Prosociality During COVID-19: Pathways Through Affect, Financial Stress, Well-being, and Collective Disempowerment across 39 Countries

Overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in great loss of life worldwide and shook the global economy, required individuals' willingness and ability to behave prosocially. To contribute to the understanding of predictors of prosociality, we used multilevel models to test three previously established pathways to prosocial behavior, which we call the “broaden and build”, compensation, and incapacity pathways. We also tested whether these three paths are mediated by general well-being, and moderated by collective disempowerment, i.e., individuals’ belief that external societal forces have made it harder for people like them to function effectively. Participants from 39 countries (N = 59987) were surveyed on their willingness to engage in prosocial behaviors in the context of the pandemic. The “broaden and build” pathway was supported: positive affect was associated with willingness to engage in prosocial behavior via higher well-being. Two (in)capacity paths were also supported: financial strain and negative affect were both negatively associated with prosociality via lower well-being. A compensation pathway was also observed: Controlling for lower well-being, negative affect was associated with greater prosociality. Finally, differences in disempowerment moderated the affective pathways: higher disempowerment strengthened the positive association of positive affect with prosociality via well-being, and buffered the negative affect incapacity path.

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Publication Details

Journal
Universitas Psychologica
Published
2024-12-31
DOI
https://doi.org/10.11144/javeriana.upsy23.pdcp
Primary Topic
Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
Type
article
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article

Prosociality During COVID-19: Pathways Through Affect, Financial Stress, Well-being, and Collective Disempowerment across 39 Countries

Georgios Abakoumkin, Joonha Park, Solomiia Myroniuk, Anne Margit Reitsema et al.
Universitas Psychologica
Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
article

Prosociality During COVID-19: Pathways Through Affect, Financial Stress, Well-being, and Collective Disempowerment across 39 Countries

Georgios Abakoumkin, Joonha Park, Solomiia Myroniuk, Anne Margit Reitsema, Daiane Gracieli Faller, Kees van Veen, Adrian Lueders, Antonio Pierro, Bang Zheng, Gavan J. Fitzsimons, Antón P. Martínez, Gennaro Pica, Ben Gützkow, Michelle R. vanDellen, Anton Kurapov, Marika Rullo, Joshua Krause, Alexandra Gheorghiu, Cokorda Bagus Jaya Lesmana, Bertus F. Jeronimus, Claudia Zúñiga, Mai Helmy, Robin Wollast, N. Pontus Leander, Birga M. Schumpe, Somayeh Zand, Vjollca Ahmedi, Silvana Mula, Maximilian Agostini, Kamila Kovyazina, Jamilah Hanum Abdul Khaiyom, Allan B. I. Bernardo, José Javier Olivas Osuna, Akira Utsugi, Alexandra Vázquez, Pekka Santtila, Arobindu Dash, Ali Hamaïdia, Mioara Cristea, Tra Thi Thanh Kieu, Hayat Muhammad, Iris Žeželj, Handan Akkaş, Sima Basel, Veljko Jovanović, Ángel Gómez, Ding–Yu Jiang, Heyla A. Selim, Victoria Wai Lan Yeung, Ivan Danyliuk, Kaja Damnjanović, Željka Kamenov, Winnifred R. Louis, Nicholas R. Buttrick, Qing Han, Carlos A. Almenara, Michael Stanton, Joevarian Hudiyana, Boglárka Nyúl, Shian‐Ling Keng, Paul A. O’Keefe, Hoon‐Seok Choi, Daniela Di Santo, Mohsin Atta, Jannis Kreienkamp, Evgeny Osin, Mirra Noor Milla, Eleftheria Tseliou, Caspar J. Van Lissa, Robbie M. Sutton, Edward P. Lemay, Jocelyn J. Bélanger, Nóra Anna Lantos, Yasin Koç, Jonas Rees, Violeta Enea, Arie W. Kruglanski, Erica Molinario, Claudia F. Nisa, Kira O. McCabe, Sabahat Çiğdem Bağci, Najma Iqbal Malik, Edona Berisha Kida, Sára Csaba, Anna Kende, Karen M. Douglas, Phatthanakit Chobthamkit, Hamdi Muluk, Elena Resta, Andreas Zick, Manuel Moyano, Michelle K. Ryan, Reza Najafi
article en

Abstract

Overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in great loss of life worldwide and shook the global economy, required individuals' willingness and ability to behave prosocially. To contribute to the understanding of predictors of prosociality, we used multilevel models to test three previously established pathways to prosocial behavior, which we call the “broaden and build”, compensation, and incapacity pathways. We also tested whether these three paths are mediated by general well-being, and moderated by collective disempowerment, i.e., individuals’ belief that external societal forces have made it harder for people like them to function effectively. Participants from 39 countries (N = 59987) were surveyed on their willingness to engage in prosocial behaviors in the context of the pandemic. The “broaden and build” pathway was supported: positive affect was associated with willingness to engage in prosocial behavior via higher well-being. Two (in)capacity paths were also supported: financial strain and negative affect were both negatively associated with prosociality via lower well-being. A compensation pathway was also observed: Controlling for lower well-being, negative affect was associated with greater prosociality. Finally, differences in disempowerment moderated the affective pathways: higher disempowerment strengthened the positive association of positive affect with prosociality via well-being, and buffered the negative affect incapacity path.

Universitas PsychologicaVol. 23
University of Siena (IT), Eötvös Loránd University (HU), Thammasat University (TH), Università di Camerino (IT), Leuphana University of Lüneburg (DE), Monash University Malaysia (MY), Australian National University (AU), Udayana University (ID), California State University System (US), Peruvian University of Applied Sciences (PE), Sabancı Üniversitesi (TR), Alexandru Ioan Cuza University (RO), University of Padua (IT), University of Thessaly (GR), National Chung Cheng University (TW), Ankara University (TR), University of Sargodha (PK), The University of Queensland (AU), Lingnan University (HK), National University of Singapore (SG), University of Groningen (NL), University of Novi Sad (RS), Duke University (US), Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (ES), University of Zagreb (HR), Wayne State University (US), Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (UA), Utrecht University (NL), Université Clermont Auvergne (FR), Bielefeld University (DE), Peking University (CN), University of Kent (GB), Kyoto University (JP), University of Limerick (IE), Florida Gulf Coast University (US), King Saud University (SA), University of Indonesia (ID), Yale-NUS College (SG), University of Peshawar (PK), University of Bristol (GB), Université Paris Nanterre (FR), University of Belgrade (RS), International Islamic University Malaysia (MY), Carnegie Mellon University Qatar (QA), Duke Kunshan University (CN), Ankara Bilim Üniversitesi, Sultan Qaboos University (OM), University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (US), University of Education (PK), University of Virginia (US), New York University (US), De La Salle University (PH), Nagoya University (JP), Nazarbayev University (KZ), University of Milano-Bicocca (IT), University of Maryland, College Park (US), Carleton University (CA), University of Chile (CL), Sungkyunkwan University (KR), Sapienza University of Rome (IT), University of Amsterdam (NL), University of Sheffield (GB)
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Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
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