediator. Three hundred and eight randomly selected families completed Waves 3, 4...

The current study examined bidirectional relations between adolescents' moral personality (prosocial values, self-regulation, and sympathy) and low- and high-cost prosocial behavior toward strangers. Participants included 682 adolescents (M age of child = 14.31, SD = 1.07, 50% female) who participated at two time points, approximately one year apar...

Media use in families has generally been examined from a narrow viewpoint, focusing on monitoring or co-viewing. The current research provides an expanded view of positive media use in families with adolescents by examining associations between diverse positive media use and family and adolescents outcomes. In addition, we used qualitative methods...

Pornography use among emerging adults in the USA has increased in recent decades, as has the acceptance of such consumption. While previous research has linked pornography use to both positive and negative outcomes in emerging adult populations, few studies have investigated how attitudes toward pornography may alter these associations, or how exam...

The current study examined the associations between multiple aspects of the friend relationship (connection, companionship, psychological control) and global prosocial behavior toward friends. Participants included 467 early adolescents (M age of child = 13.32, SD = 1.05, 49% female, 69% European American), and data were collected at two time point...

This study examined longitudinal change in adolescents' prosocial behavior toward family, friends, and strangers. Participants included 491 mother–child dyads (average age of child at Time 1 = 11.5, 67% European American). Growth mixture modeling suggested that prosocial behavior toward family was generally stable or decreased over time, while pros...

Abstract This study examined the relationship between parent-child social networking, connection, and outcomes for adolescents. Participants (491 adolescents and their parents) completed a number of questionnaires on social networking use, feelings of connection, and behavioral outcomes. Social networking with parents was associated with increased...

Although there have been hundreds of studies on media violence, few have focused on literature, with none examining novels. Accordingly, the aim of the current study was to examine whether reading physical and relational aggression in books was associated with aggressive behavior in adolescents. Participants consisted of 223 adolescents who complet...

This article reviews the recent literature on uses, effects, and gratifications of media during emerging adulthood. We examine traditional media forms, including television, films, video games, music, and books, and also newer media, such as cell phones, social networking sites, and other Internet use. We find that emerging adults spend more time u...

The current study sought to examine the discrepancies between parent and child reports of legitimate parental authority, to identify heterogeneity in college students' perceptions of parental legitimate authority, and to examine potential variables that might differ as a function of group membership. Participants (Mage = 19.65, SD = 2.00, range = 1...