Preschoolers' interactions with other-gender peers promote prosocial behavior and reduce aggression: An examination of the Buddy Up intervention

The gendered nature of children's peer relationships has received little attention as a mechanism of change for students' social-emotional competencies. To address this gap, we tested the effects of an easy-to-implement universal intervention ( Buddy Up ) that paired preschoolers with other-gender peers for enjoyable, cooperative, and structured classroom activities. We considered whether the Buddy Up intervention, relative to a control condition, predicted changes in children's aggression and prosocial behavior. Participants were 140 preschoolers (53.6% boys; M-age = 56.49 months; 78% Mexican/Mexican-American) from the Southwestern United States. Following a 2-week pretest period in January (T1), teachers in intervention classrooms implemented the Buddy Up program, which continued until the end of the school year. Post-test data were collected in May (T2). As hypothesized, Buddy Up was associated with increased prosocial behavior and reduced aggression. Testing other-gender friendship participation as a moderator indicated that Buddy Up's effectiveness on prosociality and aggression was not significantly moderated by children's other-gender friendship. We also tested other-gender friendship participation as a mediator and found that Buddy Up increased children's likelihood of having other-gender friends which led to greater prosocial behavior. These findings demonstrated the utility of Buddy Up and the potential for positive outcomes associated with the facilitation of other-gender relationships in early childhood. (c) 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study examines the impact of the gendered nature of children's peer relationships on students' social-emotional competencies and tests the effectiveness of an easy-to-implement universal intervention (Buddy Up). The findings indicate that the Buddy Up program is associated with increased prosocial behavior and reduced aggression among preschoolers. Furthermore, the program also promotes the likelihood of children developing friendships with peers of the other gender, leading to greater prosocial behavior.