Online prosocial behaviors in adolescence and young adulthood: Differential age and gender patterns for online emotional support and online activism

Adolescence and emerging adulthood are key periods for extending prosocial behaviors into broader societal contexts, including online environments. In a sample of 998 adolescents and young adults (ages 12–24; 59% female), this study examined age- and gender-related patterns of online emotional support and online activism using the extended Online Prosocial Behavior Scale (OPBS-E). The OPBS-E showed good reliability over 6 months and convergent validity with offline prosocial behaviors. Findings revealed that online emotional support was associated with generosity toward friends in an economic game, while online activism was linked to higher compulsive social media use. Females reported more online emotional support, and males more online activism. Age patterns indicated that emotional support was higher for females than males in early adolescence and young adulthood, but similar across genders in mid-late adolescence. Online activism was more frequent in adolescence and declined into emerging adulthood, independent of gender. These findings highlight distinct age and gender patterns in online prosocial behaviors and contribute new insights into how these behaviors evolve during the socially formative years of adolescence and early adulthood. • This study validates the Online Prosocial Behavior Scale – Extended (OPBS-E), offering a novel distinction between measuring online emotional support and online activism. • We examined age- and gender-related patterns of online emotional support, online activism, and total online prosocial behavior, addressing a key gap in understanding adolescents’ online prosocial development. • Our findings reveal that females engage more in online emotional support, while males show a quadratic peak in emotional support in late adolescence • Younger adolescents reported more online activism than older youth, while males showed slightly higher levels of activism overall. • This study offers new insights into how prosocial behavior is expressed online across different age groups and genders.