Psychological Development and Education ›› 2017, Vol. 33 ›› Issue (2): 163-171.doi: 10.16187/j.cnki.issn1001-4918.2017.02.05

Previous Articles     Next Articles

The Effect of Prosocial Autonomous Motivation on Adolescents' Well-being and Prosocial Behavior:The Mediating Role of Basic Psychological Needs Satisfaction

YANG Ying, KOU Yu   

  1. Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, Institute of Developmental Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875
  • Online:2017-03-15 Published:2017-03-15

PDF (PC)

Abstract: Prosocial behavior was considered as a critical way to help individuals gain happiness.However,Self-determination theory suggests that the degree to which a prosocial act is autonomous predicts its effect on well-being and the maintenance of prosocial behavior.The present study combined a questionnaire survey (study 1) and an experimental design (study 2) to investigate the effect of prosocial autonomous motivation on Chinese adolescents' well-being and prosocial behavior,and also examine the mediating role of basic psychological needs satisfaction.A sample of 293 adolescents participated in study 1.They were asked to complete a questionnaire containing prosocial self-regulatory scale,basic psychological needs satisfaction scale,Chinese positive affect and negative affect scale,satisfaction with life scale,and adolescents'prosocial behavior scale.Using an experimental design,study 2 manipulated prosocial motivation (autonomous/controlled) by hypothetical scenarios,and participants were randomly assigned to either of the two groups.Two hundred and five adolescents were asked to read the scenarios related to prosocial motivation,and then completed subsequent questionnaire measuring basic psychological needs satisfaction,well-being and prosocial behavior.The results showed that prosocial autonomous motivation positively predicted adolescents' well-being and prosocial behavior.Moreover,the basic psychological needs satisfaction mediated the positive relationship between prosocial autonomous motivation and well-being,and the positive relationship between prosocial autonomous motivation and prosocial behavior.The theoretical and practical implications,as well as the limitations of the present study,were discussed.

Key words: prosocial behavior, autonomous motivation, well-being, basic psychological needs satisfaction, adolescents

CLC Number: 

  • B844

Batson, C. D., Coke, J. S., Jasnoski, M. L., & Hanson, M. (1978). Buying kindness:Effect of an extrinsic incentive for helping on perceived altruism. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 4(1), 86-91.

Campbell, A., Converse, P. E., & Rodgers, W. L. (1976). Quality of American Life, The:Perceptions, Evaluations, and Satisfactions. Russell Sage Foundation.

Caprara, G. V., Kanacri, B. P. L., Gerbino, M., Zuffianò, A., Alessandri, G., Vecchio, G., et al. (2014). Positive effects of promoting prosocial behavior in early adolescence:Evidence from a school-based intervention. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 38(4), 386-396.

Chernyak, N., & Kushnir, T. (2013). Giving preschoolers choice increases sharing behavior. Psychological Science, 24(10), 1971-1979.

Chernyak, N., Kushnir, T., Sullivan, K. M., & Wang, Q. (2013). A comparison of American and Nepalese children's concepts of freedom of choice and social constraint. Cognitive Science, 37(7), 1343-1355.

De Charms, R. (2013). Personal causation:The internal affective determinants of behavior. Routledge.

Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). The "what" and "why" of goal pursuits:Human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry, 11(4), 227-268.

Diener, E. D., Emmons, R. A., Larsen, R. J., & Griffin, S. (1985). The satisfaction with life scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49(1), 71-75.

Dunn, E. W., Aknin, L. B., & Norton, M. I. (2008). Spending money on others promotes happiness. Science, 319(5870), 1687-1688.

Finkelstein, M. A., Penner, L. A., & Brannick, M. T. (2005). Motive, role identity, and prosocial personality as predictors of volunteer activity. Social Behavior and Personality, 33(4), 403-418.

Gagné, M. (2003). The role of autonomy support and autonomy orientation in prosocial behavior engagement. Motivation and Emotion, 27(3), 199-223.

Gebauer, J. E., Riketta, M., Broemer, P., & Maio, G. R. (2008). Pleasure and pressure based prosocial motivation:Divergent relations to subjective well-being. Journal of Research in Personality, 42(2), 399-420.

Grant, A. M., & Gino, F. (2010). A little thanks goes a long way:Explaining why gratitude expressions motivate prosocial behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 98(6), 946-955.

Gilman, R. (2001). The relationship between life satisfaction, social interest, and frequency of extracurricular activities among adolescent students. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 30(6), 749-767.

Ilardi, B. C., Leone, D., Kasser, T., & Ryan, R. M. (1993). Employee and supervisor ratings of motivation:Main effects and discrepancies associated with job satisfaction and adjustment in a factory setting. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 23, 1789-1805.

