The benefits of a school intervention for prosocial behaviour and psychological well-being in early adolescents

Abstract Few studies have analysed programmes focused on prosocial behaviour and well-being in early adolescence. This study aims to fill this gap. The main purpose of this research was to investigate a school intervention, comprising 24 sessions conducted over 3 months, to identify the effects on (i) prosocial behaviour, conceptualised as altruistic behaviour and prosocial compliant behaviour, and psychological well-being and (ii) gender differences in all variables, at baseline and post-intervention. Data were collected from a sample of 120 early adolescents (48% males; age range 10–12, M = 11.8, SD = 0.6), 60 enrolled in the experimental group and 60 in the control group. The findings revealed increased altruistic behaviour, prosocial compliant behaviour, and well-being at post-intervention compared to baseline in the experimental group, but no differences in the control group. In addition, no significant gender differences were found at post-intervention in the experimental group; but in the control group, females enacted more helping behaviours than males did. The practical implications for school psychologists and future research directions are discussed.