Open AccessChinese adolescents’ power distance value and prosocial behavior toward powerful people: A longitudinal study
Author(s) -
Xinyuan Fu,
Yichen Lv,
Zhixu Yang,
Xia Yu,
Rongrong Wang
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0208473
Subject(s) - prosocial behavior , value (mathematics) , power (physics) , psychology , longitudinal study , social psychology , developmental psychology , physics , mathematics , statistics , quantum mechanics
We were interested in how specific cultural value and adolescent social behavior would influence each other over time. Thus the present study explored the longitudinal and bidirectional relations between adolescents’ power distance value and prosocial behavior toward powerful people over a year. A sample of 434 Chinese adolescents participated in the investigation (initial mean age = 11.27; 54.15% females). The results based on cross-lagged models showed that, earlier prosocial behavior toward powerful people was positively correlated to subsequent power distance value, but not vice versa. The findings point toward an understanding of the important role of adolescent social behavior on his/her cultural value development, and also shed light on future research in terms of the interplay between cultural values and individual’s social behaviors in other cultures.