Growth patterns of ingroup and outgroup prosocial behavior in Colombian and Uruguayan adolescents: Examining gratitude and forgiveness as predictors of change

Abstract

The first goal of the current research was to study the short-term developmental patterns of ingroup and outgroup prosocial behavior during the middle adolescence stage among Uruguayan and Colombian adolescents. The second goal was to study the probability of inclusion in each trajectory class arising from gratitude and forgiveness (understood as the absence of negative emotions and the presence of positive emotions toward an aggressor) while controlling for gender and age. The study included two short-term longitudinal samples from two Latin American countries: Colombia (N = 212, M age = 13.82 years, SD = 1.25) and Uruguay (N = 269, M age = 14.02 years, SD = 1.39). The data were collected at three time points within a 3-month interval. The first finding indicated that different patterns in ingroup and outgroup prosocial behavior in adolescents emerged in both Latin American countries. Moreover, two classes—high and low—were identified in the trajectory of ingroup prosocial behavior, while three different classes—high, moderate, and low—were found in the trajectory of outgroup prosocial behavior in both countries. The results indicated that high levels of gratitude increased the probability that Uruguayan adolescents were included in the group of adolescents with high levels of ingroup prosocial behavior. High levels of positive emotions toward an aggressor (a dimension of forgiveness) increased the probability that a Colombian adolescent belonged to the group of adolescents with high levels of ingroup prosociality. Regarding outgroup prosocial behavior, different predictors were also identified between the countries. The results indicated that high levels of gratitude and positive emotions toward an aggressor increased the probability that Uruguayan adolescents were included in the group of adolescents with high or moderate levels of outgroup prosocial behavior. Only positive emotions toward an aggressor increased the probability that Colombian adolescents were included in the group of adolescents with high or moderate levels of outgroup prosocial behavior.