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Journal of Latino/Latin American Studies
2014, 6(1), 31-39
Serenity and Its Relationship to Prosocial and Aggressive
Behaviors in Argentinean Children
Serenity has been defined as a positive emotion that reflects feelings of inner peace and confidence.
The development of serenity constitutes a valuable resource that enables children to cope with life
stressors and to establish positive relationships with others. The present study examined serenity and
possible gender group differences in Argentinean children. The second goal was to investigate the
relation between serenity and prosocial and aggressive behaviors. Participants were 615 children
aged 9 to 13 years (276 boys, 339 girls), from 11 public primary schools in the city of Buenos Aires,
Argentina. Gender analyses showed no differences between boys and girls in serenity scores. As
expected, serenity proved to be positively related to prosocial behaviors and negatively related to
physical and verbal aggression. These results indicate that children who describe themselves as
more serene are also prone to give help and comfort to others. Moreover, serene children appear to
be less aggressive towards classmates. Evidence suggests that peer relations can be enhanced by the
utilization of serenity skills in the school context.
Keywords: Serenity, Prosocial behaviors, Aggression, Children
Serenity has been defined as a positive
emotion that reflects feelings of inner peace
and confidence, and that implies the harmony
of body and mind (Fredrickson & Levenson,
1998; Fredrickson, Mancuso, Branigan, &
Tugade, 2000). Serenity is not always being
happy; rather it is being able to maintain an
inner calm despite negative life events
(Roberts & Whall, 1996).
Within the positive psychology
framework, Fredrickson and colleagues
(Fredrickson, 2003; Fredrickson et al., 2000;
Fredrickson & Levenson, 1998) proposed that
experiencing positive emotions can lead to
states of mind and to modes of behavior that
prepare an individual for later difficult times.
It has been observed that positive emotions,
compared to neutral or negative states, can
promote a broader thought-action repertoire
by stimulating the individual to pursue a
wider range of thoughts and actions.
According to Fredrickson and Branigan
(2005), broadened thought-action repertoires
play an essential role in the development of
enduring personal resources (e.g., health,
physical skills, executive control, resilience,
creativity, and social support networks). With
reference to serenity, research shows that
experiencing this emotion can reduce
physiological arousal (e.g., decrease
cardiovascular acceleration) after enduring a
negative event (Fredrickson et al. 2000;
Fredrickson & Levenson, 1998). Moreover, it
has been observed that the elicitation of
serenity and contentment by watching a film
clip broadens the scope of attention in a visual
processing task and increases thought-action
repertoires (Fredrickson & Branigan, 2005).
The study of serenity as a positive
emotion is a relatively new area of research,
and empirical studies concerning its relation
with other psychological variables are scarce.
However, since the emergent assessment of
positive emotions with psychometric
questionnaires and scales, serenity has begun
Marina I. Cuello
Universidad Católica Argentina
CIIPME-CONICET
Laura B. Oros
CIPCA, Universidad Adventista del Plata
CIIPME-CONICET
Marina I. Cuello, Department of Psychology, Universidad
Católica Argentina; Centro Interdisciplinario de
Investigaciones en Psicología Matemática y Experimental
(CIIPME) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas
y Técnicas (CONICET). Correspondence concerning this
paper should be addressed to Marina I. Cuello, Centro
Interdisciplinario de Investigaciones en Psicología
Matemática y Experimental, Teniente Gral. Juan D. Perón
2158- Buenos Aires Argentina. 54(11) 4953-1477/3541. E-
mail: marikarak@yahoo.com; marina.cuello@conicet.gov.ar
Laura B. Oros, Centro de Investigación en Psicología y
Ciencias Afines (CIPCA), Universidad Adventist a del Plata;
CIIPME-CONICET.
JOURNAL OF LATINO/LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES, 2014, 6(1), 31-39 32
to be measured in a more accurate manner
(Oros, 2011; Regner, 2009; Roberts & Aspy,
1993; Schmidt, 2008). Peterson and Park
(2004), for example, showed that adults
scoring high on a measure of serenity also
score high in a scale of spirituality and in a
scale of forgiveness. Other work carried out
by Kreitzer and colleagues (Kreitzer, Gross,
Waleekhachonloet, Reilly-Spong, & Byrd,
2009) in an adult clinical population, found
that those patients with high levels of serenity
also presented high levels of positive affect,
mindful awareness, and quality of life. On the
other hand, high levels of serenity were
inversely related to negative affect, anxiety,
depression, perceived stressors, and health-
related distress.
