Individual and Social Predictors of Prosocial Behavior among Chinese Adolescents in Hong Kong

Based on the human ecological model, this study hypothesized that individual competence in empathy, prosocial moral reasoning, and social influence from parents, peers, and school are the key determinants of prosocial behavior among Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong. We recruited a sample of high sch...

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Main Authors:	Lai, Frank H. Y., Siu, Andrew M. H., Shek, Daniel T. L.
Format:	Online
Language:	English
Published:	Frontiers Media S.A. 2015
Online Access:	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4432674/

id	pubmed-4432674
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	pubmed-44326742015-05-29 Individual and Social Predictors of Prosocial Behavior among Chinese Adolescents in Hong Kong Lai, Frank H. Y. Siu, Andrew M. H. Shek, Daniel T. L. Pediatrics Based on the human ecological model, this study hypothesized that individual competence in empathy, prosocial moral reasoning, and social influence from parents, peers, and school are the key determinants of prosocial behavior among Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong. We recruited a sample of high school students who engaged in volunteering activities regularly (N = 580). They completed a self-administrated questionnaire designed to measure prosocial behavior and its hypothesized predictors using a number of standardized instruments. The results of multiple regression show that social influence factors, including peer, school, and parent influence, are strong predictors of helping intention and prosocial behavior, while individual competence factors like empathy and prosocial moral reasoning are not. Male participants had higher empathy scores and helping intention than females, perceived their parents as more helpful, and their schools as more supportive of prosocial behavior. However, the significant predictors of prosocial behavior and helping intention were similar across gender. The findings indicate that social influence is strongly linked to prosocial behavior. This implies that socialization and social support for prosocial norms and behavior can exert a powerful influence on the behavior of young people in a Chinese population. Frontiers Media S.A. 2015-05-15 /pmc/articles/PMC4432674/ /pubmed/26029684 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fped.2015.00039 Text en Copyright © 2015 Lai, Siu and Shek. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
repository_type	Open Access Journal
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	US National Center for Biotechnology Information
building	NCBI PubMed
collection	Online Access
language	English
format	Online
author	Lai, Frank H. Y. Siu, Andrew M. H. Shek, Daniel T. L.
spellingShingle	Lai, Frank H. Y. Siu, Andrew M. H. Shek, Daniel T. L. Individual and Social Predictors of Prosocial Behavior among Chinese Adolescents in Hong Kong
author_facet	Lai, Frank H. Y. Siu, Andrew M. H. Shek, Daniel T. L.
author_sort	Lai, Frank H. Y.
title	Individual and Social Predictors of Prosocial Behavior among Chinese Adolescents in Hong Kong
title_short	Individual and Social Predictors of Prosocial Behavior among Chinese Adolescents in Hong Kong
title_full	Individual and Social Predictors of Prosocial Behavior among Chinese Adolescents in Hong Kong
title_fullStr	Individual and Social Predictors of Prosocial Behavior among Chinese Adolescents in Hong Kong
title_full_unstemmed	Individual and Social Predictors of Prosocial Behavior among Chinese Adolescents in Hong Kong
title_sort	individual and social predictors of prosocial behavior among chinese adolescents in hong kong
description	Based on the human ecological model, this study hypothesized that individual competence in empathy, prosocial moral reasoning, and social influence from parents, peers, and school are the key determinants of prosocial behavior among Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong. We recruited a sample of high school students who engaged in volunteering activities regularly (N = 580). They completed a self-administrated questionnaire designed to measure prosocial behavior and its hypothesized predictors using a number of standardized instruments. The results of multiple regression show that social influence factors, including peer, school, and parent influence, are strong predictors of helping intention and prosocial behavior, while individual competence factors like empathy and prosocial moral reasoning are not. Male participants had higher empathy scores and helping intention than females, perceived their parents as more helpful, and their schools as more supportive of prosocial behavior. However, the significant predictors of prosocial behavior and helping intention were similar across gender. The findings indicate that social influence is strongly linked to prosocial behavior. This implies that socialization and social support for prosocial norms and behavior can exert a powerful influence on the behavior of young people in a Chinese population.
publisher	Frontiers Media S.A.
publishDate	2015
url	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4432674/
_version_	1613223872450002944

Individual and Social Predictors of Prosocial Behavior among Chinese Adolescents in Hong Kong

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