help-seeking and helping behavior in children as a function of psychosocial competence

JOURNAL OF APPLIED DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 9, 219-231 (1988)

Help-seeking and Helping Behavior in Children as a Function of Psychosocial Competence

FORREST B . TYLER

University of Maryland, College Park

M E E R A V A R M A

University of Allahabad, Allahabad, India

Research on prosocial behavior has supported the belief that psychosocial competence characteristics enhance helping behavior. Tyler and others have hypothesized that helpseeking is also a constructive competence-related behavior. The present investigation was designed to assess whether the correlates of psychosocial competence differences found in more effective psychosocial functioning among primary school children in the U.S. would characterize children in India and be reflected in their help-seeking and helping behaviors. Twenty-eight pairs of 8 to 10-year-old children participated in this 3 x 2 factorial design study. High and low competence subjects were selected using scores on the Psychosocial Competence Incomplete Stories Test (PCIST) adapted for Indian children. Results show that constructiveness of helpseeking and helping were a function of psychosocial competence. This was also a three-way interaction effect of sex and psychosocia[ competence level of the helpseeker and of the helper on the level of constructiveness of help-seeking behavior. Tyler and colleagues had previously demonstrated that children from the U.S. who are more psychosocially competent (more serf-efficacious, interpersonally trusting, and actively planful) function more effectively in their lives. The current results extend those findings by demonstrating that help-seeking and helping behavior are also a function of these psychosocial competence characteristics. They also indicate sex differences in the relationship of psychosocial competence to interpersonal in- teraclions among these children in India. Psychosocial competence and developmental and cultural implications are noted.

The present s tudy has ut i l ized an exper imenta l interact ion si tuation to invest igate

the const ruct iveness o f he lp-seek ing and help ing behav ior in chi ldren who di f fer

This research has been supported by an Indo-American Research Fellowship to the senior author; by the Psychology Department, University of Allahabad, Allahadad, India; and by National Institute of Mental Health grants 8847 and 16744. The authors wish to acknowledge the assistance of Mithlesh Sharma and Mal~ Agrawal. Their efforts in pretesting materials, collecting data, rating observational records, and analyzing data were essential and were carried out with ca~ and unfailing good humor. Part of the analyses were conducted while the senior author was on a fellowship at the Social Ecology Laboratory, Stanford University, and Palo Alto Veterans Administration Center. The data analysis assistance of Ruth Cronkite and Dani Lawler was particularly helpful. Finally, the authors wish to thank Mary Kralj for her editorial assistance.

Correspondence and requests for reprints should he sent to Forrest B. Tyler, Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park Campus, College Park, MD 20742.

219

220 TYLER AND VARMA

in individual psychosocial competence. It has been designed to explore the roles of help-seeking and helping behaviors as prosocial rather than deficit- or pathology-oriented activities. The study was conducted in India so it has also provided an investigation of whether the correlates of effective psychosocial functioning among primary school children in the U.S. characterize children in India.

BACKGROUND

This study has involved bringing together concepts and findings from three separate areas, namely, individual psychosocial competence, helping behavior, and help-seeking behavior. It has also introduced questions about the role of psychosocial factors in the expression of these behaviors. The relevant literature pertinent to each area is reviewed briefly in the following paragraphs.

Psychosocial Competence Tyler's (1978) model of psychosocial competence is defined as a three-faceted, hierarchical configuration consisting of self attributes, self-world attributes, and behavioral styles which function to sustain each other and promote a pattern of coping and personal effectiveness. Psychosocially competent people are charac- terized by a sense of self-efficacy and positive self-worth, a moderate degree of optimism and interpersonal trust as a foundation for constructive interactions with others, and an active planful invested coping style including high initiative, realistic goal setting, forbearance, and a capacity to build from both success and failure.