Serenity can be perceived as a very
effective tool for coping with stress or other
life challenges. It is believed that the capacity
to be relaxed when facing difficult
circumstances facilitates reflection,
predisposes one to take action, and can
increase receptivity and creativity (Nadeau,
2001; Roberts & Cunningham, 1990).
Moreover, psychological research shows that
positive emotional experiences can facilitate
the development of beliefs, attitudes, and
constructive behaviors to manage stress
(Connors, Toscova, & Tonigan, 1999). For
these reasons, serenity is considered to have a
significant role in adaptive social functioning
in childhood, as it can inhibit aggressive
behaviors and facilitate positive responses in
interpersonal relations. For example, a study
carried out in Argentina by Richaud de Minzi
and Oros (2009) found that serene children
presented a lower tendency to solve conflicts
aggressively and were more inclined to react
in an assertive manner, compared to less
serene children. In other research, Schmidt
(2008) studied the correlation between
positive emotions and coping strategies in
Argentinean adolescents. This author found
that tranquility was a good predictor of
functional coping; those adolescents with
higher scores in tranquility obtained lower
scores on emotional discharge and
somatization. In other words, when facing a
conflict, participants who generally
experienced sentiments of peace and comfort
tended to remain in control, thus being able to
think about different alternatives to solve their
problems in a more appropriate way.
Children can face several stressful events
in different periods of their lives, and when
they do, many of them use inadequate or
ineffective coping strategies (Ryan-Wenger,
1992; Trianes Torres, 2002). For example,
they may respond aggressively or be
incapable of expressing their emotions in
appropriate ways. Evidence suggests that
aggressive behaviors can negatively affect
children’s general functioning, inhibit their
learning, and damage relationships with
family, teachers, and peers (Del Barrio &
Carrasco, 2009; Levinson, 2006; Marín
Sanchez, 2002). Also, aggressive behaviors
can produce serious psychological
consequences both in victims and aggressors
(Crick & Grotpeter, 1995; Nansel, Craig,
Overpeck, Saluja, & Ruan, 2004).
Numerous studies have found that the
personal variables most related to children’s
aggressive behavior include impulsivity,
emotional instability, difficult temperament,
attention deficit, hyperactivity, poor skills
related to conflict management, and lack of
social skills (Ayala Velázquez, Pedroza
Cabrera, Morales Chainé, Chaparro Caso-
López, & Barragán Torres, 2002; Caprara &
Pastorelli, 1993; Del Barrio & Carrasco,
2009; Del Barrio & Roa, 2006; Dorado Mesa
& Jané Ballabriga, 2001; Farrington, 2005;
Justicia et al., 2006). Interestingly, gender is
another personal feature associated with
children’s aggression; most studies have
shown that, as a group, boys exhibit
significantly higher levels of verbal and
physical aggression than girls (Card, Stucky,
Sawalani, & Little, 2008; Carlo, Raffaelli,
Laible, & Meyer, 1999; Crick & Grotpeter,
1995; Galen & Underwood, 1997; Samper,
Aparici, & Mestre, 2006).
In contrast, research show that a
controlled emotionality, empathy, and
prosocial behaviors serve as protective factors
against aggressive impulses (Mestre, Samper,
& Frías, 2002; Samper et al., 2006). It is
believed that prosocial behaviors (i.e.,
voluntary acts intended to benefit or help
others) constitute a protective factor against
aggressiveness, by favoring social adaptation
and social skills (Lemos, 2009). In addition,
there is growing recognition that the
development of empathy (i.e., the capability
to understand and share other people’s
emotions) is a fundamental pre-requisite for
the emergence of prosocial behaviors (Carlo,
Mestre, Samper, Tur, & Armenta, 2010;
Eisenberg & Fabes, 1998; Mestre, Frías, &
Samper, 2004; Roberts & Strayer, 1996).
Some investigations suggest that individual
differences in prosocial behaviors could be
33 CUELLO & OROS/SERENITY IN ARGENTINEAN CHILDREN
attributable to differences in emotionality and
impulsivity. In Spain, Mestre, Samper, and
Frías (2002, 2004) found that emotional
instability and impulsiveness constitute the
main aggressiveness predictors in
adolescents. In contrast, nonimpulsive,
positive and empathic emotionality was the
best predictor for adolescents’ prosocial
behavior.
