The Relationship of Social Health and Parents' Psychological Capital with Adolescents' Prosocial Behavior: The Mediating Role of Empathy

Subject Areas : روان‌شناسی تحولی

Sanaz Mirghaffari ¹ , Mansooreh Nikoogoftar ^{2 *}

1 - MA in Psychology Payam Noor University, Tehran, Iran
2 - PhD Payam Noor University, Tehran, Iran

Received: 2020-10-24 Accepted : 2020-10-24 Published : 2020-09-22

Keywords: psychological capital, adolescents, empathy, social health, prosocial behavior,

Abstract :

The aim of this study was to investigate the mediating role of empathy in the relationship between parent's social health and psychological capital and prosocial behavior in adolescents. In this descriptive-correlational study, 369 adolescent high school students (within the age range of 15-18) in Tehran (180 girls and 189 boys) were randomly selected using cluster sampling method. They subsequently filled Prosocial Behavior Scale (Penner, Fritzche, Craiger & Freifeld, 1995) and Empathy Scale (Bryant, 1982). The parents (211 mother and 158 father) filled the Psychological capital Scale (Lutanz, Oliwi, Avolio & Norman, 2007) and Social health Scale (Keye, 2004) questionnaires. Finally, data were analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficient and structural equation modeling. The results showed that high level of adolescents' empathy and high levels of social health and psychological capital of parents would increase the possibility of prosocial behavior in adolescents. On the other hand, empathy mediates the relationship between social health and the psychological capital of parents and the adolescents’ prosocial behavior. Findings indicates the importance of setting educational programs for promoting empathy and paying attention to the important role of parents as influential factors on adolescents in order to increase prosocial behavior. This factor plays a decisive role in reducing future problems such as antisocial behavior and delinquency in adolescents.

References:

باباپور خیرالدین، ج.، طوسی، ف. و حکمتی، ع. (1388). بررسی نقش عوامل تعیین‌کننده در سلامت اجتماعی دانشجویان دانشگاه تبریز. فصلنامه روان‎شناسی دانشگاه تبریز، 4(16)، 26 -8.

بهادری خسروشاهی، ج.، هاشمی نصرت‌آباد، ت. و باباپورخیرالدین، ج. (1391). رابطه سرمایه روان‌شناختی با سرمایه اجتماعی دانشجویان دانشگاه تبریز. مجله تخصصی پژوهش و سلامت، 2(1)، 145 -135.

پورافکاری، ن. (1391). بررسی عوامل مؤثر بر سلامت اجتماعی در شهرستان پاوه. فصلنامه تخصصی علوم اجتماعی دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی‎ـ واحد شوشتر، 6(18)، 60 -41.

رجایی، ا.، نادی، م. ع. و جعفری، ع. (1396). ویژگی‎های روان‎سنجی مقیاس سرمایه روان‎شناختی مثبت در بین کارکنان ستادی آموزش و پرورش شهر اصفهان. فصلنامه دانش و پژوهش در روان‎شناسی کاربردی، 18(3)، 108- 94.

شربتیان، م. ح. (1391). تأملی بر پیوند معنایی مؤلفه‌های سرمایه اجتماعی و میزان بهره‌مندی از سلامت اجتماعی در بین دانشجویان دانشگاه پیام نور مشهد. فصلنامه جامعه‌شناسی مطالعات جوانان، 2(5)، 174 -149.

صفاری‌نیا، م. (1395). آزمون‌های روا‌‌ن‌شناسی اجتماعی و شخصیت. تهران: انتشارات ارجمند.

صفاری نیا، م. و باجلان، ف. (1390). اعتباریابی و هنجارسازی پرسشنامه شخصیت جامعه‌پسند. پایان‌نامه کارشناسی ارشد روان‎شناسی، دانشگاه پیام نور.

