Adolescents From Wealthier Families are More Prosocial? A Caregiver–Child Paired Survey

ABSTRACT Whether higher family socio‐economic status (SES) drives adolescents to engage in more prosocial behaviours is a topic of debate. Previous research has typically concentrated on the association between self‐reported subjective SES and their prosocial behaviours. Drawing from the Ecological Systems Theory, this study incorporates two proximal factors—parental educational expectations (PEE) and adolescent's self‐esteem—into a chained mediation model to explore the mechanisms of the distal factor, family SES, links to adolescents' prosocial behaviour. An analysis of 600 caregiver–child pairs (with children ranging from Grades 3 to 12, comprising 64.3% boys) supports the negative link between family SES and prosocial behaviour and unexpectedly indicates the suppressing mediating effect of PEE and self‐esteem. Results suggest that prosocial motivation is not solely linked with material resources; it also intertwines with family educational perspectives and the development of individual self‐worth. These findings provide implications in cultivating prosocial behaviours among adolescents from different SES.