Adolescents Value’s Impact On Prosocial Behavior

Prosocial behaviors are classic moral behaviors that are beneficial for others. Value is animportant factor that influents prosocial behaviors. As an enduring belief system, value directsa person’s social behaviors and impacts prosocial behaviors directly or indirectly. Also,researchers believe that moral identity is a appropriate predictor of prosocial behaviors.People who define themselves by moral terms can show more moral behaviors in daily life.Thus, the experience people feel about themselves can be another important factor. As anenduring belief system, can value impact the experience that one feel about himself andfurther impact his prosocial behavior? Present research supposed that value can be a criticalfactor that is influential to prosocial behaviors and impact prosocial behaviors indirectlythrough moral identity.In order to examine the above hypothesis, this study chose the values that wereconsidered related to prosocial behaviors in previous studies to discuss adolescents’development characteristics, examine value’s prediction function on prosocial behaviors, andmoral identity’s mediating effect between value and prosocial behaviors. Throughself-compiling Self-assessment Questionnaires on Values and Forced-choice Questionnaireon Value Type to measure materialism value, self-transcendence value, self-developmentvalue; revising the Good-Self Assessment Questionnaire to measure moral identity; revisingSelf-assessment Questionnaire on Caring Quality, Open-ended Questionnaire onContributing Ideology and self-compiling Peer Nomination Questionnaire on ProsocialBehavior to measure prosocial behaviors. Study participants are532students from5th,8th,and11thgrade in Heilongjiang Province. The study findings are as follows:(1)Self-compiled Self-assessment Questionnaires on Values has good reliability andvalidity, various indicators accord with psychometrics. However, its applicability is not sogood with5thgrade students.(2)Self-compiled Forced-choice Questionnaire on Value Type has good reliability andvalidity.(3)As students develop in their age, adolescents value materials more.(4)Adolescents of self-transcendence value show stronger moral identity and moreprosocial behaviors.(5)Moral identity plays as mediating role in self-transcendence value predicting prosocialbehaviors, which means self-transcendence value predict prosocial behaviors partly throughmoral identity. As we know, the adolescents who think highly of the transcendence of self-interest, willthink themselves as or hope themselves to be a moral, and thus will show more moralbehaviors in daily life. Value and moral identity are the two important factors that influentprosocial behaviors, and value predict prosocial behaviors partly through moral identity, sovalue is the more essential factor than moral identity which influent prosocial behaviors.Values guidance is the root of cultivation of the prosocial behavior. Through carring outstructured volunteer service activities, creating helpful practical opportunities, educators couldcultivate adolescents’ positive values, shape adolescents’ moral identity, and thereforeincrease adolescents’ prosocial behavior.