Dong Zexu, Wang Ruixin, Zhao Zhenyu, Xie Kunhang, Li Anan, Luo Hongge, Li Lina
School of Psychology and Mental Health, North China University of Science and Technology, Tangshan, Hebei Province, People's Republic of China.
Psychol Res Behav Manag. 2025 Feb 17;18:331-340. doi: 10.2147/PRBM.S492811. eCollection 2025.
Although adolescent online behavior has become a research hotspot in recent years, most studies focus on the risks in online life, lacking research on positive phenomena online and even more so on the exploration of their internal mechanisms. This study explores the relationship between self-other overlap, empathy, moral identity, and adolescent online altruistic behavior, and discusses whether empathy and moral identity play a serial mediating role between self-other overlap and adolescent online altruistic behavior.
This study conducted a questionnaire survey on 392 adolescents. Descriptive analysis and correlation analysis were performed using SPSS 23.0, and model construction and bias-adjusted bootstrap mediation effect testing were conducted using Mplus 8.3.
There were significant positive correlations between self-other overlap, empathy, moral identity and internet altruistic behavior (r=0.168~0.412, all p<0.01). Self-other overlap can directly predict internet altruistic behavior, and can also indirectly predict internet altruistic behavior through chain mediating effects of empathy and moral identity.
This study has discovered the internal mechanism by which self-other overlap affects online altruistic behavior, demonstrating that empathy and moral identity play a chain mediating role in this process. This finding can guide people to view the impact of network development more dialectically, calling for a focus on how to leverage the positive effects of the internet rather than simply blaming its negative impacts. It also provides new theoretical basis for guiding adolescents on how to use the internet healthily, contributing to the construction of a more harmonious online environment.
尽管青少年网络行为近年来已成为研究热点，但大多数研究聚焦于网络生活中的风险，缺乏对网络积极现象的研究，更缺乏对其内在机制的探索。本研究探讨自我-他人重叠、同理心、道德认同与青少年网络利他行为之间的关系，并讨论同理心和道德认同是否在自我-他人重叠与青少年网络利他行为之间起序列中介作用。
本研究对392名青少年进行了问卷调查。使用SPSS 23.0进行描述性分析和相关性分析，并使用Mplus 8.3进行模型构建和偏差校正的自助法中介效应检验。
自我-他人重叠、同理心、道德认同与网络利他行为之间存在显著正相关（r = 0.168~0.412，均p < 0.01）。自我-他人重叠既能直接预测网络利他行为，也能通过同理心和道德认同的链式中介效应间接预测网络利他行为。
本研究揭示了自我-他人重叠影响网络利他行为的内在机制，表明同理心和道德认同在此过程中起链式中介作用。这一发现可引导人们更辩证地看待网络发展的影响，呼吁关注如何利用互联网的积极作用而非一味指责其负面影响。它也为指导青少年健康使用互联网提供了新的理论依据，有助于构建更和谐的网络环境。