It seems, then, that children and
adolescents who are more emotionally
unstable and have fewer skills to restrain
impulsivity would be prone to behave
aggressively, while more empathic and
emotionally controlled subjects would be
more prosocial. In this sense, serenity might
have an important adaptive social function, as
it promotes the substitution of aggressive and
dysfunctional actions for more adequate ones
(Nadeau, 2001). With this idea in mind, some
interventions have been carried out in an
attempt to promote positive socio-emotional
development and diminish violence in
elementary schools, by teaching children to
relax and to employ effective stress control
strategies (Gilbert & Orlick, 2002; Oros,
2008; Taylor & Orlick, 2004). For instance,
Gilbert and Orlick implemented a Positive
Living Skills program in an elementary
school. During the intervention period, the
experimental group was taught different
relaxation techniques and essential concepts
about stress and how to control it. Children
were also taught to identify positive things in
their lives and how to increase the frequency
of these “highlights.” The results showed that
the children in the experimental group learned
to relax at will, and significantly increased the
frequency of their highlights, while children
in the control group did not. Also, these
learned positive coping strategies were
generalized to a variety of situations besides
the intervention sessions (e.g., at school, at
home, with peers, in sports, and when going
to sleep).
In adolescents, Nickel et al. (2005) tested
the effectiveness of a progressive muscle
relaxation program. The results showed that
all stressed aggressive adolescents who
participated in the study experienced a
significantly positive change, as shown by the
measures obtained on the State-Anger, Trait-
Anger, Anger-Out and Anger-Control scales
of the STAXI, as well as in social
functioning, role-emotional, and mental
health scales.
In Argentina, Oros (2008) implemented
an intervention model to prevent
aggressiveness and foster calmness in a group
of six-year old children who attended an
elementary school included in the Federal
Plan for 1,000 Schools in poverty.1 The
intervention strategies were implemented
within the classroom and included, among
others, modeling, positive reinforcement,
mental and physical relaxation techniques,
breathing training, planned games, cost-
benefits analysis, searching for alternatives,
narrations, and behavioral practice. The
relaxation model significantly reduced
disruptive behaviors and promoted a
progressive acquisition of more adapted
responses to interpersonal stressful events. In
the first assessment, previous to the
intervention, not a single child mentioned
specific attempts to relax or calm down
before reacting to an insult or an offense;
however, in the final assessment, 43% of
children’s responses included an attempt to
use relaxation techniques before reacting
impulsively. These results show that the
promotion of positive emotions, such as
serenity, can improve socio-emotional
development and peer relations, even from
early ages.
To summarize, all the studies mentioned
above confirm that the development of
serenity constitutes a valuable and healthy
resource that enables people to cope with life
stressors and to establish positive
relationships with others. Interventions
carried out at schools demonstrate that it is
possible and desirable to educate children in
the development and maximization of their
inner calm. Also, research shows that
teaching children how to manage anxiety and
impulsivity in stressful situations can have
beneficial and long-lasting effects on their
socio-emotional development and
interpersonal relations with others. The
investigations performed with children and
adolescents, although scarce, allow us to
hypothesize that serene youngsters might be
less aggressive and more prosocial than
subjects who are less serene. However, and to
the point of this study, the relation between
serenity and prosocial and aggressive
behaviors in children remains unknown.
1 This plan was included in the National Program for
Educational Equality, designed by the Ministry of Education
of Argentina (2004), in order to support educational
institutions that work with children at greater social
vulnerability, throughout the national territory.
JOURNAL OF LATINO/LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES, 2014, 6(1), 31-39 34
Gender differences in children’s serenity also
remain as an unexplored area of research.
The present study aimed to provide
further information about children’s socio-
emotional development in Latin America. The
main purpose was to examine serenity in
Argentinean children and analyze possible
gender differences, utilizing a self-report
instrument developed by Oros (2011). Our
second goal was to analyze the relationship
between serenity and prosocial behaviors,
using the Prosocial scale developed by
Caprara and Pastorelli (1993). Finally, we
examined the relationship between serenity
and aggressive behaviors, using the Physical
and Verbal Aggression scale developed by
Caprara and Pastorelli (1993). We expected to
find a positive relation between serenity and
prosocial behaviors, and an inverse relation
between serenity and aggression.
