FRIENDSHIP AS A FACILITATOR OF EMOTIONAL RESPONSIVENESS AND PROSOCIAL INTERVENTIONS AMONG YOUNG-CHILDREN

This study examined the effects of friendship on children's emotional responsiveness to witnessing others' affective events. Forty-one children aged 48-77 months watched puppet scenarios in which a target child was either a personal friend or an acquaintance. Children in the friendship condition were more likely to report sympathetic responses to the hypothetical plight of their friend; acquaintances were more likely to be unaffected by the dilemma. Children in the friendship condition also more readily proposed an intervention to alter the peer's negative state than did children in the acquaintance condition. The results demonstrate the importance of friendship for facilitating emotional responsiveness and prosocial interventions in young children.