عارفی، م. (1386). ارائه یک الگوی علّی برای عملکرد اجتماعی بر اساس نظریه ذهن با واسطه‌گری باورهای ماکیاولیستی و همدلی. رساله دکتری روان‌شناسی تربیتی، دانشگاه شیراز.

فرخی، ا. و سبزی، ن. (1394). شادکامی و ادراک الگوهای ارتباطی خانواده: نقش واسطه‎ای سرمایه روان‎شناختی. فصلنامه روان‎شناسی تحولی: روان‎شناسان ایرانی، 11(43)، 324 -313.

محمودی، ا.، یونسی، ج. و رحیمی‌زاده، م. (1393). رابطه سرمایه اجتماعی و سرمایه روان‌شناختی با نقش میانجی خودکارآمدی در دبیران تربیت بدنی. فصلنامهرویکردهای نوین در مدیریت ورزشی، 2(7)، 39 -23.

 

Afolabi, O. A. (2014). Psychosocial predictors of prosocial behaviour among a sample of Nigerian undergraduates. European Scientific Journal,10(2), 241-266.

Alessandri, G., Caprara, G. V., Eisenberg, N., & Steca, P. (2009). Reciprocal relations among self‐efficacy beliefs and prosociality across time. Journal of Personality, 77(4), 1229-1259.

Alessandri, G., Luengo Kanacri, B. P., Eisenberg, N., Zuffianò, A., Milioni, M., Vecchione, M., & Caprara, G. V. (2014). Prosociality during the transition from late adolescence to young adulthood: The role of effortful control and ego-resiliency. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 40(11), 1451-1465.

Atkins, R., Hart, D., & Donnelly, T. M. (2005). The association of childhood personality type with volunteering during adolescence. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 51(2), 145-162.

Branas-Garza, P., Cobo-Reyes, R., Espinosa, M. P., Jiménez, N., Kovářík, J., & Ponti, G. (2010). Altruism and social integration. Games and Economic Behavior, 69(2), 249-257.

Bryant, B. K. (1982). An index of empathy for children and adolescents. Child Development, 413-425.

Caprara, G. V., Alessandri, G., Di Giunta, L., Panerai, L., & Eisenberg, N. (2010). The contribution of agreeableness and self‐efficacy beliefs to prosociality. European Journal of Personality: Published for the European Association of Personality Psychology, 24(1), 36-55.

Carlo, G., McGinley, M., Hayes, R. C., & Martinez, M. M. (2012). Empathy as a mediator of the relations between parent and peer attachment and prosocial and physically aggressive behaviors in Mexican American college students. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 29(3), 337-357.

Carlo, G., Mestre, M. V., McGinley, M. M., Tur-Porcar, A., Samper, P., & Opal, D. (2014). The protective role of prosocial behaviors on antisocial behaviors: The mediating effects of deviant peer affiliation. Journal of Adolescence, 37(4), 359-366.

Carlo, G., Padilla-Walker, L. M., & Nielson, M. G. (2015). Longitudinal bidirectional relations between adolescents’ sympathy and prosocial behavior. Developmental Psychology, 51(12), 1771-1777.

Cicognani, E., Pirini, C., Keyes, C., Joshanloo, M., Rostami, R., & Nosratabadi, M. (2008). Social participation, sense of community and social well-being: A study on American, Italian and Iranian university students. Social Indicators Research, 89(1), 97-112.

Connolly, J., Nocentini, A., Menesini, E., Pepler, D., Craig, W., & Williams, T. S. (2010). Adolescent dating aggression in Canada and Italy: A cross-national comparison. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 34(2), 98-105.

Crandall, A., Ghazarian, S. R., Day, R. D., & Riley, A. W. (2016). Maternal emotion regulation and adolescent behaviors: The mediating role of family functioning and parenting. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 45(11), 2321-2335.

Dadds, M. R., Hunter, K., Hawes, D., Frost, A. J., Vassallo, S., Bunn, P., Merz, S. & El Masry, Y. (2008). Measurement of empathy in children using parental ratings. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 39(2), 111-122.