Furthermore, based on aforementioned
aggression studies, we hypothesized that girls
would obtain higher scores on serenity.
Showing how serenity relates to both
prosocial and aggressive behaviors may
provide a finer understanding of serenity in
childhood and its possible implications in
social interactions.
Method
Participants
Participants were 615 primary school
students (276 boys, 339 girls) aged 9 to 13
years (M = 11.16 years, SD = 0.97), from
public schools located in the city of Buenos
Aires, Argentina. Students were in grades 5
(34.31%), 6 (33.33%), and 7 (32.36%). All
children were native Spanish speakers, and
came from middle-class backgrounds.
Measures
Serenity. The Serenity Scale was
developed by Oros (2011) to assess children’s
capability to remain calm when facing
stressful situations (e.g., “When someone
upsets me, I try to calm down”) and their
perceptions of their own serenity in everyday
life (e.g., “I like being calm”).
This self-report measure comprises 11
items rated on a 3-point scale (1 = No, 2 =
Sometimes, 3 = Yes). Internal consistency of
the instrument was good, as shown by
Cronbach’s alpha (α = .81), and all items
proved to be discriminative, p < .001.
Prosocial behaviors. Prosocial behaviors
were assessed with the Prosocial Behavior
Scale (Caprara & Pastorelli, 1993; Del Barrio,
Moreno, & López, 2001). The original items
of this self-report measure are 10, plus five
control items that are not included in the final
scores. The items offer a description of a
child’s behavior denoting altruism, trust, and
agreeableness. Participants are asked to
indicate the degree to which they engage in
different types of prosocial behaviors (1 =
Never, 2 = Sometimes, 3 = Always; e.g., “I
help my classmates do their homework”).
We included 4 extra items that were
representative of Argentinean children’s
prosocial behaviors: “I lend my school
supplies,” “If somebody accidentally drops
things on the floor, I help him/her to pick
them up,” “I share my sweets with others,”
and “If other person mess the place up, I help
him/her clean.” These items frequently appear
as explicit codes of conduct at schools, and
added more information to our study.
This extended version of the instrument
proved to have stronger internal consistency
(α = .77) than the instrument with the original
items only (α = .71). All items proved to be
discriminative, p < .001.
Physical and verbal aggression.
Aggression was assessed with the Physical
and Verbal Aggression Scale (Caprara &
Pastorelli, 1993; Del Barrio, Moreno, &
López, 2001). The items offer a description of
the child’s behavior aimed at hurting others
physically (e.g., ‘‘I kick or punch”) and
verbally (e.g., “I say bad things about other
kids”).
This self-report scale comprises 15 items
rated on a 3-point scale (1 = Never, 2 =
Sometimes, 3= Always), plus five control
items that are not included in the final scores.
Cronbach’s alpha for the present study was
satisfactory (α = .89).
Procedure
The study was carried out in 11 public
schools from the city of Buenos Aires,
Argentina, with permission from school
authorities. Recruitment letters were sent to
parents with the cooperation of school
personnel. Active parental consent and
student assents were obtained prior to
participation.
The measures were completed in the
classrooms during 30-minute sessions
(maximum group size of 30 students). Student
35 CUELLO & OROS/SERENITY IN ARGENTINEAN CHILDREN
participation was voluntary. Participants were
assured of anonymity and confidentiality and
were asked to complete the instruments
individually. One investigator was present in
the classroom to answer participants' questions
and to ensure that the instructions were
followed correctly.
Results
An ANOVA was performed to examine
gender differences in serenity. Unexpectedly,
no significant differences were found between
boys (M = 23.28; SD = 0.29) and girls (M =
23.51; SD = 0.26) in the serenity scale, F < 1.
Total scores for the serenity scale range
between 11 and 33 points. Overall,
participants presented a moderate level of
serenity (M = 23.41; SD = 4.75).
A series of linear regression analyses were
conducted to explore the contribution of
children’s serenity to prosocial and aggressive
behaviors in interpersonal situations. As
expected, serenity proved to be positively
related to prosocial behaviors, β = .38, t =
10.20; p < .001, R² = .15. Separate analyses
for girls and boys revealed highly similar
results for both girls, β = .39, t = 7.82; p <
.001, R² = .15, and boys, β = .38, t = 6.77; p <
.001, R² = .14.