Studies in the U.S. have indicated that parents who are higher on these three measures interact with their preschool children in a more constructive and sup- portive way and show more joy in interacting with them than do parents with lower scores on one or more of these measures (MondeU & Tyler, 1981a). Furthermore, children ranging in age from 7 to 12 gained regularly on all measures to age 10, then leveled off until age 12. That is, they increasingly expressed a greater degree of optimism about the responses of others and became more interpersonally trusting (trust). They also increased in the extent to which they actively made decisions and exerted effort to solve problems and accomplish their objectives (active coping). At all of these age levels students identified as exemplary (achieving academically and appearing to "have it all together") scored higher than ordinary students (children from a therapeutic day camp and children referred to a hospital clinic for testing for learning and behavioral difficulties in school). Finally, exemplary children were distinguished from aver- age functioning ones by their more active coping characteristics (Mondell & Tyler, 1981b). In addition, disturbed children became significantly more self- responsible, more trusting, and more actively coping during a 2 week therapeutic day camp, whereas a comparison group of elementary school children showed no gains over a comparable period. Furthermore, a Goal Attainment Scaling format

HELP-SEEKING AND HELPING BEHAVIOR 221

(Kiresuk & Sherman, 1968) was used to establish the parents', the camp coun- selors', and the childrens' behavioral change goals for the camp period. The children made significant behavioral gains on all three sets of goals (Mondell, Tyler, & Freeman, 1981). The work of Tyler and his colleagues has also shown that high school and college students as well as adults and aged persons who score higher on these characteristics generally function more effectively and have more fulfilling lives (Tyler & Pargament, 1981, 1982).

The relationship of these attributes to help-seeking and helping behavior has not as yet been explored. It is by demonstating that individuals who are more competent are also more competent helpseekers and helpers that the link is established between competence and choice of behavior as involving either au- tonomy or relatedness as relevant to the context.

Helpseeking In the psychological and developmental literature emphasis has been placed on self-sufficiency as a sign of competence, adequacy, and maturity (Munroe, Munroe, & Whiting, 1981; Sampson, 1977). Scales which measure developmental competence rely on indicators of autonomous problem-solving capability and self-sufficiency (Mischel, 1966; Sattler, 1982). The one notable exception is the Health Resources Inventory I which rates children on "uses teacher appropri- ately as resource" (Gesten, 1976). In contrast, helpseeking has more often been seen as a sign of inadequacy or pathology (Bowlby, 1973; Kennedy, 1975; Sattler, 1982).

In contrast, Tyler views helpseeking as a means by which the individual may utilize the resources of others constructively in the service of obtaining objectives. A number of recent studies have provided support for this perspective. McRoberts' (1982) observational studies have shown that helpseeking is a legiti- mate and effective social activity among normal preschool children. Correla- tional studies of help-seeking behavior among college students (Carskadon, 1975; King, 1968) show that seeking formal help is associated with positive personality traits. Bowlby claimed that the "healthy self-reliant individual is not as independent as cultural stereotypes suppose; an essential ingredient is a capacity to rely trustingly on others when occasion demands and to know on whom it is appropriate to rely" (1973, p. 359). Helpseeking and helping have been found to be important and valued exchange strategies among community-dwelling adults by Stack (1974), Sarason, Carroll, Maton, Cohen, and Lorentz (1977), and Vallance and D'Augelli (1982).

Helping There is support in the developmental and psychological literature for also view- hag helping and related behaviors as psychosocially competent prosocial behavior. They appeared in children as young as 18 months (Rheingold, 1982). Theil quality was more advanced from kindergarten to fourth grade (Bar-Tal, Raviv, & Leiser, 1980). To some extent age-related increases through sixth grade were

222 TYLER AND VARMA

related to increased skills competence (Peterson, 1983). Furthermore, these behaviors are progressively more influenced by attribution and reinforcement from ages 5 to 10 (Grnsec & Redler, 1980).

Psychosocial Factors As noted above, helpseeking and helping are functions of each participating individual's psychosocial characteristics. Pervious studies indicate that they may also arise from an interactional process. That is, the way help is sought and the way it is given depend on both the helpseeker's and the helper's characteristics as well as on the social context. Sex of the participants is one psychosocial factor that has received particular attention and in which studies have reported different patterns of help-seeking and helping behaviors. A number of studies (Edwards, 1981; Hartshorne, May, & Mailer, 1929; O'Bryant & Brophy, 1976; Staub, 1978) have found that girls offer and give support more than boys. Sex of the helpseeker (or help recipient) has also been reported to play a significant role in the helping process. McGuire and Thomas (1975) found that boys shared substantially less of their rewards with a boy who performed much better in a game but did not get any reward; girls did not show any difference. Gruder and Cook (1971) found that highly dependent females received more help than less dependent ones and somewhat more help than highly dependent males. Males were helped more than females when dependence was low. Although these findings do not permit a ready summary, they do support the idea that girls seem generally to be more likely than boys to help and/or to be helped.

