Reciprocal relations among self-efficacy beliefs and prosociality across time.
The present study examined the longitudinal relations between individuals' prosociality and their self-efficacy beliefs in regard to emotional regulation and responding empathically to others' needs. The participants were 244 females and 222 males with a mean age of 17 years (SD=1.5) at T1, 19 years (SD=1.4) at T2, and 21 years (SD=1.6) at T3. The findings corroborated the posited paths of relations assigning empathic self-efficacy a major role in predicting the level of individuals' prosociality. Empathic self-efficacy beliefs mediated the relations of regulative emotional self-efficacy beliefs to prosocial tendencies such as caring, sharing, helping, and empathic concern toward others. The posited conceptual model accounted for a significant portion of variance in prosociality and has implications for interventions designed to promote and sustain prosociality.
Alessandri
Guido
G
Psychology Department, Sapienza, University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy. guido.alessandri@uniroma1.it
Caprara
Gian Vittorio
GV
Eisenberg
Nancy
N
Steca
Patrizia
P
D000293:Adolescent; D000533:Altruism; D001294:Attitude to Health; D004645:Empathy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D007389:Internal-External Control; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D010553:Personality Development; D012649:Self Concept; D020377:Self Efficacy; D012919:Social Behavior; D012951:Socialization; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult