Good Deeds, Good Diets: Study Links Childhood Prosocial Behavior to Healthier Teen Diets - Video

Children who grow up practicing kindness and helpfulness may be more likely to develop healthy eating habits as teenagers, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, by Elsevier. The research, based on long-term data from the United Kingdom, suggests that nurturing prosocial behavior in children could be a promising strategy for promoting better health outcomes across the lifespan.

The study analyzed data from the Millennium Cohort Study, a nationally representative longitudinal study that followed children born in the UK for over 20 years. Researchers tracked prosocial behavior—defined as actions like caring, helping, and cooperating—based on parent reports at ages 5, 7, and 11. They then compared these early behaviors with adolescents’ self-reported fruit and vegetable consumption at ages 14 and 17.

Despite some limitations, such as unmeasured factors in the family environment, the study controlled for many variables including early eating habits and socioeconomic status.

Ultimately, the findings underscore prosocial behavior as a “health asset” with the power to shape long-term well-being. Encouraging kindness in children may not just build better communities—it could also lead to healthier lives.

Lead investigator Farah Qureshi, ScD, MHS, Department of Population, Family, and Reproductive Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health said, “Prior research has found that behaviors that help others (like volunteering) are related to better health in older adults. We wanted to understand whether these types of activities benefit youth as well, focusing on a broader range of prosocial behaviors, like acts of kindness, cooperation, and caring for others. In our current research, we found that children who consistently displayed more of these kinds of positive social behaviors at any age were more likely to maintain healthy eating habits into their teenage years, a time when dietary choices set patterns that can shape lifelong health.”