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The reciprocal relations among prosocial behavior, satisfaction of relatedness needs at school, and subjective well-being in school: A three-wave cross-lagged study among Chinese elementary school students

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Abstract

We examined the reciprocal relations among prosocial behavior, satisfaction of relatedness needs at school, and subjective well-being in school among Chinese elementary school students using a 3-wave longitudinal study with a 6-month interval. A total of 1018 elementary school students (Mage = 9.44 years; 53.90% male) completed a multi-measure questionnaire that tapped the targeted variables at three time points. After controlling for gender, age, and parental educational level, the results revealed that (a) Prosocial behavior, satisfaction of relatedness needs at school, and subjective well-being in school reciprocally facilitated each other directly; (b) prosocial behavior indirectly enhanced subjective well-being in school via satisfaction of relatedness needs at school, and subjective well-being in school indirectly enhanced prosocial behavior via satisfaction of relatedness needs at school. Limitations and practical applications were discussed.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Humanities Social Sciences Research Planning Foundation from Ministry of Education, 2015 (No. 15YJA190003), “12th Five-Year” Plan of Philosophy and Social Science Development in Guangdong Province, 2015 (No. GDCXL01), the MOE Project of Key Research Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences at Universities, 2016 (No.16JJD190002), and “13th Five-Year” Plan of Philosophy and Social Science Development in Guangzhou, 2018 (No. 2018GZGJ22).

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Correspondence to Lili Tian.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee (School of Psychology Research Ethics Committee, South China Normal University) and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Su, T., Tian, L. & Huebner, E.S. The reciprocal relations among prosocial behavior, satisfaction of relatedness needs at school, and subjective well-being in school: A three-wave cross-lagged study among Chinese elementary school students. Curr Psychol 40, 3734–3746 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-019-00323-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-019-00323-9

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