Li Wei, He Qi-Fan, Lan Jian-Zeng, Ge Meng-Wei, Shen Lu-Ting, Hu Fei-Hong, Jia Yi-Jie, Chen Hong-Lin
School of Nursing and Rehabilitation, Nantong University, Nantong, Jiangsu, PR China.
Gulfreen Nursing College Avicenna Hospital Bedian, Lahore, Pakistan.
J Youth Adolesc. 2025 Mar;54(3):682-703. doi: 10.1007/s10964-024-02079-3. Epub 2024 Sep 20.
During adolescence, empathy and prosocial behavior contribute to the establishment of positive interpersonal relationships and social connections, promoting holistic development in youth. A substantial amount of research has provided compelling evidence that there is a relationship between peer relationships and empathy and prosocial behavior. Empathy, as a key mediating factor, links the influence of peers with prosocial behavior in adolescents, yet there is currently a lack of robust meta-analytic evidence regarding this mediating role. This study employed a two-stage structural equation modeling approach to synthesize existing research on peer influence, empathy, and prosocial behavior during adolescence. Systematic searches were conducted across three databases (PubMed, Web of Science, and PsycINFO), identifying a total of 49 studies, with a systematic assessment of study quality. The results indicated that empathy plays a mediating role between peer influence and prosocial behavior. Positive peer influence is positively correlated with empathy and prosocial behavior, while negative peer influence is negatively correlated with empathy and prosocial behavior, and empathy is positively correlated with prosocial behavior. This meta-analysis demonstrates that during adolescence, empathy mediates the connection between peer influence and prosocial behavior, representing a potential process that can explain the relationship between peer influence and prosocial behavior.
在青春期，同理心和亲社会行为有助于建立积极的人际关系和社会联系，促进青少年的全面发展。大量研究提供了令人信服的证据，表明同伴关系与同理心和亲社会行为之间存在关联。同理心作为一个关键的中介因素，将同伴的影响与青少年的亲社会行为联系起来，但目前关于这一中介作用缺乏有力的元分析证据。本研究采用两阶段结构方程建模方法，综合了关于青春期同伴影响、同理心和亲社会行为的现有研究。在三个数据库（PubMed、科学网和PsycINFO）中进行了系统检索，共识别出49项研究，并对研究质量进行了系统评估。结果表明，同理心在同伴影响和亲社会行为之间起中介作用。积极的同伴影响与同理心和亲社会行为呈正相关，而消极的同伴影响与同理心和亲社会行为呈负相关，且同理心与亲社会行为呈正相关。这项元分析表明，在青春期，同理心介导了同伴影响和亲社会行为之间的联系，这是一个可以解释同伴影响和亲社会行为之间关系的潜在过程。
