TY - JOUR
T1 - Resilience and Prosocial Behavior Among Chinese University Students During COVID-19 Mitigation
T2 - Testing Mediation and Moderation Models of Social Support
AU - Xue, Shuang
AU - Kaufman, Michelle R.
AU - Zhang, Xing
AU - Xia, Shunan
AU - Niu, Chengcheng
AU - Zhou, Rui
AU - Xu, Wenjian
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Xue et al.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - Purpose: Suffering during events such as the COVID-19 pandemic threatens university students’ physical and psychological health. Given the literature indicating the protective role of resilience and social support, the current study explored the mediating and moderating roles of social support in the association between resilience and prosocial behavior among university students in mainland China during COVID-19 mitigation. Methods: We conducted an online survey using convenience sampling from 23rd February to 3rd March 2020 among Chinese university students who had encountered home-quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Self-report scales were used to measure levels of resilience (Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale), social support (the Social Support Scale), and prosocial behavior (Prosocial Tendencies Measure). A total of 313 university students participated in this online survey. Hayes PROCESS macro for SPSS was used to test the hypothesized mediating and moderating effects of social support in the relationship between resilience and prosocial behavior. Results: Pearson’s correlations analysis showed that all outcomes of interest were positively associated. Importantly, social support (subjective support, objective support, and support utilization) mediated the indirect link of resilience with prosocial behavior. Furthermore, moderation analyses indicated that support utilization played a moderating role in this link. Support utilization may reduce the negative influence of COVID-19 on university students’ prosocial behavior and serve as a protective factor between resilience and prosocial behavior in highly stressful contexts. Conclusion: Our findings enrich research on prosocial behavior by investigating the potential internal and external variables that influence such behavior during periods of suffering. Findings also provide evidence for the need to promote university students’ prosocial behavior.
AB - Purpose: Suffering during events such as the COVID-19 pandemic threatens university students’ physical and psychological health. Given the literature indicating the protective role of resilience and social support, the current study explored the mediating and moderating roles of social support in the association between resilience and prosocial behavior among university students in mainland China during COVID-19 mitigation. Methods: We conducted an online survey using convenience sampling from 23rd February to 3rd March 2020 among Chinese university students who had encountered home-quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Self-report scales were used to measure levels of resilience (Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale), social support (the Social Support Scale), and prosocial behavior (Prosocial Tendencies Measure). A total of 313 university students participated in this online survey. Hayes PROCESS macro for SPSS was used to test the hypothesized mediating and moderating effects of social support in the relationship between resilience and prosocial behavior. Results: Pearson’s correlations analysis showed that all outcomes of interest were positively associated. Importantly, social support (subjective support, objective support, and support utilization) mediated the indirect link of resilience with prosocial behavior. Furthermore, moderation analyses indicated that support utilization played a moderating role in this link. Support utilization may reduce the negative influence of COVID-19 on university students’ prosocial behavior and serve as a protective factor between resilience and prosocial behavior in highly stressful contexts. Conclusion: Our findings enrich research on prosocial behavior by investigating the potential internal and external variables that influence such behavior during periods of suffering. Findings also provide evidence for the need to promote university students’ prosocial behavior.
KW - COVID-19
KW - mediation and moderation
KW - prosocial behavior
KW - resilience
KW - social support
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85132942789&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85132942789&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.2147/PRBM.S364356
DO - 10.2147/PRBM.S364356
M3 - Article
C2 - 35734194
AN - SCOPUS:85132942789
SN - 1179-1578
VL - 15
SP - 1531
EP - 1543
JO - Psychology Research and Behavior Management
JF - Psychology Research and Behavior Management
ER -