Empathy and Prosocial-Flow as Mediators between Parental Variables and Prosocial Behavior Toward Strangers, Friends, and Family

BELÉN MESURADO; MARÍA CRISTINA RICHAUD

Filadelfia

Congreso; 2015 Biennial Meeting - Society for Research in Child Development; 2015

Society for Research in Child Development

Introduction Prosocial behaviors are ?voluntary actions that are intended to help or benefit another individual or group of individuals? (Eisenberg & Mussen, 1989,p. 3). A large number of studies have demonstrated the importance of parenting style in the transmission of values and in the encouragement of prosocial behaviors (Carlo, et al. 2010). Several studies have also shown an important relationship between empathy and prosocial behavior; empathy permits one to understand the needs of others, as well as, their emotional experiences. This, in turn, facilitates prosocial behaviors towards others.Given that previous research has shown that prosocial behavior is associated with such aspects as attentional regulation (Eisenberg et al 1999; Ladd & Profilet 1996), positive emotional states (Carlson & Miller, 1987) and perceptions of self-sufficiency (i.e., beliefs that people hold about their capacities to deal successfully with specific situations; Bandura, 1997; Caprara,Alessandri, & Eisenberg, 2011), this study presents the hypothesis that mental states of flow (i.e., the mental state that results from total engagement in an activity that requires high concentration; Csikszentmihalyi, 1999) may also be associated with the encouragement of prosocial conduct among adolescents.It is thus likely that experiencing flow states while performing prosocial activity ? a state of high concentration, skill perception or efficiency at erforming a specific prosocial activity, total immersion and engagement with the specific activity, as well as positive emotional states after completing the prosocial activity? contributes to the person to show greater prosocial tendencies. The objective of this study is to test an existing model, that proposes that authoritative parenting style can predict levels of empathy in young adults,which can, in turn, predict prosocial behavior towards strangers, family and friends. At the same time, the model proposes that a combination of perceptions of parental challenge and authoritative parental style can predict prosocial flow during the activities. Finally, both empathy and prosocial flow can predict prosocial behavior towards strangers, family and friend in young adults. That is to say that people with high levels of empathy can experience states of flow while undertaking prosocial activities or volunteering, and it may thus be more likely for them to develop helping behaviors towards others.Results. To examine the proposed theoretical model for three types of prosocial behavior toward strangers, friends, and family, analyses were performed with three structural equation models using AMOS 16.0 software. The results indicate that all three models fit the data very well: prosocial behavior toward strangers [chi (16) = 26.34, p = .05, chi/df =1.64; GFI = .99; AGFI = .98, RMR = .01]; prosocial behavior toward friends [chi (16)= 62.1, p = .001, chi/df = 3.88; GFI = .98; AGFI = .96,RMR = .02 ], and finally prosocial behavior toward family [ chi (16) =75.47, p = .001, chi/df = 4.71; GFI = .98; AGFI = .95, RMR = .02 ].Discussion. The combination of parental challenge and authoritative parental style remembered by are positively associated with prosocial flow which in turn has a positive influence on different types of prosocial behavior towards strangers, friends and family. Moreover, authoritative parental style has a direct and positive relation with empathy which in turn is associated in a positive way with prosocial-flow and prosocial behavior towards strangers, friends and family in young adults.