A PSYCHOSOCIAL CONCEPTION OF HELPSEEKING AND HELPING

From a psychosocial competence perspective it follows that more psychosocially competent individuals will be more constructive helpseekers and helpers. It also follows from a psychosocial competence model that patterns of belpseeking, of helping, and of their interrelations will be influenced by the psychosocial characteristics of the people interacting. Furthermore, differences between boys and girls have been found in help-seeking and helping activities. Taking the above factors into consideration, the following hypotheses were proposed:

1. The level of constructiveness of a helpseeker's behavior will vary directly with his/ber level of psychosocial competence and with that of the associated helper.

2. The level of constructiveness of a helper's behavior will vary directly with her/his level of psychosocial competence and with that of the person being helped.

3. The relation of level of psychosocial competence with the pattern of interre-


lation between helping-seeking and helping behaviors will be different for boys than it is for gifts.

METHODS

Subjects One hundred and twelve 8- to 10-year-old (M = 9 years) children (56 boys and 56 gifts) participated in the study. Children of that age range were used because the Psychosocial Competence Incomplete Stories Test (PCIST) has good predic- tive and discriminant validity for those ages. Furthermore, children at those ages can comprehend instructions about problem tasks and about differential roles. They can also sustain effort and attention on a task of moderate complexity and decide whether to seek or reject help or to offer and provide help. The children were from middle class families and attended a boys' school and a girls' school in Allahabad, U. P., India.

Design A 2 x 2 factorial design (high vs. low competence helpseekers x high vs. low competence helpers) was used. The dependent variables were the constructiveness levels of help-seeking and helping behaviors. Boys were paired with gifts and gifts with girls, however, overall analyses were also conducted for the total sample.

Measures The following measures were used:

1. Psychosocial Competence Incomplete Stories Test (PCIST). Mondell and Tyler's PCIST (1981) for children, adapted in Hindi (Varma, 1983), was used. The PCIST consists of three suhscales of five stories each designed to elicit story completions which will provide estimates of the child's level of self-efficacy, trust, and active coping. The authors indicate that

Each. of the 15 stories is scored 2 points for a "competent" ending, 1 point for a mixed or ambiguous ending, and zero points for a less competent ending. The Total Competence score ranges from 0-30 points while the subscale scores range from 0-10 points . . . . The stories involve children in various situations and dilemmas with parents, teachers, siblings, and peers. For example, in an Active Coping scale story, a child is told by a teacher that she will fail spelling unless something changes: the child's story completion is rated on the degree to which the character rallies her resources to meet this challenge. Competent type endings might include the child's studying harder or seeking additional help; less competent endings could include the child's taking no action and failing, or cheating. (p. 147)

Interrater reliabilities for the scale scores and the total score were .95 or higher.

224 TYLER AND VARMA

Furthermore, total score test-retest reliability correlations over a 2-week period were .90 for elementary school children, .78 for children in a therapeutic day camp.

In the Hindi adaptation, an effort was made to maintain meaning equivalence of the scale with its original form. Minor changes in the description of situations were introduced to match with the natural experiences of children in the Indian context. The Hindi version of the test was again translated into English to insure the accuracy of the translation. The adaptation was pretested and found to be appropriate for 8- to 10-year-old schoolchildren in India.

H. Koh's Block Design Test. Koh's Block Design was used to provide a problem-solving situation which could occasion help-seeking and helping behavior. In the pilot study the designs were presented to the subjects in the standard- ized order. It was observed that the majority of the children experienced diffi- culty in solving the designs after the sixth one and helpseeking might seem called for. Hence, the seventh design was chosen as the starting point for the presenta- tion of the problem-solving task in the present study.

II1. Observation. The experimental situation involved two subjects, a helpseeker and a helper, and two observers. One observer made a descriptive record of the problem-solving behavior plus the verbal and nonverbal help-seeking activities of the subject who had been given the tasks to solve. The other observer made a descriptive record of the verbal and nonverbal helping activities of the helper subject.

These records provided a pool of help-seeking and helping behaviors which were used by the authors and their assistants to build three 5-point score by example rating manuals. ~ One manual was for rating level of constructiveness of help-seeking behaviors; one was for rating level of constructiveness of helping behaviors; and the third one was for rating the level of problem-solving effort made by the subject assigned to solve the experimental task.

