. 2022 Feb 11:12:775032.

doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.775032. eCollection 2021.

To Help or Not to Help? Prosocial Behavior, Its Association With Well-Being, and Predictors of Prosocial Behavior During the Coronavirus Disease Pandemic

Elisa Haller¹, Jelena Lubenko², Giovambattista Presti³, Valeria Squatrito³, Marios Constantinou⁴, Christiana Nicolaou⁵, Savvas Papacostas⁶, Gökçen Aydın⁷, Yuen Yu Chong⁸, Wai Tong Chien⁸, Ho Yu Cheng⁸, Francisco J Ruiz⁹, María B García-Martín¹⁰, Diana P Obando-Posada¹⁰, Miguel A Segura-Vargas⁹, Vasilis S Vasiliou¹¹, Louise McHugh¹², Stefan Höfer¹³, Adriana Baban¹⁴, David Dias Neto¹⁵, Ana Nunes da Silva¹⁶, Jean-Louis Monestès¹⁷, Javier Alvarez-Galvez¹⁸, Marisa Paez-Blarrina¹⁹, Francisco Montesinos²⁰, Sonsoles Valdivia-Salas²¹, Dorottya Ori^{22

23}, Bartosz Kleszcz²⁴, Raimo Lappalainen²⁵, Iva Ivanović²⁶, David Gosar²⁷, Frederick Dionne²⁸, Rhonda M Merwin²⁹, Maria Karekla³⁰, Angelos P Kassianos³⁰, Andrew T Gloster¹

Affiliations

¹ Clinical Psychology and Intervention Science, Department of Psychology, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
² Department of Health Psychology and Pedagogy, Riga Stradiņš University, Riga, Latvia.
³ Kore University Behavioral Lab, Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, Kore University of Enna, Enna, Italy.
⁴ Department of Social Sciences, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Nicosia, Nicosia, Cyprus.
⁵ Department of Nursing, Cyprus University of Technology, Limassol, Cyprus.
⁶ Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics, Nicosia, Cyprus.
⁷ Department of Psychological Counseling and Guidance, Faculty of Education, Hasan Kalyoncu University, Gaziantep, Turkey.
⁸ The Nethersole School of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
⁹ Department of Psychology, Fundación Universitaria Konrad Lorenz, Bogotá, Colombia.
¹⁰ Faculty of Psychology, Universidad de La Sabana, Chía, Colombia.
¹¹ Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
¹² School of Psychology, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
¹³ Department of Medical Psychology, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria.
¹⁴ Department of Psychology, Babes-Bolyai University (UBB), Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
¹⁵ ISPA-Instituto Universitário, APPsyCI-Applied Psychology Research Center Capabilities and Inclusion, Lisbon, Portugal.
¹⁶ Faculdade de Psicologia, Universidade de Lisboa, Alameda da Universidade, Lisbon, Portugal.
¹⁷ LIP/PC2S Lab, Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France.
¹⁸ Department of Biomedicine, Biotechnology and Public Health, University of Cadiz, Cadiz, Spain.
¹⁹ Instituto ACT, Madrid, Spain.
²⁰ Department of Psychology, European University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
²¹ Department of Psychology and Sociology, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain.
²² Department of Mental Health, Heim Pal National Pediatric Institute, Budapest, Hungary.
²³ Institute of Behavioural Sciences, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary.
²⁴ Bartosz Kleszcz Psychotherapy and Training, Sosnowiec, Poland.
²⁵ Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland.
²⁶ Department of Child Psychiatry, Institute for Children's Diseases, Clinical Centre of Montenegro, Podgorica, Montenegro.
²⁷ Department of Child, Adolescent and Developmental Neurology, University Children's Hospital, University Medical Center, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
²⁸ Département de Psychologie, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières, QC, Canada.
²⁹ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Duke University, Durham, CA, United States.
³⁰ Department of Psychology, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus.

PMID: 35222147
PMCID: PMC8877810
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.775032

To Help or Not to Help? Prosocial Behavior, Its Association With Well-Being, and Predictors of Prosocial Behavior During the Coronavirus Disease Pandemic

Elisa Haller et al. Front Psychol. 2022.

