A daily diary study on adolescents’ mood, empathy, and prosocial behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic

Groep, Suzanne van de; Zanolie, Kiki; Green, Kayla H.; Sweijen, Sophie; Crone, Eveline A.

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0240349

Cited by 122 publications

(133 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…These results are consistent with available international literature 12,14 and those from the same geographical region as our study 43 . Similarly, as demonstrated by previous research 27,44 , the high objective risk group also consisted of people with more empathic concern compared to the other groups. Finally, even though the risk situation was significantly associated with the acceptance of the lockdown (i.e.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

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Empathy predicts self-isolation behaviour acceptance during coronavirus risk exposure

Petrocchi¹,

Bernardi²,

Malacrida³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Health risk exposure during the global COVID-19 pandemic has required people to adopt self-isolation. Public authorities have therefore had the difficult task of sustaining such protective but stressful behaviour. Evidence shows that besides egoistic drives, the motivation for self-isolation behaviour could be altruistic. However, the type and role of prosocial motivation in the current pandemic is underestimated and its interaction with risk exposure and psychological distress is largely unknown. Here we show that empathic concern for the most vulnerable predicts acceptance of lockdown measures. In two retrospective studies, one with a general population and one with COVID-19 positive patients, we found that 1) along with health risk exposure, empathic concern is a predictor of acceptance of lockdown measures 2) social covariates and psychological distress have no significant impact. Our results support the need to focus on altruistic behaviours while informing the public instead of on fear-inducing messages.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

“…Other research conducted during the COVID-19 outbreak indicates, however, that empathy levels might fluctuate according to anxiety linked to risk exposure/perception and modulate prosocial willingness [26][27][28] . Perceived risk may be relative to the individual (i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Empathy predicts self-isolation behaviour acceptance during coronavirus risk exposure

Petrocchi¹,

Bernardi²,

Malacrida³

et al. 2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Our main finding of stable mood levels during the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic in early adolescents aged 9–12 years was in contrast with our expectation of decreased mood variability with the easement of social containment measures. Interestingly, previous studies on mood levels during the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic are mixed as studies showed both an increase in negative mood (Li et al, 2020 ; Orgilés et al, 2020 ; Whittle et al, 2020 ; De Quervain et al, 2020 ; Barendse et al, 2021 ; Luijten et al, 2021 ) as well as a stable or decrease in negative mood (Van De Groep et al, 2020 ; Achterberg et al, 2021 ; Fried et al, 2021 ) in children, adolescents, and college students. These seemingly discrepant findings might be explained by methodological differences, such as parent vs. child report.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mood Variability Among Early Adolescents in Times of Social Constraints: A Daily Diary Study During the COVID-19 Pandemic

et al. 2021

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The COVID-19 pandemic and associated governmental regulations have drastically changed the daily social lives of children, adolescents, and adults. Changes in the social context may particularly affect children who are in the transition to adolescents (henceforth referred to as early adolescents) as adolescence is a crucial period for peer interactions and development of independence and autonomy. Yet, the impact of the pandemic and associated governmental regulations on early adolescents' emotional well-being has yet to be clarified. In the current study, we explored daily fluctuations in mood in 54 early adolescents (Mage = 11.07) during the first few months (April 2020–June 2020) of the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, the role of parents and peers on adolescents' mood variability was investigated. Adolescents rated their mood (i.e., happiness, anger, sadness, anxiety) and peer interactions once a day during four separate weeks across different weeks of containment measures in the Netherlands. Moreover, adolescents reported on their experienced attachment to parents and peers and internalizing problems during baseline and the final measurement, respectively. Results showed relatively stable levels of mood during the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, individual differences in mood variability during the first assessment week were negatively associated with the experienced level of attachment to both parents and peers. Moreover, heightened levels of mood variability did not mediate the link between attachment and internalizing problems. Lastly, the quality of offline contact, but not online contact, was negatively related to adolescents' mood variability. Overall, this study suggests that mood of early adolescents did not heavily fluctuated across the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings add to the growing body of literature aiming to understand how adolescent's life are affected by the COVID-19 crisis and illustrates that social connectedness to parents or peers may facilitate resilience to distress and daily mood fluctuation in early adolescents.

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“…Through social involvement, the mood changes (from negative to positive, or from positive to even more positive) and thus well-being is enhanced. Living empathically leads to opportunities for social involvement and prosocial behaviour, which can be constituted as an important predictor for developing socio-emotional health (Van de Groep et al, 2020). To empathically resonate is a way to experiment to what someone other expresses, to understand on a significance level what the other is trying to express.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Volunteering and Prosocial Behaviour

Maier

2021

BRAIN

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The study wants to put in relation prosocial behaviour with well-being. The study’s participants were selected from various volunteering groups, involved in student organisations in Romania and outside of it. The data regarding one’s own perception of prosocial behaviour and well-being was gathered during the pandemic’s first week and after 8 weeks, but the volunteers’ activity was tracked in the months that followed. This led to acknowledging that their activities diversified in this field and the participants’ number in their groups grew bigger. Finding a meaning based on our prosocial behaviours brings benefits in the social dynamic, diminishes the feeling of loneliness, and leads to optimising our well-being.

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A daily diary study on adolescents’ mood, empathy, and prosocial behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic

Cited by 122 publications

References 44 publications

Empathy predicts self-isolation behaviour acceptance during coronavirus risk exposure

Empathy predicts self-isolation behaviour acceptance during coronavirus risk exposure

Mood Variability Among Early Adolescents in Times of Social Constraints: A Daily Diary Study During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Volunteering and Prosocial Behaviour

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