A constructiveness of help-seeking score was computed as the mean of ratings on two 5-point scales, one for asking for help and one for using it. Asking for help was scored as increasingly constructive to the extent that it was self-initiated, task oriented, and engaged in consistently as task completion questions arose. Using help was scored as increasingly constructive to the extent that help was accepted if correct or useful and rejected if inappropriate and if explanation of reasons for using or rejecting help was given without expressing annoyance or discouraging helping efforts.

A constructiveness of helping score was computed as the sum of ratings on two 5-point scales, one for verbal help and one for behavioral help. Verbal help

tThose manuals are too detailed to report in full. However, they can b¢ obtained by writing tO either of the authors.


was scored as more constructive to the extent that it was self-initiated, task relevant, and given within the flow of the task rather than dismptively or accompanied by negative remarks about the helpseeker's performance. Behavioral help (e,g., turning or changing the position of blocks or adding blocks) was scored as more constructive to the extent that it was self-initiated, given in the context of full attention to the task and marked by cooperative interaction with the helpseeker.

A constructiveness of effort score was assigned on a 5-point scale on the basis of time spent on the task plus involvement in (judged degree of attention to) the task (Tyler & Varma, 1983).

Procedure The Psychosocial Competence Incomplete Stories Test was administered to 60 boys and 60 girls. The mean, median, and range of scores were computed separately for the total sample, for the boys, and for the girls. In all three instances the median was between 19 and 20 and the score means and ranges were approximately similar. Consequently, a median of 19 was taken as the cutting point for differentiating between the high and low individual psychosocial competence criterion groups. Eight subjects (4 males and 4 females, 4 above and 4 below) on or closest to the median were eliminated. The remaining subjects (n = 112, M = 19.30, SD = 4.66) were assigned randomly to like-sex experimental pairs consisting of a designated helpseeker and a designated helper. The four male and four female experimental groupings were, respectively:

(1) High competence helpseeker (HCS)/High competence helper (HCH); (2) High competence helpseeker (HCS)/Low competence helper (LHC); (3) Low competence helpseeker (LCS)/High competence helper (HCH); (4) Low competence helpseeker (LCS)/Low competence helper (LCH).

In the experiment the following instructions were given for the task. The instructions for the helpseeker were as follows:

I will show you some designs made on the card. I will also give you some colored blocks with which you can make a design identical to the card. There is another boy/girl sitting with you and if you want any help in making the design you can ask him/her.

The helper was instructed:

If you want you may help this boy/girl in making the design.

After the instructions the children were given the seventh card of the Koh's Block Design and were required to make the design. The maximum time allotted

226 TYLER AND VARMA

for completion of the task was 20 min. If a subject completed a design, the observer of the helpseeking subject presented the next design for solution. The observers (who were blind to the competence level catagory of the subjects in each pair) recorded the relevant helpseeking and helping behavior of the subjects for the duration of the experimental period without regard to whether any (or how many) designs were completed successfully.

RESULTS

The PCIST was interesting to the children and yielded overall scores which approximate those found in comparable samples of children from the U.S. Two 2 x 2 (Helpseeker-Helping Group x PCIST score) ANOVAs were performed using a between-subjects design. They indicated that the subjects assigned to the help-seeking and to the helping groups were not significantly different in PCIST levels.

Interscorer agreement procedures were used to establish the reliability of the help-seeking and helping observational records. The records for the boys and for the girls were randomly divided into two equal sets. Each of the authors used the scoring manual to score one set of the records forhelpseekers for constructiveness of help-seeking behavior and for problem-solving effort, and one set of the records for helpers for constructiveness of helping behavior. Pearson correlations were computed with the comparable ratings that the observers had made of help-seeking behavior, helpseeker's effort, and helping behavior. All correlations were statistically significant. The correlations for helpseeking were above .87, and those for effort and for helping were above .80. It was judged that the observers' scores were adequately reliable.

Helpseeking and Helping Behavior The f'n'st two hypotheses were concerned with the effect of psychosocial competence level on the constructiveness of help-seeking and helping behavior. The relationships between the psychosocial competence levels of the subjects and, respectively, their (a) constructiveness of helpseeking and (b) constructiveness of helping were tested for the total sample by conducting a 3 x 2 ANOVA (PCIST Group x Help-seeking score x Sex) and for boys and girls separately by conducting 2 x 2 (PCIST Group x Help-seeking score) ANOVAs using a between- subjects design (see Tables 1 and 2). However, two preliminary analyses were conducted to determine the presence of potential confounding factors before those hypotheses were tested.

