Prosocial Behavior Linked to Modestly Higher Maternal Happiness in Japanese Cohort

Mothers of adolescents with normal prosocial behavior reported happiness scores 0.31 points higher on a 0–10 scale than mothers of adolescents with borderline or clinical prosocial behavior in a population-based longitudinal study of 2,177 mothers and their children in Japan. The modest difference emerged from a propensity score-matched analysis of 641 pairs and was associated with children’s behavior assessed in sixth grade, when the adolescents were 12 years old. The research used data from the Adachi Child Health Impact of Living Difficulty study.

It followed mothers and their children when the children were in sixth and eighth grades, corresponding to ages 12 and 14. Maternal happiness was assessed at both time points. Across the full sample, mothers’ average happiness score was 1.02 points lower when their children were in eighth grade than in sixth grade.

This longitudinal difference describes an average change over time, but the study did not establish that adolescent development caused the decrease or that it occurred equally in every family. Investigators measured children’s prosocial behavior using mothers’ ratings on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. The adolescents were categorized as having either normal or borderline/clinical prosocial behavior according to established cutoff values.

To improve comparability between these groups, the researchers used propensity score matching to balance measured baseline demographic, socioeconomic, family, child and psychosocial characteristics. In the resulting 641 matched pairs, mothers whose children had normal prosocial behavior had an average happiness score 0.31 points higher than mothers whose children had borderline/clinical prosocial behavior. The estimated matched difference had a 95% confidence interval of 0.08–0.53 points, indicating uncertainty around its magnitude.

The study is observational and its measure of adolescent behavior came from maternal reports, so it cannot determine whether children’s prosocial behavior increases maternal happiness or whether other factors influence both behavior and maternal well-being. The findings also come from one Japanese cohort, limiting conclusions about their applicability elsewhere. The authors therefore described the result as a modest association: stronger prosocial behavior during early to mid-adolescence was linked to slightly higher maternal happiness, rather than demonstrating that the behavior produced the difference.

Subject of Research: Association between adolescent prosocial behavior and maternal happiness in a Japanese longitudinal cohort

Article Title: Is adolescent prosocial behavior associated with maternal happiness? Results from a population-based longitudinal study in Japan

Article References: Tani, Y., Isumi, A., & Fujiwara, T. (2026). Is adolescent prosocial behavior associated with maternal happiness? Results from a population-based longitudinal study in Japan. BMC Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-026-05559-2

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s40359-026-05559-2

Keywords: adolescent behavior, maternal happiness, prosocial behavior, longitudinal study, population-based research, propensity score matching, Japan, parent-child relationships, adolescent, prosocial, behavior, associated