Work

The Unintended Negative Consequences of Help in Childhood

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Exchanges of help in childhood produce many positive consequences: They increases academic success, promote happiness, and foster positive peer relations. For these reasons, caretakers encourage helping behavior early in life and schools implement intervention programs to nurture children's prosociality. An often-overlooked issue, however, is that providing and receiving help do not always produce positive outcomes. We review the latest research that converges to suggest that when children receive, witness, or provide help, there can be unintended negative consequences-for example, receiving help can produce feelings of incompetence. The discussion of the paper grapples with how to balance the negative and positive outcomes of helping behavior, with an eye toward promoting children's wellbeing and social cohesion in society.

Source: Current Directions in Psychological Science

DOI: 10.1177/09637214251323594

Authors: Jellie Sierksma, Kristin Shutts

Institutions: Utrecht University, University of Wisconsin–Madison

Language: English

Topic: Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development

Subfield: Clinical Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,900