Davis, M. H. (1983). Measuring individual differences in empathy: Evidence for a multidimensional approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44(1), 113-126.

Eisenberg, N., Fabes, R. A., & Spinrad, T. L. (2006). Prosocial development. In N. Eisenberg, W. Damon, & R. M. Lerner (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology: Social, emotional, and personality development. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons Inc.

Endresen, I. M., & Olweus, D. (2001). Self-reported empathy in Norwegian adolescents: Sex differences, age trends, and relationship to bullying. In A. C. Bohart & D. J. Stipek (Eds.), Constructive & destructive behavior: Implications for family, school, & society (p. 147-165). American Psychological Association.

Evans, C. B., & Smokowski, P. R. (2015). Prosocial bystander behavior in bullying dynamics: Assessing the impact of social capital. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 44(12), 2289-2307.

FeldmanHall, O., Dalgleish, T., Evans, D., & Mobbs, D. (2015). Empathic concern drives costly altruism. Neuroimage, 105, 347-356.

Findlay, L. C., Girardi, A., & Coplan, R. J. (2006). Links between empathy, social behavior, and social understanding in early childhood. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 21(3), 347-359.

Fousiani, K., Dimitropoulou, P., Michaelides, M. P., & Van Petegem, S. (2016). Perceived parenting and adolescent cyber-bullying: Examining the intervening role of autonomy and relatedness need satisfaction, empathic concern and recognition of humanness. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 25(7), 2120-2129.

Gerardy, H., Mounts, N. S., Luckner, A. E., & Valentiner, D. P. (2015). Mothers' management of adolescent peer relationships: associations with aggressive, prosocial, and playful behavior. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 176(5), 299-314.

González, R., & Lay, S. (2017). Sense of responsibility and empathy: Bridging the gap between attributions and helping behaviours. In E. Van Leeuwen & H. Zagefka (Eds.), Intergroup helping (p. 331-347). Springer International Publishing.

Guo, Y. (2017). The Influence of Social Support on the Prosocial Behavior of College Students: The Mediating Effect Based on Interpersonal Trust. English Language Teaching, 10(12), 158-163.

Harper, J. M., Padilla‐Walker, L. M., & Jensen, A. C. (2016). Do siblings matter independent of both parents and friends? Sympathy as a mediator between sibling relationship quality and adolescent outcomes. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 26(1), 101-114.

Hoffman, M. L. (2000). Empathy and moral development: Implications for caring and justice. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Hofmann, V., & Müller, C. M. (2018). Avoiding antisocial behavior among adolescents: The positive influence of classmates’ prosocial behavior. Journal of Adolescence, 68, 136-145.

Hunter, J. A., Figueredo, A. J., Becker, J. V., & Malamuth, N. (2007). Non-sexual delinquency in juvenile sexual offenders: The mediating and moderating influences of emotional empathy. Journal of Family Violence, 22(1), 43-54.

Hu, L., & Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indices in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling, 6(1), 1-55.

Hur, Y. M., Taylor, J., Jeong, H. U., Park, M. S., & Haberstick, B. C. (2017). Perceived family cohesion moderates environmental influences on prosocial behavior in Nigerian adolescent twins. Twin Research and Human Genetics, 20(3), 226-235.

Jolliffe, D., & Farrington, D. P. (2006). Examining the relationship between low empathy and bullying. Aggressive Behavior: Official Journal of the International Society for Research on Aggression, 32(6), 540-550.

Karmakar, R., & Ghosh, A. (2012). Altruistic behaviour of adolescents of different regions of India. Journal of the Indian Academy of Applied Psychology, 38(1), 44-53.

Keyes, C. L. M. (1998). Social well-being. Social Psychology Quarterly, 121-140.

