Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6, Canada.
Department of Philosophy & Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Mar 1;20(5):4403. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20054403.
Quality education can build a sustainable, happier world, but what experiences support student well-being? Numerous laboratory studies suggest that prosocial behavior predicts greater psychological well-being. However, relatively little work has examined whether real-world prosociality programs are associated with greater well-being in primary school-aged children (aged 5-12). In Study 1, we surveyed 24/25 students who completed their 6th Grade curriculum in a long-term care home alongside residents called "Elders," which offered numerous opportunities for planned and spontaneous helping. We found that the meaning that students derived from their prosocial interactions with the Elders was strongly associated with greater psychological well-being. In Study 2, we conducted a pre-registered field experiment with 238 primary school-aged children randomly assigned to package essential items for children who experience homelessness and/or poverty who were either demographically similar or dissimilar in age and/or gender to them as part of a classroom outing. Children self-reported their happiness both pre- and post-intervention. While happiness increased from pre- to post-intervention, this change did not differ for children who helped a similar or dissimilar recipient. These studies offer real-world evidence consistent with the possibility that engaging in prosocial classroom activities-over an afternoon or year-is associated with greater psychological well-being in primary school-aged children.
优质教育可以构建一个可持续、更幸福的世界，但哪些经历可以支持学生的幸福感呢？大量实验室研究表明，亲社会行为可以预测更高的心理幸福感。然而，很少有研究探讨现实世界中的亲社会性项目是否与小学生（5-12 岁）的更高幸福感有关。在研究 1 中，我们调查了 24/25 名学生，他们在养老院与被称为“长者”的居民一起完成了六年级的课程，这为有计划和自发的帮助提供了很多机会。我们发现，学生从与长者的亲社会互动中获得的意义与更高的心理幸福感密切相关。在研究 2 中，我们进行了一项有 238 名小学生参与的预注册现场实验，他们被随机分配将基本物品包装起来，送给那些无家可归或贫困的儿童，这些儿童在年龄和/或性别上与他们相似或不相似，作为课堂外出的一部分。孩子们在干预前后都自我报告了他们的幸福感。虽然幸福感从干预前到干预后有所提高，但帮助相似或不相似的接受者的孩子的幸福感变化没有差异。这些研究提供了现实世界的证据，表明参与亲社会的课堂活动——无论是一个下午还是一整年——都与小学生的更高幸福感有关。