Effort. k is possible that helpseekers might elicit more offers to help and/or more productive help by making fewer problem-solving attempts or giving less attention to solving the problems confronting them. Thus, although in principle, continued effort is a component of constructive helpseeking, level of effort

HELP-SEEKING AND HELPING BEHAVIOR

TABLE 1 Mean Help-Seeking end Helping Scores of High and Low psyshosoclal

Competence Subjects by Experimental Group Paidngs

227

Seeker/Helper

H/H = H/L b L/H L/L Sample M SD M SD M SD M SD

Help-seeking Scores Total 4.07 1.24 3.11 1.47 2.21 1.12 2.36 1.03 Boys 3.50 1.53 3 . 7 9 0 . 9 9 2.57 1.27 2.43 1.40 Girls 4.64 0 . 4 8 2.43 1.62 1.86 0 . 9 0 2 . 2 9 0.57

Helping Scores Total 3.75 1.71 1.96 0.91 2.89 1.60 2.29 1.27 Boys 3.36 2 . 1 4 2 . 0 7 0 . 9 8 3.14 1.77 2.36 1.44 Girls 4.14 1.18 1.86 0 . 9 0 2.64 1.48 2.21 1.19

Effort Scores H/H H/L H/H L/L

Total 3.75 1.71 1.96 0.91 2.89 1.60 2.29 1.27 Boys 3.50 1.53 3 . 7 9 0 . 9 9 2.57 1.27 2.43 1.40 Girls 4.14 1.18 1.86 0 . 9 0 2.64 1.49 2.21 1.19

all=High psychosocial competence group. bL=Low psychosocial competence group.

scores were assigned to the helpseekers on the basis of their level of involvement in the task and the amount of allotted time they spent working on the tasks. Three 2 x 2 ANOVAs (competence level x effort level) were performed using a between-subjects design. They indicate (see Table 2C) that for the total sample, F = 30.02; dfl, 52;p < .01, and for boys, F = 17.29; dfl, 26;p < .001, and gifts, F = 5.98; df 1, 26; p < .05, the higher competence subjects made more

TABLE 2 Analyses of Variance of Level of Psychosoelal Competence Effects on Help-ueking (S)

and Helping (H) Behaviors

Sample Total Boys Girls

Dependent Variable Source SS F SS F SS F

Helpseeking

Helping

H 2.36 1.57 0.04 0.02 5.57 5.61 * S 23.79 15.84"** 9.14 5.31" 15.01 15.10"**

H x S 4.29 0.86 0.32 0 . 1 9 12.22 12.30"* H 20.04 10.16"* 0.51 2 . 8 0 12 .89 8.84** S 1.00 0.51 0.01 0.00 2.29 1.57

H x S 4.86 2.47 0.43 0.16 6.04 4.14

Note. For total sample ANOVAS, df = 1,52; For ANOVAS for boys and girls, df -- 1,24. SS = sum of squares.

*p<.05. **p<.01. ***p<.001.

228 TYLER AND VARMA

constructive efforts to complete their task. It was concluded that more psychosocially competent subjects did not reduce their levels of problem-solving effort to induce higher levels of helping behavior. Consequently, in the rest of this article only analyses utilizing help-seeking scores unadjusted for effort have been reported.

Nonparticipation. An additional potential confounding factor arose from the possibility that some children might make no efforts to complete the task, to seek help, or to help. Even so, those children would receive a minimum score on those respective scales. In this study very few children did not become involved. Nevertheless chi-squares were calculated to compare (a) the number of helpseekers in each group (competence level) who did try to complete the experimental tasks with those who did not try; (b) the number of helpseekers in each group (competence level) who did seek help with those who did not; and (c) the number of helpers in each group (competence level) who did try to help with those who did not try to help. None of those chi-squares approached statistical significance for either the boys or the girls. It was concluded that differential patterns of nonparticipation in these task-related activities were not confounding factors in the experimental results obtained.

