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Developmental Trajectories and Predictors of Prosocial Behavior Among Adolescents Exposed to the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake
Author(s) -
Qin Yanyun,
Zhou Ya,
Fan Fang,
Chen Shijian,
Huang Rong,
Cai Rouna,
Peng Ting
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of traumatic stress
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.259
H-Index - 134
eISSN - 1573-6598
pISSN - 0894-9867
DOI - 10.1002/jts.22064
Subject(s) - prosocial behavior , psychology , coping (psychology) , multinomial logistic regression , anxiety , clinical psychology , social support , logistic regression , developmental psychology , medicine , psychiatry , social psychology , machine learning , computer science
This longitudinal study examined the developmental trajectories of prosocial behavior and related predictors among adolescents exposed to the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. At 6‐, 18‐, and 30‐months postearthquake, we followed a sample of 1,573 adolescents. Self‐report measures were used to assess earthquake exposure, postearthquake negative life events, prosocial behavior, symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, social support, and coping style. Data were analyzed using growth mixture modeling and multinomial logistic regressions. Four trajectories of postearthquake prosocial behavior were identified in the sample: (a) high/enhancing (35.0%), (b) high/stable (29.4%), (c) low/declining (33.6%), and (d) low/steeply declining (2.0%). Female gender, more social support, and greater positive coping were significant factors related to a higher probability of developing the high/enhancing trajectory. These findings may be helpful for us to identify adolescents with poor prosocial behavior after exposure to earthquakes so as to provide them with appropriate intervention.