The Impact Of Peer Environment And Self-control On Adolescents’ Prosocial Behavior

Prosocial behavior,as a common behavior in the process of individual socialization,can promote adolescents to integrate into the social environment,adapt to social life,and help them develop physical and mental health.Also,it can help them develop a healthy personality.At the same time,prosocial behavior,as a social activity beneficial to others,groups and society,plays an indispensable role in social stability and harmonious development.The influencing factors of prosocial behavior are multiple and complex.Among them,peer environment is a unique existence in the process of socialization of adolescents,and its influence mechanism on prosocial behavior is worth exploring.Meanwhile,when individuals need to restrain the conflicts,such as self-interest or altruism,approaching or avoidance,they need to participate in self-control.Self-control plays an important role in adolescents’ behavior decision-making and plays a key role in their prosocial decision-making.According to the ecological systems theory,human development comes from the interaction between individual and environment.Peer environment and self-control may have a kind of interaction effect model on the prosocial behavior of adolescents.Therefore,this study explored the mechanism of peer environment and self-control on the prosocial behavior of adolescents,in order to understand the influencing factors of adolescents’ prosocial behavior,and provide theoretical support for the cultivation and shaping of adolescents’ prosocial behavior.This study was divided into two studies.Study 1 used a longitudinal study to explore the relation between deviant peer affiliation,trait self-control and adolescents’ prosocial behavior.The results showed that:(1)Deviant peer affiliation was significantly negatively correlated with prosocial behavior and trait self-control,and there was a significant positive correlation between trait self-control and prosocial behavior.(2)After controlling gender and grade,trait self-control fully mediated the relation between deviant peer affiliation and prosocial behavior.It shows that deviant peer affiliation reduces the occurrence of prosocial behavior by inhibiting the level of adolescents’ trait self-control.In study 2,behavioral experiments were used to explore the relation between peerfeedback,self-control resources and adolescents’ prosocial behavior.The results showed that:(1)The high ego depletion group showed less prosocial behavior than the low ego depletion group.(2)The peer prosocial feedback group showed more prosocial behavior than the peer antisocial feedback group.(3)Peer feedback regulated the influence of ego depletion on adolescents’ prosocial behavior,which can be manifested as follows: peer prosocial feedback promoted the prosocial behavior of adolescents with high ego depletion,and peer antisocial feedback reduced the prosocial behavior of adolescents with ego depletion.To some extent,ego depletion is an important factor affecting adolescents’ prosocial behavior.High ego depletion will reduce prosocial behavior,and peer prosocial feedback can regulate this situation,and then affect the occurrence of adolescents’ prosocial behavior.In summary,two sub-studies show that the joint action of peer environment and selfcontrol work together on adolescents’ prosocial behavior.The psychological mechanism of deviant peer affiliation affecting prosocial behavior is to inhibit the trait self-control that effectively resolves the conflict of interest,which is manifested as the reduction of prosocial behavior.The complementary effect of peer prosocial feedback on ego depletion enables adolescents to regain their ability to cope with conflicts and promotes prosocial decisionmaking.Apart from that,peer parental self-feedback makes adolescents more inclined to selfinterest,which will reduce the occurrence of prosocial decision-making.