Mothers’ and fathers’ social support trajectories and children’s prosocial development: A dyadic perspective

Abstract The current study examined mothers’ and fathers’ dyadic trajectories of perceived social support and their associations with children’s prosociality. Data were drawn from 4,329 children (52% male, 48% female; 44% Black, 22% Hispanic, 17% White) in a prospective birth cohort study of low-income families. Repeated-measures latent class analysis identified three trajectories of social support at the level of the mother–father dyad from birth to age five: “High and Concordant” (64%), “Paternal-Advantaged, Declining Maternal” (20%), and “Maternal-Advantaged” (16%) social support. Child prosocial behavior differed significantly across dyadic social support trajectories. Children of parents in the “Paternal-Advantaged, Declining Maternal” ( M = –0.06, SE = 0.20; p < .001) and “Maternal-Advantaged” ( M = –0.26, SE = 0.19; p < .001) social support trajectories scored significantly lower on prosocial behavior at age five than those with “High and Concordant” social support ( M = 0.37, SE = 0.04). These differences persisted at age nine for children of parents in the “Paternal-Advantaged, Declining Maternal” social support trajectory. Findings suggest that consistent and adequate social support within the parental dyad is critical to cultivating children’s prosocial skills.