SynthesisJournal of youth and adolescence2026
How Childhood Maltreatment Predicts Prosocial Behaviors: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Synthesis in Journal of youth and adolescence, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Associations Between Protective Factors and Prosocial Behaviors Among Children and Adolescents with Childhood Maltreatment: A Three-level Meta-Analysis.Journal of youth and adolescence · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Childhood maltreatment is closely related to prosocial behaviors, which usually emerges from early childhood to early adolescence. There has been, however, no agreement on the results regarding the individual and joint effects of maltreatment subtypes. This study aims to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the association between maltreatment subtypes and prosocial behaviors. A total of 29 studies with 30 independent samples and 81 independent effect sizes are included in this meta-analysis (n = 58,047; 55.61% female). The results indicate a significant but modest negative association between childhood maltreatment and prosocial behaviors (r = -0.127; z = 4.51, p < 0.001). Among other things, neglect shows the largest effect size (r = -0.130; z = 3.36, p < 0.01). Multiple subtypes of childhood maltreatment displays a larger effect size (r = -0.138; z = 4.29, p < 0.001) than any single subtype of childhood maltreatment. Overall, by clarifying the differential negative associations of single maltreatment subtypes and the stronger negative effects of multiple subtypes, this study moves beyond the either-or debates between the altruism inhibition assumption and the altruism born of suffering assumption. It thereby provides nuanced evidence that avoids aligning with either extreme position. These findings highlight the importance of targeted interventions, such as addressing neglect specifically or responding to multiple maltreatment subtypes comprehensively, in promoting empathy and fostering posttraumatic growth to facilitate moral development in adolescence.
Indexed as
Identifiers
40965519What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.