Prosocial Pandemic: Emerging Adults’ Prosocial Behavior and Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic

• In Event: Poster Session 04
  In Poster Session: PS 04 Topic - Moral Development

Abstract

COVID 19 and related national disasters have been found to have a significant impact on the mental health of youth and emerging adults (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2020). This may be because physical distancing and quarantine are particularly isolating for emerging adults because this time of life in many cultures is characterized by heightened independence and distance from family support systems, as well as increases in peer and social interactions via work or school (Nelson, 2017). However, prosocial behavior (voluntary behavior meant to benefit another; Eisenberg, Spinrad, & Knafo-Noam, 2015) has been found to protect against internalizing problems (Memmott-Elison et al., 2020), in part because helping others reduces self-focus and increases feelings of self-worth (Padilla- Walker et al., 2020). Importantly, prosocial behaviors differ widely when directed toward various targets (i.e. family, friends, strangers) and likewise have differential correlates. For example, research with US samples has found that prosocial behavior toward strangers is less frequent but may be more directly protective against internalizing and externalizing problems than prosocial behavior toward family or friends (Padilla-Walker, Carlo, & Nielson, 2015). Thus, the current study will explore the possibility that engaging in prosocial behavior during the pandemic may be associated with lower levels of depression and anxiety, and higher levels of social connection.
Data collection for this project began in May 2020 in 15 countries with the goal to have at least 250 emerging adults at each site. Currently we have complete data from 9 countries: United States (N= 1116), France (N = 459), China (N = 286), Italy (N= 510), The Netherlands (N= 472), Turkey (N= 295), Argentina, (N= 247), Ireland (N = 495) and Germany (N= 386). By October 1st we hope to have complete data from Lithuania, Taiwan, Spain, Chile, Bolivia, and Denmark.
We used a variety of measures, but for the current study we will include measures on prosocial behavior toward strangers, friends, and family during the pandemic; general depressive symptomology, anxiety, and social connection with the community. Descriptive statistics will be explored, and mean levels of all variables will be compared across countries. MPLUS will be used to explore links between prosocial behavior toward strangers, friends, and family as they relate to depression, anxiety/burden of COVID, and social connection, with multiple group analysis as a function of country. Controls will include income, gender identity, and age.
Preliminary analyses looking only at how prosocial behavior toward the three targets were associated with depression suggested that prosocial behavior toward family members was negatively related to depression in all nine countries, but prosocial behavior toward strangers and friends were not. The final paper will explore the many other associations between prosocial behavior and anxiety and social connection as a function of culture. Even these preliminary analyses suggest a potentially protective role of prosocial behavior toward family during COVID as it relates to depression, regardless of cultural background. This could have powerful implications for policy.

Authors

• Laura M Padilla-Walker, Brigham Young University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jolien van der Graaff, Utrecht University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Katey Workman, Brigham Young University
  Presenting Author

• Gustavo Carlo, University of California, Irvine
  Non-Presenting Author

• Susan Branje, Utrecht University
  Non-Presenting Author