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Relations between Prosociality and Psychological Maladjustment in Chinese Elementary and Secondary School Students: Mediating Roles of Peer Preference and Self-Perceived Social Competence

Despite empirical findings that prosociality can prevent elementary and secondary school students from developing psychological maladjustment, little is known about the underlying mechanisms. The goal of the present study was to examine the mediating effects of peer preference and self-perceived soc...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Li, Mingxin, Jin, Guomin, Ren, Tongyan, Haidabieke, Aersheng, Chen, Lingjun, Ding, Xuechen
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10376412/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37503994
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/bs13070547
Descripción
Sumario:Despite empirical findings that prosociality can prevent elementary and secondary school students from developing psychological maladjustment, little is known about the underlying mechanisms. The goal of the present study was to examine the mediating effects of peer preference and self-perceived social competence on the associations between prosociality and psychological maladjustment (i.e., depressive symptoms and loneliness). Participants were 951 students (Mage = 11 years, 442 girls) in Grades 3~7 from Shanghai, China. They completed peer nominations of prosociality and peer preference and self-report measures of self-perceived social competence, depressive symptoms, and loneliness. Multiple mediation analyses revealed that: (a) both peer preference and self-perceived social competence mediated the relations between prosociality and psychological maladjustment, and (b) a serial indirect pathway (i.e., prosociality → peer preference → self-perceived social competence → psychological maladjustment) emerged when controlling for age group and gender. These findings point to potential targets in the prevention and intervention of Chinese students’ internalization of problems.