Are adolescents influenced by the prosocial behaviours of classmates they like? This study earned Daniela V. Chávez the Emerging Scholar Best Article Award
Daniela V. Chávez has received the 2026 Emerging Scholar Best Article Award from the Journal of Youth and Adolescence for her article examining how prosocial behaviours spread through adolescent peer networks. The award recognises emerging scholars who are lead authors of articles making innovative and substantive contributions to the empirical understanding of adolescence.
The article for which Daniela V. Chávez received the award found that adolescents become more similar in their prosocial behaviour to peers they like, particularly when those peers are also well-liked by other classmates. Adolescents with lower levels of peer likeability are especially susceptible to this influence.
The findings demonstrate that peer influence is involved not only in the spread of problem behaviours but also in the transmission of positive behaviours, such as those volunteer behaviors intended to help others, that can strengthen social functioning and community life across the life span.
“Fostering empathy can encourage students to notice when a classmate needs help and take the initiative to offer it. When some students are well-liked, accepted and have good connections across the class, their actions may be more visible to others. They might invite someone without a partner to work with them, help a classmate prepare for an exam, or share their materials,” notes Chávez.
“Our findings suggest that, over time, students may follow the example of classmates they like. When planning group work, teachers can pay attention to who students naturally seek out and who already makes an effort to include others. This can help teachers form groups that give students who are often left out more chances to contribute and get to know their classmates better,” she continues.
The award is a distinctive recognition in a journal that publishes over 150 articles annually.
At the time the article was published, Chávez was pursuing a doctorate in Psychology under a cotutelle agreement, with joint supervision from Christian Berger from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and Christina Salmivalli from the INVEST Flagship at the University of Turku, Finland. Her co-authors were affiliated with the Universidad Mayor in Chile, University of Turku and INVEST Research Flagship Centre in Finland, and Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.
Download the original research article (open access): Daniela V. Chávez, Diego Palacios, Lydia Laninga-Wijnen, Christina Salmivalli, Claire F. Garandeau, Christian Berger & Bernadette Paula Luengo Kanacri. (2025). Do Adolescents Adopt the Prosocial Behaviors of the Classmates They Like? A Social Network Analysis on Prosocial Contagion. J. Youth Adolescence 54, 17–31. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-024-02037-z