title: Long-term relations among prosocial-media use, empathy, and prosocial behavior.
abstract: Despite recent growth of research on the effects of prosocial media, processes underlying these effects are not well understood. Two studies explored theoretically relevant mediators and moderators of the effects of prosocial media on helping. Study 1 examined associations among prosocial- and violent-media use, empathy, and helping in samples from seven countries. Prosocial-media use was positively associated with helping. This effect was mediated by empathy and was similar across cultures. Study 2 explored longitudinal relations among prosocial-video-game use, violent-video-game use, empathy, and helping in a large sample of Singaporean children and adolescents measured three times across 2 years. Path analyses showed significant longitudinal effects of prosocial- and violent-video-game use on prosocial behavior through empathy. Latent-growth-curve modeling for the 2-year period revealed that change in video-game use significantly affected change in helping, and that this relationship was mediated by change in empathy.
authors: 1Department of Psychology, Iowa State University.
authors: Sara
authors: S
authors: Prot
authors: Douglas A
authors: DA
authors: Gentile
authors: Craig A
authors: CA
authors: Anderson
authors: Kanae
authors: K
authors: Suzuki
authors: Edward
authors: E
authors: Swing
authors: Kam Ming
authors: KM
authors: Lim
authors: Yukiko
authors: Y
authors: Horiuchi
authors: Margareta
authors: M
authors: Jelic
authors: Barbara
authors: B
authors: Krahé
authors: Wei
authors: W
authors: Liuqing
authors: Albert K
authors: AK
authors: Liau
authors: Angeline
authors: A
authors: Khoo
authors: Poesis Diana
authors: PD
authors: Petrescu
authors: Akira
authors: A
authors: Sakamoto
authors: Sachi
authors: S
authors: Tajima
authors: Roxana Andreea
authors: RA
authors: Toma
authors: Wayne
authors: W
authors: Warburton
authors: Xuemin
authors: X
authors: Zhang
authors: Ben Chun Pan
authors: BC
authors: Lam
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology*; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D004645:Empathy / Q000502:physiology*; D006379:Helping Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D012846:Singapore; D061108:Social Media / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D018910:Video Games / Q000523:psychology*; D014754:Violence / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: cross-cultural differences; empathy; general learning model; helping; mass media; prediction; prosocial behavior; prosocial media; social behavior; violent media