ABSTRACT In a religiously diverse world, understanding how young children perceive and interact with peers from other religious groups is pivotal for promoting harmony from an early age. The study examines how children's understanding of an outgroup religion is associated with their prosocial behaviours towards children from that religion. Conducted with 210 children aged 3–6 years (mean = 4.19 years; 50.7% boys) from the majority religion (Catholic) in state schools in Malta, we assessed children's religious understanding through identification of ingroup religious symbols, and prayer. Additionally, we measured children's outgroup (i.e., Muslim) religious understanding through outgroup prayer. Children's prosocial behaviours were assessed through their costly giving of stickers to outgroup children. Findings indicate that outgroup religious understanding moderated the link between children's religious understanding and outgroup giving. Specifically, outgroup religious understanding dampened the association between ingroup religious understanding and outgroup giving for children with higher ingroup religious understanding. Implications of children's outgroup religious understanding on prosocial behaviours are discussed.

Isabelle Zammit

Eilis Hennessy

Islam Borinca

Laura K. Taylor

Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology

The Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology publishes papers regarding social behaviour in relation to community problems and strengths. The journal is international in scope, reflecting the common concerns of scholars and community practitioners in Europe and worldwide.

The Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology focuses on publishing research papers related to social behavior in the context of community issues and strengths. The journal has an international scope, reflecting the shared concerns of scholars and community practitioners in Europe and around the world.

《Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology》致力于发表与社区问题和优势相关的社会行为研究论文。该期刊具有国际视野，反映了欧洲及全球学者和社区从业者的共同关注。

Category	Quartile
心理学	3
心理学, 心理学社会	4

From Prayer to Practice: Children's Religious Understanding and Outgroup Prosocial Behaviours

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Journal Info

Category	Quartile
PSYCHOLOGY, SOCIAL	2