Promoting Sympathy, Empathic Self‐Efficacy, and Prosocial Behaviours Among Primary School Children

Abstract

The present study investigated the efficacy of the CEPIDEAS Junior program, a universal intervention promoting prosocialbehaviours and social adjustment in schools, on sympathy, empathic self-efficacy, and prosocial behaviour among primary schoolchildren. The longitudinal intervention was conducted in 18 schools in the metropolitan area of Rome, involving students fromsecond, third, and fourth grades. Using a quasi-experimental design, a sample of 1045 students (Mage = 8.51, SD = 0.73; 471 girls)was divided into intervention (N = 527) and control groups. Teacher-reported sympathy, children’s empathic self-efficacy, andpeer-reported prosocial behaviour were assessed at the beginning and end of the intervention. Latent Difference Score (LDS)models revealed significant increases in sympathy and empathic self-efficacy in the intervention group compared to the controlgroup, while the positive effect on prosocial behaviours did not reach statistical significance. The results indicated that the inter-vention program directly enhanced sympathy and empathic self-efficacy, highlighting the potential of the CEPIDEA school-basedprogram, grounded on the Social-Cognitive Theory, in promoting students’ socio-emotional skills.