On the other hand, it was observed that
serenity was negatively related to physical and
verbal aggression, β = -.48, t = -13.42; p <
.001, R² = .23, and these results were similar
for girls, β = -.52, t = -11.18; p < .001, R² =
.27, and boys, β = -.45, t = -8.43; p < .001, R²
= .21. These outcomes thus indicate that
greater serenity is associated with a weaker
tendency to utilize physical and verbal
aggression in interpersonal relationships.
Additional descriptive information about
the relationship between serenity and social
behaviors is provided in Table 1. More
specifically, we calculated the means and
standard deviations for children’s prosocial and
aggressive behaviors as a function of their
serenity level. Serenity scores were divided into
three levels: high, moderate, and low.
To sum up, the evidence suggests that
children who report greater serenity are also
prone to give help and comfort to others.
Additionally, serene children appear to be less
aggressive towards schoolmates, compared to
less serene participants (see Figure 1).
_____________________________________
Discussion
Serenity is a positive emotion that has
received relatively little attention in empirical
research, despite the enormous psychological
value that has been ascribed to it. The purpose
of the present work was to make a
preliminary step towards the study of
children’s serenity in Latin America,
analyzing possible gender differences and
establishing its association with two opposite
social behaviors: prosocial and aggressive.
Regarding the first objective, we found
that Argentinean boys and girls presented
similarly moderate values of serenity; there
was no evidence of a gender difference. Our
hypothesis that girls would obtain higher
scores emerged from previous findings
concerning certain constructs that are
opposite to a serene state, which are generally
more prevalent in boys. For example,
variables such as emotional instability,
impulsivity, and hyperactivity tend to be
higher in boys than in girls (Rucklidge, 2010;
Samper, Tur, Mestre, & Cortés, 2008;
Sotomonte Ariza, Jiménez Mendoza, &
Cárdenas Niño, 2011; Trianes Torres,
Cardelle-Elawar, Blanca Mena, & Muñoz
Sánchez, 2003; Walker, 2005). One
alternative idea that could explain the lack of
___________________________________________________________________
Table 1
Means and Standard Deviations for Prosocial and
Aggressive Behaviors by Serenity Level
Serenity level
Low Moderate High
Social (n = 206) (n = 244) (n = 164)
behavior M SD M SD M SD
Prosocial 23.15 3.23 24.20 2.88 25.48 2.84
Aggressive 26.57 6.21 22.91 5.02 20.40 5.16
Figure 1. Means for prosocial and aggressive
behaviors as a function of serenity level.
JOURNAL OF LATINO/LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES, 2014, 6(1), 31-39 36
differences in serenity between boys and girls
could be the fact that, although girls present
weaker impulsivity and hyperactivity than
boys, they tend to experience more
internalizing problems (Galambos,
Leadbeater, & Barker, 2004; Keenan & Shaw,
1997). That is, girls tend to show more
concern, anxiety, and depression than boys
(Pérez García & Giménez Barbero, 2011;
Reyes & Mora, 2007; Southam-Gerow &
Kendall, 2002) especially as they come close
to puberty and adolescence (Petersen,
Sarigiani, & Kennedy, 1991). Such qualities
could be incompatible with the ability to
maintain an inner calm despite negative life
events (i.e., serenity), which could partially
explain why there were no gender differences
in serenity in our study. This idea should be
considered in future studies, for example, by
analyzing the relation between children’s
depression, anxiety, and serenity.
Moreover, although girls are generally
identified as more passive than boys, in the
sense that they show less externalizing
behaviors, aggression, anger, and hostility
(Carlo et al., 1999; Lacunza, 2010; Méndez,
Hidalgo, & Inglés, 2002; Samper et al., 2008),
this does not necessarily mean that girls have
a greater internal experience of calmness.
These visible differences in behavior could
rather be attributable to the way that boys and
girls express their emotions, due to gender
characteristics, than to the way they
experience them. This idea is in line with
explicative models that question the supposed
aggressive disposition of boys versus the
conciliatory attitude of girls (Reyes & Mora,
2007). For example, some researchers argue
that gender differences in aggression are
highly dependent on the type of aggressive
manifestation that is measured by the
investigator (Bjorkqvist, 1994; Bjorkqvist,
Lagerspetz, & Kaukiainen, 1992; Lagerspetz,
Bjorkqvist, & Peltonen, 1988; Underwood,
2003).
