Adolescent Parent-child Attachment And Indirect Reciprocal Behavior:The Mediating Role Of Self-esteem And Interpersonal Trust

An increasing number of scholars are now studying human cooperation behavior from the perspective of "indirect reciprocity".Indirect reciprocity refers to the fact that individual A provides help to individual B,but A does not receive it directly from B in return,but from a third party,individual C.Indirect reciprocity can be divided into upward and downward reciprocity.Indirect reciprocity can be subdivided into upward and downward reciprocity.It has been shown that altruistic behavior is directly influenced by parent-child attachment and indirectly influenced by parent-child attachment through self-esteem or interpersonal trust,and that self-esteem and interpersonal trust are closely linked and mutually influenced.Indirect reciprocity is one of the components of altruistic behavior,but few scholars have studied the relationship between attachment level,self-esteem,interpersonal trust,and indirect reciprocity,and how they interact with each other.This study explores the relationships among mother-child/father-child attachment,self-esteem,interpersonal trust,and indirect reciprocity behaviors among adolescents separately,and provides a new attempt and enrichment to the study of indirect reciprocity mechanism.This study selected 305 high school students whose parent-child attachment,self-esteem,and interpersonal trust were measured by a scale method,and indirect reciprocity behaviors were measured by an experimental method.A two-factor mixed design of 2(reciprocity: upward reciprocity,downward reciprocity)×2(in-group and out-group: in-group and out-group differentiated by social closeness)×3(allocation:fairness,selfishness,and altruism)was used for the experimental part of indirect reciprocity.Upward reciprocity was measured using a "love transfer" paradigm,and downward reciprocity was measured using a "third-party altruism" paradigm.Study 1 showed that both upward reciprocity and downward reciprocity were prevalent in the high school student population,and neither was affected by gender or age,nor were there significant differences in ecological variables such as being an only child,living in school,or being a class officer.Individuals’ in-group and out-group relationships(i.e.,social closeness)with the assigned subjects did not significantly affect individuals’ levels of indirect reciprocity.However,in upward reciprocity,the generosity of an individual’s previous recipient experience significantly affects his or her level of upward reciprocity;in downward reciprocity,the generosity of the recipient’s previous giving behavior significantly affects the individual’s level of downward reciprocity toward the recipient.Study 2 showed that in upward reciprocity,self-esteem and interpersonal trust significantly mediated the chain between mother-child attachment and upward reciprocity under the outgroup altruistic allocation approach,and the mediation of self-esteem was significant.The mediating role of self-esteem between mother-child attachment and upward reciprocity was significant under the outgroup equitable allocation approach.The mediating role of self-esteem and interpersonal trust in parent-child attachment and upward reciprocity was not significant in other experimental contexts.Study 3 showed that in downside reciprocity,the mediating role of self-esteem and interpersonal trust in parent-child attachment and downside reciprocity was not significant,either in the internal or external group or in whatever allocation.Based on the above findings,some insights are provided for the development of indirect reciprocal behaviors in adolescents.In family education,parents should pay more attention to the establishment of parent-child attachment,especially father-child attachment,so that individuals can develop a positive "self-other" model.In school education,parents should recognize the importance of parent-child attachment in the development of indirect reciprocal behaviors;at the same time,they should create indirect reciprocal situations for students and emphasize the cultivation of students’ sense of service and altruism,so that students can have a more intuitive and deeper understanding of indirect reciprocity and develop a higher level of indirect reciprocity.