f this study. Second, since the participants were 10 year-old children, a recall bias should be noted for their responses. Third, we could not investigate parenting styles or parental habit to praise which could be important factors in how children experience praise. Fourth, since the study participants were sampled only in Japan, the generalizability to other countries is questionable. Similar investigation in other countries is needed in the further research.
Clinical implications can be derived from the results of this study. With regard to preventing depressive symptoms, caregivers and professionals in relation with adolescents should consider praising prosocial behaviors when they see them. In addition, we should devise ways to praise so that children receive the message that they have been praised for their prosocial behavior. In future research, the objective assessment of praise for prosocial behavior should be considered as well as subjective assessment. Additionally, an intervention study is required to examine the effect of praising children for prosocial behaviors on preventing depressive symptoms.
Being praised for prosocial behavior rather than objective prosocial behavior at 10 years of age predicted lower depressive symptoms 2 years later. Further study is required to examine the effect of praising children for prosocial behaviors on preventing their depressive symptoms.
Data Availability Statement
The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.
The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science (12–35), the University of Tokyo (10057), and SOKENDAI (Graduate University for Advanced Studies) (2012002). Written informed consent to participate in this study was provided by the participants' legal guardian/next of kin.
DN, NT, SA, MM, and TK designed the work. DN and NT conducted statistical analyses and wrote the draft of the manuscript. SA, KE, SY, AN, MH-H, and KK contributed to data acquisition. All authors reviewed the draft manuscript critically and approved the final version of the manuscript.
This study was supported by JSPS KAKENHI (Grant Numbers JP16H06395, 16H06398, 16H06399, 17H05931, 19H00972, 19H04877, 19K17055, and 20H03596), MHLW DA Program (Grant Number JPMH20DA1001), UTokyo Center for Integrative Science of Human Behavior (CiSHuB), and International Research Center for Neurointelligence (WPI-IRCN) at the University of Tokyo Institutes for Advanced Study (UTIAS).
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
YLDs, years lived with disability; TTC, Tokyo Teen Cohort study; SDQ, the Strength and Difficulty Questionnaire; SMFQ, the Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire; IQ, intelligence quotient; WISC, the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children; K6, Kessler Psychological Distress Scale; SD, standard deviation; CI, confidence interval.
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