Jiang, J., Song, Y., Ke, Y., Wang, R., & Liu, H. (2016). Is disciplinary culture a moderator between materialism and subjective well-being? A three-wave longitudinal study. Journal of Happiness Studies, 17(4), 1391-1408.

Kunda, Z., & Schwartz, S. H. (1983). Undermining intrinsic moral motivation:External reward and self-presentation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 45(4), 763-771.

Kwok, Y. Y., Chui, W. H., & Wong, L. P. (2013). Need Satisfaction Mechanism Linking Volunteer Motivation and Life Satisfaction:A Mediation Study of Volunteers Subjective Well-Being. Social Indicators Research, 114(3), 1315-1329.

La Guardia, J. G., Ryan, R. M., Couchman, C. E., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Within-person variation in security of attachment:a self-determination theory perspective on attachment, need fulfillment, and well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79(3), 367-384.

Leung, A., Kier, C., Fung, T., Fung, L., & Sproule, R. (2013). Searching for happiness:The importance of social capital. In The exploration of happiness (pp. 247-267). Springer.

Maxwell, S. E., & Cole, D. A. (2007). Bias in cross-sectional analyses of longitudinal mediation. Psychological Methods, 12, 23-44.

Nelson, S. K., Della Porta, M. D., Jacobs Bao, K., Lee, H. C., Choi, I., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2015). ‘It's up to you’:Experimentally manipulated autonomy support for prosocial behavior improves well-being in two cultures over six weeks. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 10(5), 463-476.

Paulhus, D. L. (1984). Two-component models of socially desirable responding. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46(3), 598-603.

Piliavin, J. A., & Siegl, E. (2007). Health benefits of volunteering in the Wisconsin longitudinal study. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 48(4), 450-464.

Preacher, K. J., & Hayes, A. F. (2008). Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behavior Research Methods, 40(3), 879-891.

Reis, H. T., Sheldon, K. M., Gable, S. L., Roscoe, J., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). Daily well-being:The role of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 26(4), 419-435.

Ryan, R. M., & Connell, J. P. (1989). Perceived locus of causality and internalization:examining reasons for acting in two domains. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57(5), 749-761.

Schuessler, K., Hittle, D., & Cardascia, J. (1978). Measuring responding desirably with attitude-opinion items. Social Psychology, 41(3), 224-235.

Sheldon, K. M., Ryan, R. M., & Reis, H. T. (1996). What makes for a good day? Competence and autonomy in the day and in the person. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 22, 1270-1279.

Stukas, A. A., Snyder, M., & Clary, E. G. (1999). The effects of "mandatory volunteerism" on intentions to volunteer. Psychological Science, 10(1), 59-64.

Sun, R. C., & Shek, D. T. (2010). Life satisfaction, positive youth development, and problem behaviour among Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong. Social Indicators Research, 95(3), 455-474.

Watson, D., Clark, L. A., & Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect:the PANAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54(6), 1063-1070.

Weinstein, N., DeHaan, C. R., & Ryan, R. M. (2010). Attributing autonomous versus introjected motivation to helpers and the recipient experience:Effects on gratitude, attitudes, and well-being. Motivation and Emotion, 34(4), 418-431.

Weinstein, N., & Ryan, R. M. (2010). When helping helps:autonomous motivation for prosocial behavior and its influence on well-being for the helper and recipient. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 98(2), 222-244.

Williams, G. C., Grow, V. M., Freedman, Z., Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (1996). Motivational predictors of weight-loss and weight-loss maintenance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 115-126.

Yang, Li, Fu, & Kou. (2016). Orientations to happiness and subjective well-being in Chinese adolescents:the roles of prosocial behavior and Internet addictive behavior. Journal of Happiness Studies, 1-16.

Zimmerman, M. A., Stewart, S. E., Morrel-Samuels, S., Franzen, S., & Reischl, T. M. (2011). Youth empowerment solutions for peaceful communities:Combining theory and practice in a community-level violence prevention curriculum. Health Promotion Practice, 12(3), 425-439.

陈文锋, 张建新. (2004). 积极/消极情感量表中文版的结构和效度. 中国心理卫生杂志, 18(11), 763-765.

胡乐乐. (2013). 学校强捐要不得. 中国德育, (9), 57.

杨莹, 张梦圆, 寇彧. (2016). 青少年亲社会行为量表的编制与维度的再验证. 中国社会心理学评论, 10, 135-150.

