Poster #119 - Linking Morality, Civic Values, and Social Behaviors in Chinese Young Adults

• In Event: 2-002 - Special Poster Session 05 with Continental Breakfast Reception
  In Poster Session: PS 05 - International Section

Integrative Statement

Social and economic stratification are increasing in China with rapid social and economic changes. Civic values including attitudes toward social inequality and social justice values have significant psychological and behavioral health implications (e.g., Killen & Smetana, 2015). Moral emotions and cognitions as well as social relationship factors have been linked to civic values and social behaviors in Western samples (e.g., Daniel, Dys, Buchmann, & Malti, 2014; 2016; Malti, Dys, Cui, & Buchmann, 2017). However, less is known regarding how Chinese young adults perceive Chinese society in terms of social equality and justice and how morality is link to civic attitudes and values and social behaviors. The current study examined Chinese young adults’ attitudes toward social inequality and their social justice values and investigated the associations between empathic concern, trust and civic attitudes and values and social behaviors.

We recruited 259 (54.8% male; mean age = 26.82 years, ranges from 21-30 years old) young adults living and working in urban Shanghai, China. More than half of our participants (52.1%) received bachelor’s degree, 32.4% received master’s degree or higher, and 15.4% received associate degree or lower. Seventy-four percent were single, 17% were in a relationship, and 7.7% were married. Majority of them (86.9%) were employed, 5% were freelancers, and 8.1% were between jobs. Perceived socioeconomic status (SES) was assessed in comparison to all people in China. Participants responded to questionnaires concerning attitudes toward social inequality (believes that incomes should be made more equal and government should take more responsibility to ensure that everyone is provided for), social justice values (thinks that it is important to treat all humans equally and minimize inequalities between humans), general trust (thinks that most people are honest, trustworthy, trustful of others, and basically good and kind), empathic concern (empathy toward people who are less fortunate, having problems, or being treated unfairly), as well as prosocial behavior and anger/hostility.

T-tests revealed that females reported higher levels of anger than males but no sex differences on any other variables. Bivariate correlations were presented in Table 1. Path analysis was adopted to test the hypothesized model (Figure 1) using Mplus 7.3. Results showed that empathic concern were positively associated with attitudes toward social inequality and social justice values, whereas trust was not related to civic values. Both empathic concern and trust were linked to more prosocial behavior, whereas trust was related to less anger/hostility, controlling for perceived SES. Young adults who perceived a higher SES level showed higher levels of general trust, β = .21, p < .001. These findings suggest differential effects of moral emotions and trust on civic values and social behaviors. Civic attitudes and values seem to relate to moral emotions whereas social behaviors are particularly related to trust. Such findings indicate the role of empathy in increasing civic values and competence and the importance of maintaining high levels of trust to facilitate prosociality and alleviate negativity toward others among young adults in the current Chinese context.

Authors

• Lixian Cui, New York University – Shanghai
  Presenting Author

• Hang Wang, East China Normal University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Houqin Wang, East China Normal University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Fanyi Yu, East China Normal University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Lihui Bao, East China Normal University
  Non-Presenting Author