Social support and prosocial behavior in Chinese college students during the COVID-19 outbreak: a moderated mediation model of positive affect and parental care

Abstract

PurposeProsocial behavior (PSB) plays a critical role in everyday society, especially during the pandemic of COVID-19. Understanding the underlying mechanism will provide insight and advance its implementation. According to the theory of PSB, social interaction, family and individual characters all contribute to its development. The current study aimed to investigate the influencing factor of PSB among Chinese college students during COVID-19 outbreak. This is an attempt to understand the mechanism of PSB and to provide a reference for the formulation of policies aimed at promoting healthy collaborative relationships for college students.MethodThe online questionnaire was administered to 664 college students from 29 provinces of China via Credamo platform. There were 332 medical students and 332 non-medical students aged between 18 and 25 included for final study. The mediating role of positive emotion/affect (PA) and the moderating role of parental care in the association between social support and PSB during the pandemic of COVID-19 was explored by using Social Support Rate Scale (SSRS), Prosocial Tendencies Measurement Scale (PTM), The Positive and Negative Affect (PANAS), as well as Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI). The process macro model of SPSS was adopted for mediating and moderating analysis.ResultsThe results showed that social support positively predicted PSB among Chinese college students, even after adding PA as a mediation variable. PA during COVID-19 mediated the association between social support and PSB. PSB also revealed as a predictor of PA by regression analysis. Moreover, the moderating effect of parental care in the relationship between PA and PSB was detected.ConclusionPA under stress acts as a mediator between social support and PSB. This mediating effect was moderated by PC in childhood. In addition, PSB was observed to predict PA reversely. The promoting factors and path between the variables of PSB are complex and need to be explored extensively. The underlying factors and process should be further investigated for the development of intervention plans.

Positive Affectivity and Employee Engagement

“…The result is consistent with the COR theory (Hobfoll, 1989), which states that in the face of stressful situations, individuals with positive affectivity traits tend to be more confident and committed to their work through the availability of social support within their organization. The results also supported previous studies, which state that employees who exhibit positive affectivity traits are more likely to develop healthy social relationships at their workplace, leading to increased social support within the organization (Çivitci, 2015;Diener et al, 2020;Huang et al, 2023). The result implies that employees may be friendly, active, sociable and assertive, but this does not stop them from seeking support from their supervisor to remain active at work.…”

“…Furthermore, individuals with positive affectivity always strive to create a positive working environment for others to be happy with their work (Hui et al, 2007). As a result, obtaining support and cooperation from both the organization and team members will give them the enthusiasm to influence and improve the mood of others around them (Huang et al, 2023). According to Çivitci (2015), employees will increase positive affectivity and lower negative affectivity when they obtain social support from co-workers or supervisors because substantial support from a co-worker or supervisor will make them gain more self-esteem and confidence to relate with others.…”

“…Furthermore, positive affectivity helps to build the effectiveness of various self-improvement goals and objectives, and social support is no exception. For instance, when individuals with positive affectivity carry out various tasks, they perceive a supporting and encouraging message from a supervisor or their teammates as a means to be more obligated toward the work goal (Huang et al, 2023). Also, Diener et al (2020) state that positive affectivity has a strong sociability component, and individuals with such a trait tend to be friendly, active, and assertive; as such, they have more opportunities to seek social support to remain active at work.…”

There's more to news media skepticism: a path analysis examining news media literacy, news media skepticism and misinformation behaviors

“…Its broad utilization spans across multiple scientific and research disciplines, encompassing fields such as social sciences, informatics and psychology (e.g. Credamo, 2023; Huang et al ., 2023). Moreover, Credamo incorporates an examination of various factors, including survey completion time and participant attentiveness, to effectively manage and ensure the quality of responses (Credamo, 2023).…”

Predictors of pretraumatic stress during the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland

“…Hellmann et al [28] demonstrated that the endorsement of prosocial values among German people increased at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. There is also some evidence [29][30][31][32][33][34] of a link between prosocial behavior and psychological well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. The literature indicates that positive emotions increase one's proclivity towards prosocial behavior [35, 36; for a review, see : 37].…”