Helping-Seeking. For the total sample and for boys and girls (see Table 2A) helpseeking was found to be significantly more constructive among high competence subjects. For girls helpseeking was also significantly more constructive when they were paired with high psychosocial competence helpers. Furthermore, for girls there was a significant interaction effect. That is, among the girls the level of helpseeking varied substantially (Helpseeking Ms: HCS/HCH = 4.64; HCS/LCH = 2.43; LCS/HCH = 1.86; LCS/LCH = 2.29) with the different pairings. Post-hoc pairwise comparisons based on the Scheffe method indicated that high competence helpseekers who were paired with high competence helpers sought help significantly more constructively than was the case for any of the other pairing s .

Helping. For the total sample, for boys, and for girls (see Table 2B) helping was found to be significantly more constructive among high competence subjects. No significant interaction effects were found.

Sex-Related Differences. The hypothesis of a difference between boys and girls in their belpseeking-helping interactions was confirmed for helpseeking but not for helping. There was a significant three-way interaction involving sex and the competence levels of the helpseeker and of the helper, F = 6.08; df 1, 48; p < .05. Post-hoc pairwise comparisons based on the Scheffe method indicated that high competence girl helpseekers paired with high competence girl helpers sought help significantly more constructively than did low competence girl help-


seekers paired with high competence girl helpers. No interaction effects were found among levels of helping behavior.

DISCUSSION

The present study involved using an experimental interaction situation to study the level of constructiveness of help-seeking and helping behaviors of 8- to 10- year:old children who differ in individual psychosocial competence. The study's findings support that children who are more psychosocially competent are more involved in completing their assigned tasks and spend more time doing so. They also ask for help in a more task-oriented way and are more inclined to use it or reject it with appropriate explanations in relation to its value and without devalu- ing themselves or an available helper. Furthermore, in a helping situation in which a peer has the responsibility for completing tasks, children who are high on psychosocial competence more often initiate verbal and behavioral help, and do so in a fashion that is more task relevant rather than disruptive or accompanied by negative comments about the helpseeker's performance.

These findings support Tyler's general hypothesis that a configuration of positive self-efficacy, moderately optimistic trust, and active planful coping are correlates of effective task-oriented and interpersonal functioning. They also extend the relevance of that psychosocial conception in three ways. They do so by demonstrating that help-seeking and helping activities can be competence based and prosocially oriented rather than power and status based and oriented to concerns with inadequacy or pathology. These findings also demonstrate that this psychosocial competence configuration has transcultural relevance. It differenti- ates children in India and provides a fuller understanding of the nature of their help-seeking and helping behavior.

The findings of sex-related differences in the relationships between psychosocial competence levels and patterns of helpseeking and helping have also supported the psychosocial competence view that life conditions or socialization may shape psychosocial patterns. Among these Indian boys the more psychosocially competent sought help and helped in more constructive ways without significant regard to the level of competence of their partners. In contrast, among the girls the constructiveness level of their helping and helpseeking was a direct function of their own psychosocial competence and of the psychosocial competence level of their partner. In addition, there were significant interactive effects centering around the finding that the girls' levels of constructiveness of helpseeking were highest when a high psychosocial competence helpseeker was paired with a high competence helper and substantially lower when the pairing was with a low competence helper. In all instances the variation was toward the level of functioning of the partner. The sex-related patterns obtained seem to embody positive and negative task and relationship correlates for both boys and girls. The helpseeking-helping interactions among girls seem to be of positive value for the

230 TYLER AND VARMA

less psychosocially competent partners, because those with more competent partners tended to function more constructively. However, those same interactions seem to be of negative value for the more competent partners, because those with less competent partners functioned less constructively. On the other hand, their responsiveness to each other's level of functioning may underscore the importance to them of their relatedness. In contrast, among the boys both the more and the less psychosociaUy competent partners maintained their levels of constructiveness of functioning. Their lack of responsiveness to each other's level of functioning suggests that they function more autonomously and are less oriented, for good or ill, to being influenced by their partners. It may also suggest that their relatedness is less important to them.

In summary, these findings support the view that a psychosocial competence perspective provides a useful framework for understanding and exploring the commonalities and differences among cultures in psychosocial characteristics, in helping and helpseeking, and in their interrelationships. Furthermore, these findings provide a basis for exploring ways of socializing help-seeking and helping behaviors and responses to them as prosocially useful to children and to adults in all cultures.

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