. 2022 Feb 11:12:775032.

doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.775032. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Clinical Psychology and Intervention Science, Department of Psychology, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
² Department of Health Psychology and Pedagogy, Riga Stradiņš University, Riga, Latvia.
³ Kore University Behavioral Lab, Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, Kore University of Enna, Enna, Italy.
⁴ Department of Social Sciences, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Nicosia, Nicosia, Cyprus.
⁵ Department of Nursing, Cyprus University of Technology, Limassol, Cyprus.
⁶ Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics, Nicosia, Cyprus.
⁷ Department of Psychological Counseling and Guidance, Faculty of Education, Hasan Kalyoncu University, Gaziantep, Turkey.
⁸ The Nethersole School of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
⁹ Department of Psychology, Fundación Universitaria Konrad Lorenz, Bogotá, Colombia.
¹⁰ Faculty of Psychology, Universidad de La Sabana, Chía, Colombia.
¹¹ Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
¹² School of Psychology, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
¹³ Department of Medical Psychology, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria.
¹⁴ Department of Psychology, Babes-Bolyai University (UBB), Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
¹⁵ ISPA-Instituto Universitário, APPsyCI-Applied Psychology Research Center Capabilities and Inclusion, Lisbon, Portugal.
¹⁶ Faculdade de Psicologia, Universidade de Lisboa, Alameda da Universidade, Lisbon, Portugal.
¹⁷ LIP/PC2S Lab, Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France.
¹⁸ Department of Biomedicine, Biotechnology and Public Health, University of Cadiz, Cadiz, Spain.
¹⁹ Instituto ACT, Madrid, Spain.
²⁰ Department of Psychology, European University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
²¹ Department of Psychology and Sociology, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain.
²² Department of Mental Health, Heim Pal National Pediatric Institute, Budapest, Hungary.
²³ Institute of Behavioural Sciences, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary.
²⁴ Bartosz Kleszcz Psychotherapy and Training, Sosnowiec, Poland.
²⁵ Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland.
²⁶ Department of Child Psychiatry, Institute for Children's Diseases, Clinical Centre of Montenegro, Podgorica, Montenegro.
²⁷ Department of Child, Adolescent and Developmental Neurology, University Children's Hospital, University Medical Center, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
²⁸ Département de Psychologie, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières, QC, Canada.
²⁹ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Duke University, Durham, CA, United States.
³⁰ Department of Psychology, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus.

PMID: 35222147
PMCID: PMC8877810
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.775032

Abstract

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic fundamentally disrupted humans' social life and behavior. Public health measures may have inadvertently impacted how people care for each other. This study investigated prosocial behavior, its association well-being, and predictors of prosocial behavior during the first COVID-19 pandemic lockdown and sought to understand whether region-specific differences exist. Participants (N = 9,496) from eight regions clustering multiple countries around the world responded to a cross-sectional online-survey investigating the psychological consequences of the first upsurge of lockdowns in spring 2020. Prosocial behavior was reported to occur frequently. Multiple regression analyses showed that prosocial behavior was associated with better well-being consistently across regions. With regard to predictors of prosocial behavior, high levels of perceived social support were most strongly associated with prosocial behavior, followed by high levels of perceived stress, positive affect and psychological flexibility. Sociodemographic and psychosocial predictors of prosocial behavior were similar across regions.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; predictors of prosocial behavior; prosocial behavior; social support; well-being.

Copyright © 2022 Haller, Lubenko, Presti, Squatrito, Constantinou, Nicolaou, Papacostas, Aydın, Chong, Chien, Cheng, Ruiz, García-Martín, Obando-Posada, Segura-Vargas, Vasiliou, McHugh, Höfer, Baban, Dias Neto, da Silva, Monestès, Alvarez-Galvez, Paez-Blarrina, Montesinos, Valdivia-Salas, Ori, Kleszcz, Lappalainen, Ivanović, Gosar, Dionne, Merwin, Karekla, Kassianos and Gloster.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

**FIGURE 1**
Association between prosocial behavior and well-being across regions.

See this image and copyright information in PMC

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To Help or Not to Help? Prosocial Behavior, Its Association With Well-Being, and Predictors of Prosocial Behavior During the Coronavirus Disease Pandemic

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To Help or Not to Help? Prosocial Behavior, Its Association With Well-Being, and Predictors of Prosocial Behavior During the Coronavirus Disease Pandemic

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