Does Loneliness Necessarily Lead to a Decrease in Prosocial Behavior? The Roles of Gender and Situation.
Although, previous studies show overwhelming evidence that loneliness is negatively correlated with prosocial behavior, some theories and research have implied that under certain situations, loneliness plays a positive role in an individual's social functioning. The two studies reported in this article examined loneliness and its associations with prosocial behavior in Chinese adults using subjective reporting and experimental design. Study 1 examined 305 Chinese adults (175 males) using theSocial and Emotional Loneliness Scale for Adultsand theProsocial Tendencies Measureto evaluate their loneliness and prosocial tendencies. The results showed that loneliness was negatively associated with all prosocial tendencies except the public prosocial tendency. Study 2 examined 177 Chinese adults (61 males) using an experimental design and found that only lonely women in public situations expressed a greater willingness to help. The results also suggest that loneliness may play a positive role in the social functioning of individuals under certain conditions. The function of loneliness and the implications of the association between loneliness and prosocial behavior are discussed.
School of Early Childhood Education, Capital Normal University Beijing, China.
Heqing
H
Huang
Youth Work Department, China Youth University of Political Studies Beijing, China.
Yanchun
Y
Liu
School of Early Childhood Education, Capital Normal University Beijing, China.
Xiaocen
X
Liu
gender difference; loneliness; loneliness-perpetuation perspective; loneliness-reduction perspective; prosocial behavior
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