Research On The Relationship Between College Students' Gratitude Values, Empathy And Prosocial Behavior

In this study, college students were selected as research subjects.The questionnaire of Gratitude Values, Empathy Scale and Prosocial Behaviors Scale are used to explore characteristics and relationships among gratitude values, empathy and prosocial behaviors of college students. The research results show that:(1)The overall level of college students' gratitude values is above average. There is significant difference in only and non-only child; there is remarkable difference between students with different genders, the male get a higher grade than the female on the dimension of selfless thanking drive; on the dimension of selfless return inclination, the freshmen get a remarkable higher grade than other grades; in the comparison of different locations, the college students from towns get a slightly higher grade than rural students in terms of overall score; there is no difference among students from different majors.(2)Theoverall level of college students' empathy is average. There are significant differences in gender and grade; there are no significant differences in professional category, family residence, only and non-only child of empathy.(3)The overall level of college students' prosocial behaviors is average. There are significant differences in grade, only and non-only child of prosocial behaviors.On the dimension of gender, the male get a higher grade than the female. There is significant difference in anonymity scores of prosocial behaviors; there is no significant difference in professional category.(4)There is an obvious positive correlation between gratitude values and prosocial behaviors. The gratitude values play an important role in the prediction of prosocial behaviors.(5)There is an obvious positive correlation between empathy and prosocial behaviors. The empathy plays an important role in the prediction of prosocial behaviors.(6)There is an obvious positive correlation between gratitude values and empathy. The gratitude values play an important role in the prediction of empathy.(7)Empathy plays a role of partly mediation between gratitude values and prosocial behaviors.Thus, a conclusion can be drawn,the overall level of college students' gratitude values is good, possessing the high ability of empathy, the overall level of college stu dents' prosocial behaviors is average.The higher the level of gratitude values , the hig her the tendency of prosocial behavior is ,meantime, the higher the level of empathy is.The higher the level of empathy, the higher the tendency of prosocial behavior is.Gra titude values can indirectly influence prosocial behaviors by affecting the empathy.