The Role of Empathy in Chinese Adolescents’ Preventive Health Behavior During COVID-19

Abstract

Purpose Preventive health behavior during COVID-19 protects not only oneself but also the welfare of others. However, little attention has been paid to prosocial motivation in adolescents, who are often viewed as selfish and egocentric. Therefore, the current study aimed to explore the role of empathy in adolescents’ preventive health behavior using longitudinal data. Methods A total of 442 Chinese adolescents (mean age of youth = 13.35 years; 49.5% girls and 50.5% boys) completed two-wave longitudinal surveys over the span of two months during the pandemic (Time 1: July 2020; Time 2: September 2020). At T1, participants reported on their empathic concern, perspective taking, and concern for personal health. At both T1 and T2, participants reported on their preventive health behavior and COVID-related worry. Results Adolescents who showed greater empathic concern tend to engage in more preventive health behavior over time ( p < .01). However, greater empathic concern also predicted adolescents’ greater worry about COVID-19 over time ( p < .01). In comparison, adolescents’ perspective-taking and concern for personal health did not predict their health behavior or worry over time. Notably, the longitudinal effect of empathic concern on preventive health behavior and COVID-related worry remained ( p s < .05) after taking into account adolescents’ perspective-taking and concern for personal health. Conclusions These findings highlight adolescents’ prosocial motivation in engaging in preventive health behavior during the pandemic and also point out the potential negative influence of empathic concern on adolescent mental health.

Attachment Insecurity and Altruistic Behavior among Chinese Adolescents: Mediating Effect of Different Dimensions of Empathy

“…Under COVID-19 conditions, how to prevent health behavior (e.g., vaccination) is an important issue to be considered [ 76 ]. Besides personal factors such as beliefs and self-efficacy about preventive health behavior, there are views suggesting that empathy plays another role in preventive health behavior (i.e., vaccinate for the sake of protecting others) [ 77 ]. In conjunction with the present findings, we may also consider promoting the attachment quality of the public so that they will be more motivated to engage in preventive health behavior [ 78 ].…”

The positive role of parental attachment and communication in Chinese adolescents' health behavior and mental health during COVID‐19

“…Parents may play a crucial role in promoting adolescents' health behavior and mental health during COVID‐19. Therefore, in addition to personal factors that are related to adolescents' adjustment (e.g., empathic concern, Pfattheicher et al, 2020 ; Qu et al, 2022 ), it is also important to identify family contexts that play a role in adolescents' adjustment during the pandemic. With regard to the relationship between parents and adolescents, attachment is a fundamental bond that is key to adolescent development (Allen & Land 1999 ).…”

Engagement in Behavior to Prevent COVID-19 Infection for the Sake of Oneself or Others?

“…Based on a short-term longitudinal study, Qu et al. [ 1 ] showed that empathy positively predicted preventive health behavior under COVID-19, such as maintaining social distancing and wearing a mask when going out, which highlights the importance of prosocial motivation in promoting health behavior to prevent COVID infection. While perspective taking and concern for personal health were not related to preventive behavior for COVID infection, empathic concern positively predicted preventive health behavior and COVID-19 worries.…”

“…Finally, Qu et al. [ 1 ] highlighted the importance of understanding the role of altruistic motives in preventive health behavior under COVID-19. In a recent study, Christner et al.…”