Lai, F. H., Siu, A. M., & Shek, D. T. (2015). Individual and social predictors of prosocial behavior among Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong. Frontiers in Pediatrics, 3, 39-59.

Lam, C. M. (2012). Prosocial involvement as a positive youth development construct: A conceptual review. The Scientific World Journal, 5, 1-8.

Liu, J., Gong, P., Li, H., & Zhou, X. (2017). A field study of the association between CD38 gene and altruistic behavior: Empathic response as a mediator. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 85, 165-171.

Luthans, F., Avolio, B. J., Avey, J. B., & Norman, S. M. (2007). Positive psychological capital: Measurement and relationship with performance and satisfaction. Personnel Psychology, 60(3), 541-572.

Luthans, F., Youssef, C. M., & Avolio, B. J. (2006). Psychological capital: Developing the human competitive edge (Vol. 198). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Malin, A. J., & Pos, A. E. (2015). The impact of early empathy on alliance building, emotional processing, and outcome during experiential treatment of depression. Psychotherapy Research, 25(4), 445-459.

McMahon, S. D., Wernsman, J., & Parnes, A. L. (2006). Understanding prosocial behavior: The impact of empathy and gender among African American adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Health, 39(1), 135-137.

Mozaffari, N., Dehghan Nayeri, N., & Dadkhah, B. (2014). Social well-being of a sample of Iranian nurses: A descriptive-analytic study. Journal of Caring Sciences, 3(4), 239-246.

Padilla-Walker, L. M., Fraser, A. M., & Harper, J. M. (2012). Walking the walk: The moderating role of proactive parenting on adolescents’ value-congruent behaviors. Journal of Adolescence, 35(5), 1141-1152.

Pakaslahti, L., Karjalainen, A., & Keltikangas-Järvinen, L. (2002). Relationships between adolescent prosocial problem-solving strategies, prosocial behavior, and social acceptance. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 26(2), 137-144.

Penner, L. A., Fritzsche, B. A., Craiger, J. P., & Freifeld, T. R. (1995) Measuring the prosocial personality. In J. Butcher & C. D. Spielberger (Eds.) Advances in personality assessment, Vol. 10 (pp. 147-163). Hillsdale, NJ: LEA.

Pursell, G. R., Laursen, B., Rubin, K. H., Booth-LaForce, C., & Rose-Krasnor, L. (2008). Gender differences in patterns of association between prosocial behavior, personality, and externalizing problems. Journal of Research in Personality, 42(2), 472-481.

Schuhmacher, N., Köster, M., & Kärtner, J. (2018). Modeling prosocial behavior increases helping in 16-Month-Olds. Child Development, 90(5), 1789-1801.

Shamay-Tsoory, S. G. (2011). The neural bases for empathy. The Neuroscientist, 17(1), 18-24.

Silke, C., Brady B., Boylan, C. & Dolan, P. (2018) Factors influencing the development of empathy and prosocial behaviour among adolescents: A systematic review. Children and Youth Services Review, 94, 421-436.

Snyder, C. R. (2002). Hope theory: Rainbows in the mind. Psychological Inquiry, 13(4), 249-275.

Stajkovic, A. D., & Luthans, F. (1998). Social cognitive theory and self-efficacy: Goin beyond traditional motivational and behavioral approaches. Organizational Dynamics, 26(4), 62-74.

Tong, L., Shinohara, R., Sugisawa, Y., Tanaka, E., Yato, Y., Yamakawa, N., & Japan Children's Study Group. (2012). Early development of empathy in toddlers: Effects of daily parent-child interaction and home‐rearing environment. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 42(10), 2457-2478.

Van der Graaff, J., Carlo, G., Crocetti, E., Koot, H. M., & Branje, S. (2018). Prosocial behavior in adolescence: Gender differences in development and links with empathy. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 47(5), 1086-1099.

Van Goethem, A. A., Van Hoof, A., van Aken, M. A., de Castro, B. O., & Raaijmakers, Q. A. (2014).