Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences (SCNU), Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, China.
School of Psychology and Center for Studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China.
J Adolesc. 2023 Jul;95(5):1017-1032. doi: 10.1002/jad.12172. Epub 2023 Apr 4.
Despite much cross-sectional research linking prosocial behavior and meaning in life, few studies have investigated the longitudinal relationship between these two constructs. The article examines the bidirectional longitudinal association between prosocial behavior and meaning in life among junior high school students.
A prospective design was adopted, incorporating three measurement occasions (with approximately 6-month intervals, from 2020 to 2021). Data were collected from 764 students (mean age = 12.46, SD = 0.64 years, and 51.4% girls). All participants responded to a questionnaire survey that included the Chinese Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ-C) and Prosocial Tendencies Measure (PTM-C). Cross-lagged panel models were used to analyze the data.
(1) Prosocial behavior predicted positively the presence of meaning over time and vice-versa. (2) There was no bidirectional association between the search for meaning and prosocial behavior. (3) There was no gender difference in the bidirectional relationship between meaning in life and prosocial behavior.
These findings suggest that educators should highlight the presence of meaning in adolescent life education from a long-term perspective and encourage students to engage in more prosocial activities.
尽管有大量横断面研究将亲社会行为与生活意义联系起来，但很少有研究调查这两个结构之间的纵向关系。本文考察了初中生亲社会行为与生活意义之间的双向纵向关联。
采用前瞻性设计，纳入三个测量时间点（2020 年至 2021 年，间隔约 6 个月）。共收集了 764 名学生（平均年龄 12.46 岁，标准差 0.64 岁，女生占 51.4%）的数据。所有参与者均回答了一份问卷，包括《中国生活意义问卷》（MLQ-C）和《亲社会倾向量表》（PTM-C）。使用交叉滞后面板模型对数据进行分析。
（1）亲社会行为能够正向预测一段时间内生活意义的存在，反之亦然。（2）意义的探寻与亲社会行为之间不存在双向关联。（3）生活意义和亲社会行为之间的双向关系不存在性别差异。
这些发现表明，教育工作者应从长远角度强调青少年生活教育中意义的存在，并鼓励学生参与更多的亲社会活动。
