Longitudinal Change in High-Cost Prosocial Behaviors of Defending and Including during the Transition to Adulthood

Peer crowd affiliations as predictors of prosocial and risky behaviors among college students

ObjectivesTo examine college peer crowd affiliations and prosocial and risky behaviors (academic, sexual, drug, and alcohol related risks) as well as to investigate gender as a moderator of these relations. Participants: 527 students at a public university in the Midwest in Fall 2018 (M age = 19.67, SD = 1.84). Method: Students' peer crowd affiliations were reported using an online survey. Four peer crowd dimensions were confirmed using Factor Analysis: Social (popular partiers and Greek organization members), Athletic, Arts/Diverse (students identifying strongly with a countercultural group, their race/ethnic group, and/or performing arts); and Scholastic (academic achievement and leadership). Results: Social crowd affiliations positively predicted all risk-related behaviors. Social and Scholastic affiliations positively predicted prosocial behaviors. Finally, gender significantly moderated the relations between peer crowd affiliations and risk and prosociality. Conclusions: These findings demonstrate that peer crowd affiliation and gender are important when promoting positive behaviors on campus.

Prosocial behaviours under collective quarantine conditions. A latent class analysis study during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown in Italy

We aimed to identify the patterns of prosocial behaviours under collective quarantine conditions. Survey data were collected from a sample of Italian adults during the March May 2020 COVID‐19 lockdown in Italy. Participants reported on offline and online prosocial behaviours, sense of community responsibility (SoC‐R) and perceptions of community resilience. Latent class analysis (LCA) was used for data analysis. A total of 4,045 participants completed the survey, and 2,562 were eligible (72% female; mean age 38.7 years). LCA revealed four classes of prosocial behaviours: Money donors (7%), Online and offline helpers (59%), Online health information sharers (21%) and Neighbour helpers (13%). The classes were partially invariant across age groups (18‐35 and 35‐65 years). Being a man, having achieved a higher educational level and higher SoC‐R scores were associated with belonging to the Online and offline helper class. The members of this class also reported the greatest perceptions of community resilience. The results provide insight on the multidimensionality of prosociality under collective quarantine conditions. Online and offline helpers could be targeted for promoting sustained altruism and involvement in community organisations. For the other groups, programmes should aim at eliminating barriers to help others in multiple ways. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement.

Defend, Stand By, or Join In?: The Relative Influence of Moral Identity, Moral Judgment, and Social Self-Efficacy on Adolescents' Bystander Behaviors in Bullying Situations

In bullying situations, adolescent bystanders may help bullied others, just stand by, or join in the antisocial behavior. Current studies have yet to fully examine the moral and social factors motivating these varied responses to bullying encounters. Extending from pertinent developmental theories, the present study investigated the relative contributions of moral identity (i.e., viewing moral qualities as central to the self), moral judgment, and social self-efficacy to adolescents' bystander behaviors vis-à-vis bullies. Also investigated were the interactions among these variables. Three hundred and thirty-seven adolescents (M age = 13 years, 56.1% female) who self-identified as Caucasian (90.2%), Hispanic-American (2.1%), Asian-American (0.9%), African-American (3.9%), or Other/Unknown (2.9%) participated in the study. Students completed questionnaires assessing moral identity, moral judgment, social self-efficacy, and how they would respond if they observed a peer being bullied. Moral identity predicted more prosocial action, particularly for adolescents high in social self-efficacy. Moral identity related positively to moral judgment, and both predicted less antisocial (joining in) behavior. Interestingly, moral judgment maturity primarily diminished antisocial behavior when moral identity was relatively low. Social self-efficacy predicted less passive bystanding. Overall, moral identity strongly relates to defending behavior, and-as does moral judgment maturity-predicts less antisocial behavior among bystanders.