The mediating role of self-concept in relation between attachment to parents and peers with prosocial behaviors

The purpose of this study was to determine the mediating role of self-concept in the relation between attachment to parents and peers with prosocial behaviors. The research method was descriptive-correlational and the statistical population of the study included all the first grade female students of the seven to ninth grades of the schools in one and two regions of Hamedan to 21690, among them two-step random sampling according to recommendation of Mishel 1993, the ratio of 10 to 20 subjects per observed variable and Guadagnoli & Velicer (1998), a minimum of 450 people and considering the probability of a sample loss, 570 people among the schools in Shahed 1, Shahed 2, Forough School and Fatemeh Al-Zahra School, two schools from each district and from each school 4 classes were selected. The study tool was the inventory of parent and peer attachment by Armsden & Greenberg (1987), self-concept questionnaire by Sarswat 1984 and prosocial personality battery by Penner, Fritzsche, Craiger, & Freifeld (1995). After exclusion of 48 distortion questionnaires and 2 outlier data, data were analyzed using structural equation modeling method. In this study, the indirect path coefficient of attachment to the peers with prosocial behaviors (β= 0.064, P= 0.001), attachment to the father with prosocial behaviors (β= 0.033, P= 0.018) and attachment to the mother with prosocial behaviors (β= 0.022, P= 0.073) were positive and significant. It is suggested to reducing the antisocial behaviors in schools and increasing prosocial behaviors on improving the self-concept of adolescents and restoring their attachment to parents and peers be focused.