Parental Warmth, Gratitude, and Prosocial Behavior among Chinese Adolescents: The Moderating Effect of School Climate

Abstract

Parental warmth plays an important role in the development of adolescents’ physical and mental health. There are numerous empirical studies indicating a relationship between parental warmth and prosocial behavior among adolescents, although the underlying mechanisms of this association remain unclear. Adopting a longitudinal design across two time points, the present study proposes a moderated mediation model to explore the mediating role of gratitude and the moderating role of the school climate between parental warmth and prosocial behavior. The sample consisted of 943 participants (483 boys and 451 girls) who participated in the second assessment and completed questionnaires assessing gratitude, school climate, and prosocial behavior in April 2019. Their parents participated in the first assessment and completed a questionnaire pertaining to parental warmth in October 2018. After controlling for the gender and age of the adolescents, the results showed that the positive association between parental warmth and prosocial behavior is mediated by gratitude, and school climate does play a moderating role in the second half of the mediating path. Specifically, the school climate can play a protective role in adolescents with low levels of gratitude. For adolescents with less gratitude, a strong school climate can promote more prosocial behaviors and can effectively alleviate the negative prediction of low levels of gratitude. This study provides a theoretical explanation for the generation of adolescents’ prosocial behavior and provides theoretical guidance for the interventions of schools and parents.

The relation of classroom climate to adolescents' countering hate speech via social skills: A positive youth development perspective

“…Finally, we found evidence for the indirect effects of classroom climate on counterspeech via social skills, supporting our third hypothesis. These results align with previous research, highlighting the classroom context's crucial role in developing social skills (Eisenberg et al, 2015; Luengo Kanacri et al, 2017; Luo et al, 2021; Wang et al, 2020). Furthermore, the present study extends the current knowledge of the complex interplay between classroom climate and social skills in explaining counterspeech.…”

“…An example of such an interplay might be the association between classroom climate and the development of social skills. Adolescents in classrooms where most of their classmates show caring behavior, respect, and commitment are more likely to adopt prosocial norms and develop social skills than students in classrooms with an adverse classroom climate (Eisenberg et al, 2015; Luo et al, 2021; Wang et al, 2020). Less is known about the direction of the association between classroom climate and social skills, and theoretically, a bidirectional association can be assumed.…”

Early Emotional Experiences and Prosocial Behavior among Chinese Adolescents: The Roles of Psychological Suzhi and Subjective Socioeconomic Status

“…Adolescents who recall more EMWS usually grow up in caring, harmonious, and supportive environments [ 26 , 64 ]. The positive atmosphere is conducive to the cultivation of individuals’ mental resources (e.g., higher cognitive quality and adaptive ability), and contributes to the development of positive psychological traits [ 11 , 67 , 68 ]. Moreover, from the psychological and behavioral perspective, suzhi is closely correlated with individual behavior in Chinese society.…”

“…In contrast, early-life adversities, such as abuse and neglect, are negatively associated with prosocial tendencies [ 9 ]. Ample evidence has proved the effect of early positive experiences and negative experiences on prosocial behavior [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ]. However, comparisons between—and combinations with—the two factors influencing prosocial behavior are under-explored.…”

Longitudinal Relations Between School Climate and Prosocial Behavior: The Mediating Role of Gratitude

“…To determine whether our sample size was adequate, we used the Monte Carlo power analysis for indirect effects. 39 We entered the smallest effect sizes obtained during a previous study 26 for the links between school climate and gratitude (r = 0.33), and school climate and prosocial behavior (r = 0.12). 40 Based on meta-analyses, gratitude correlates with the outcome variable prosocial behavior at approximately 0.37.…”