喻承甫, 张卫, 曾毅茵, 叶婷, 胡谏萍, 李丹黎. (2012). 青少年感恩、基本心理需要与病理性网络使用的关系. 心理发展与教育, (1), 93-90.

张庆鹏, 寇彧. (2012). 自我增强取向下的亲社会行为:基于能动性和社交性的行为路径. 北京师范大学学报(社会科学版), (1), 51-57.
[1] WANG Yanhui, SHEN Zifeng, LAI Xuefen. The Relation between Parental Psychological Control and Adolescent Externalizing Problem Behavior: The Chain Mediating Role of Effortful Control and Deviant Peer Affiliation [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2024, 40(2): 248-256.
[2] XIAO Jialin, LIANG Kaixin, HUANG Liuyue, WANG Enna, HUANG Qiaomin, HE Yunhan, LU Baolin, CHI Xinli. The Cumulative Effects, Relationship Model, and the Effects of Specific Positive Development Assets in Reducing Adolescent Depression [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2024, 40(2): 257-269.
[3] ZHANG Jiemin, TAO Yun, YANG Shuhan, CHEN Rui. A Review on Conceptual Representation and Its Methods of Prosocial Behavior [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2024, 40(2): 298-304.
[4] TANG Yingying, LIN Xiuyun, YIN Jinxiu, HE Ting, ZHOU Shaojia, CAO Zhitao. Congruence and Incongruence of Mother-child Attachment and Grandmother-child Attachment: Links with Children’s Subjective Well-being [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2023, 39(6): 859-868.
[5] WU Xiaojing, GAI Xiaosong, LI Xiaotian, GU Tingyu, WANG Hong. The Relationship between Family Economic Strain and Adolescents’ Well-being: The Mediating Effect of Perceived Discrimination and The Moderating Effect of Sense of Control [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2023, 39(6): 877-886.
[6] PENG Haiyun, SHENG Liang, QIU Fanshuo, ZHOU Ziyan, XIN Sufei. Psychological Burden Reduction Starts from Dealing with Boredom: The Influencing Mechanism of Boredom Proneness on Subjective Well-being among Adolescents [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2023, 39(6): 895-902.
[7] LIU Qing, FENG Lan. The Mediating Role of Parenting between Parents' Marital Quality and Adolescents' Sibling Relationship and Its Gender Difference [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2023, 39(5): 654-662.
[8] ZHANG Wen, WANG Zhenhong. The Relationship between Negative Life Events and the Internalizing Problems among Adolescents: The Mediating Role of Social Support and the Moderating Role of Parent-adolescent Cohesion [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2023, 39(5): 718-725.
[9] YIN Xiaolan, ZHOU Lujun, ZHU Cuiying. The Effect of School Environment on the Rural Left-behind Children's Prosocial Behaviors: The Mediating Role of Psychological Capital and Life Satisfaction [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2023, 39(4): 497-504.
[10] HE Anming, ZHANG Yurui, HUI Qiuping. The Relationship between Gratitude and Social Well-being in College Students: The Mediating Role of Phubbing and the Moderating Role of Negative Life Events [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2023, 39(4): 505-512.
[11] HU Yihao, XU Luyan, BIAN Xiaohua, ZHOU Ying, LIU Junsheng. Peer Victimization and Depression among Chinese Adolescents: The Moderating Effects of Classroom Norm Salience for Aggression [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2023, 39(4): 542-549.
[12] BAO Zhenzhou, CHU Yijia, WANG Fan, LIU Xixi. Adolescents' Outsider Behaviors in School Bullying: The Roles of School Climate, School Connectedness and Moral Disengagement [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2023, 39(4): 580-589.
[13] ZHAO Xian, WANG Zhihang, WANG Dongfang, YUAN Yanyun, YIN Xiayun, LI Zhihua. Developmental Trajectory of Prosocial Behavior in Impoverished Children during Early Adolescence: The Effects of Gender and Parenting Style Heterogeneity [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2023, 39(3): 323-332.
[14] ZHENG Xianliang, CHEN Huiping, WANG Xue, BAO Zhenzhou. Development Trends of Adolescents’ Internet Altruistic Behavior and the Influence of Social Class: A Longitudinal Study [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2023, 39(3): 333-341.
[15] LI Qiangqiang, HU Jia. The Influence of Subjective Social Class and Putting a Price for Time Priming on Individual Prosocial Behavior [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2023, 39(3): 360-368.
Viewed
Full text


Abstract

Cited
  Shared   
  Discussed   
No Suggested Reading articles found!
Copyright 2018 © Editorial office of Psychological Development and Education
Supported by Beijing Magtech Co.Ltd