Furthermore, in the present work we used
a brief one-dimensional scale to explore
serenity in boys and girls. The serenity scale
developed by Oros (2011) proved to be
reliable but, in future investigations, it could
be interesting to evaluate different
manifestations of this emotion, as other
researchers have explored in adult population
(Kreitzer et al., 2009; Roberts & Aspy, 1993;
but see Kruse, Heinermann, Moody,
Beckstead, & Conley, 2005, for further
psychometric examinations of the scale). In
this sense it could be appropriate to analyze,
for example, different aspects of serenity
associated with the regulation of positive
emotions, coping with negative events,
feelings of confidence, inner haven, and the
natural tendency to experiment calmness in
order to deeply explore gender profiles.
Regarding the second goal, the study
demonstrated that serenity plays an important
role in the expression of prosocial and
aggressive behaviors. The results indicate that
this emotion could facilitate the development
of prosocial behaviors in childhood. Children
with higher levels of serenity expressed their
disposition to give comfort to someone who
was sad, help a classmate do homework,
share sweets with others, and accompany
friends, among other positive behaviors.
These results are consistent with the idea that
serenity constitutes a high social impact
psychological resource (Oros, 2008). The
tendency of serene children to be caring,
sensitive, and altruistic could be, in part, due
to the fact that serenity, like other positive
emotions, broadens the scope of attention
(Fredrickson & Branigan, 2005; Fredrickson
et al., 2000), thus allowing them to detect
more easily when someone needs assistance.
Also, it has been found that serenity increases
thought-action repertoires (Fredrickson &
Branigan, 2005; Fredrickson et al., 2000),
which could amplify children’s social
responses when facing a stressful situation
(i.e., using functional behaviors instead of
indifference or aggression).
Results also revealed that serenity was
inversely related to physical and verbal
aggression. Serene children reported that they
were less inclined to kick, bite, punch, insult,
and make fun of others. These findings are in
line with the studies performed by Peterson
and Park (2004) and Kreitzer et al. (2009),
who reported that participants scoring high on
serenity also scored high on spirituality and
forgiveness, and presented lower scores on
negative affect, anxiety, and perceived
stressors, when compared to less serene
subjects. Although these two studies were
carried out with adults, it is plausible that
similar results might be found in children.
However this hypothesis needs to be tested in
future investigations.
Other investigations carried out with
Argentinean children support the findings of
the present study. Richaud de Minzi and Oros
(2009) and Schmidt (2008) found that
children’s serenity diminished the probability
37 CUELLO & OROS/SERENITY IN ARGENTINEAN CHILDREN
of behaving aggressively in social
interactions, facilitated assertive responses,
and moderated inadequate emotional
discharge in stressful situations. Furthermore,
if we consider that serenity is closely related
to emotional regulation (as it implies keeping
calm despite negative events), its inverse
relation with aggression is reasonable.
Numerous authors express that emotional
regulation reduces negative affect and inhibits
aggressive reactions (Capella & Mendoza,
2011; Carthy, Horesh, Apter, Edge, & Gross,
2010; DeWall, Baumeister, Stillman, &
Gailliot, 2007; Zeman, Cassano, Perry-
Parrish, & Stegall, 2006).
In general, the present study provides
evidence that serenity is a positive emotion
with adaptive social value, which could allow
children to develop healthy relationships with
significant others, as it may facilitate the
development of prosocial behaviors and
inhibit aggressive reactions. This information
could be useful to plan interventions aiming
to promote serenity during this developmental
stage. However, the study of serenity still
faces many challenges, and present results
open new questions that should be considered
in future investigations. Specifically, it is
advisable to explore the psychological
variables that underlie the processes analyzed
in the present study, for example, emotional
regulation, willingness to forgive, cognitive
ability to decode and interpret others needs,
perception of social stressors, and coping with
negative events, among others. Furthermore,
social interactions and behaviors in school
settings depend also on the characteristics of
the classroom in which each child is
immersed. To promote an ecological
perspective on children’s social behavior, it
would be desirable to analyze to what extent
prosocial and aggressive behaviors are
explained by person variables and how much
they depend on environmental characteristics.
The effect of the interaction between person
and environmental variables could be also
analyzed as well. Given the evidence that
family characteristics and school context
constitute significant predictors of children’s
social behavior (Sandoval, 2006), it could be
useful to use stratified samples to obtain
representative subsamples of children from
different family backgrounds, school courses
and schools, in order to analyze how much
variance depends on individual differences
and how much it relies on family and school.
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