Relationship among children’s perception of parental relationship and parental empathy and prosocial behaviour during childhood

The objective of this work is to study if children’s perception of parental relationship and parental empathy can predict prosocial behaviour during childhood. The sample was composed of 934 Argentine children, aged 9 to 12, of middle socio-economical level. The participants completed Argentine scale of Children Perception of Parental relationship (richaud de Minzi, 2007), an Argentine adaptation of scale of Prosocial Behaviour (Caprara and Pastorelli, 1993) and a questionnaire to measure children’s perception of parental empathy (richaud de Minzi, 2006). structural equations modelling (sEM) analyses were conducted to explore our hypotheses. Six theoretical models fit the data very well. The results showed that parental styles of acceptance and pathological control impact on children prosocial behavior. Children’s perception of parental empathy was positively associated with children prosocial behavior. Finally, parental acceptance and pathological control were associated with children’s perception of parental empathy, but negligent parental behaviour did not.  

Short Term Health Shocks and School Attendance: The Case of a Dengue Fever Outbreak in Colombia.

This paper makes use of a short, sharp, unexpected health shock in the form of the 2010 Colombian Dengue outbreak to examine the direct and indirect impact of negative health shocks on behaviour of households in affected areas. Our analysis combines data from several sources in order to obtain a comprehensive picture of the influence of the outbreak, and furthermore to understand the underlying mechanisms driving the effects. Our initial analysis indicates that the outbreak had a substantial negative effect on the health status of adults and adversely affected their ability to function as usual in their daily lives. In our aggregated school data, in areas with high levels of haemorrhagic Dengue we observe a reduction innational exam attendance (last year of secondary school) and on enrolment rates in primary education. Further analysis aims to exploit detailed individual level data to gain a more in depth understanding of the precise channels through which this disease influenced the behaviour and outcomes of the poor in Colombia.