Prosocial behavior predicts meaning in life during the COVID-19 pandemic: The longitudinal mediating role of perceived social support

The COVID-19 pandemic was an unexpected, long-term negative event. Meaning in life has been linked to better psychological adjustment to such events. The current study uses longitudinal data collected during the COVID-19 pandemic to discover whether perceived social support mediates the relationship between six dimensions of prosocial behavior (Altruistic, Anonymous, Public, Compliant, Emotional, and Dire) and meaning in life. A sample of Chinese college students (N = 514) was tracked at three time points (T1, T2, and T3) during the COVID-19 outbreak. A cross-lagged panel model (CLPM) was used for mediation analysis. The mediation effect was found in all the dimensions of prosocial behavior except for Public prosocial behavior. We also found a longitudinal, bidirectional association between perceived social support and meaning in life. The current study contributes to the growing literature on the significance of prosocial behavior in predicting meaning in life.

• Publication year

  2023

• Venue

  Frontiers in Public Health

• Publication date

  2023-03-16

• Fields of study

  Medicine, Psychology

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1115780PMID 37006592PMCID 10060883
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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