Attachment Insecurity and Altruistic Behavior among Chinese Adolescents: Mediating Effect of Different Dimensions of Empathy
Abstract
:1. Introduction
1.1. Attachment Insecurity and Altruistic Behavior
1.2. Attachment Insecurity and Empathy
1.3. Empathy and Altruistic Behavior
1.4. Attachment, Empathy and Altruistic Behavior in Chinese Culture
1.5. The Present Study
- 1.
- Are attachment avoidance and attachment anxiety differentially related to altruistic behavior among Chinese adolescents? Based on the existing Western literature [13,15], we proposed that attachment avoidance would be negatively linked to altruistic behavior (Hypothesis 1a), while attachment anxiety would not be associated with altruistic behavior (Hypothesis 1b).
- 2.
- Are there any relationships between attachment insecurity indexed by avoidance and anxiety and different aspects of empathy among Chinese adolescents? Based on the existing Western literature [25,27], we proposed that attachment avoidance would be negatively associated with empathic concern and perspective taking (Hypotheses 2a and 2b), while it would not be associated with personal distress (Hypothesis 2c). Moreover, we proposed that attachment anxiety would be positively associated with personal distress (Hypothesis 2d), while it would not be associated with empathic concern and perspective taking (Hypotheses 2e and 2f).
- 3.
- Are different dimensions of empathy associated with altruistic behavior among Chinese adolescents? Based on the existing Western literature [19,30,34], we proposed that empathic concern and perspective taking would be positively related to altruistic behavior (Hypotheses 3a and 3b), while personal distress would be negatively related to altruistic behavior (Hypothesis 3c).
- 4.
- Do different components of empathy (empathic concern, personal distress, and perspective taking) have different mediating effects in the relationship between attachment avoidance (and attachment anxiety) and altruistic behavior among Chinese adolescents? Based on the literature reviewed above, we proposed that empathic concern and perspective taking would mediate the relationship between attachment avoidance and altruistic behaviors among Chinese adolescents (Hypotheses 4a and 4b), while personal distress would not mediate this relationship (Hypothesis 4c). Specifically, more attachment avoidance would predict less empathic concern and less perspective taking, which in turn would lead to less altruistic behaviors. Moreover, we proposed that personal distress would mediate the relation between attachment anxiety and altruistic behaviors among Chinese adolescents (Hypothesis 4d), while empathic concern and perspective taking would not mediate this relationship (Hypotheses 4e and 4f). Specifically, we predicted that higher attachment anxiety would predict more personal distress, which would result in a lower level of altruistic behavior.
2. Method
2.1. Participants and Procedure
2.2. Measures
2.2.1. Adult Attachment Styles
2.2.2. Empathy
2.2.3. Altruistic Behavior
2.3. Data Analytic Strategy
3. Results
3.1. Descriptive Statistics and Correlation Analyses
3.2. CFA Analyses on the Latent Variables
3.3. Association of Attachment Avoidance and Attachment Anxiety with Altruistic Behavior
3.4. Association of Attachment Avoidance and Attachment Anxiety with Altruistic Behaviors: The Mediating Effects of Different Aspects of Empathy
4. Discussion
4.1. Association of Attachment Avoidance and Attachment Anxiety with Altruistic Behaviors
4.2. Mediating Roles of Empathic Concerns, Perspective Taking, and Personal Distress
4.3. Strengths and Limitations
4.4. Implications for Clinical Practice
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
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Variables | M | SD | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 Attachment avoidance | 9.25 | 4.54 | — | |||||
2 Attachment anxiety | 19.04 | 6.82 | 0.51 *** | — | ||||
3 Empathic concern | 22.63 | 4.21 | −0.12 *** | 0.02 | — | |||
4 Perspective taking | 25.13 | 4.82 | −0.23 *** | −0.19 *** | 0.47 *** | — | ||
5 Personal distress | 14.22 | 4.21 | 0.37 *** | 0.46 *** | 0.03 | −0.22 *** | — | |
6 Altruistic behaviors | 22.58 | 4.42 | −0.23 *** | −0.13 *** | 0.47 *** | 0.46 *** | −0.15 *** | — |
7 Gender | Ngirl = 513, 51.7% | 0.05 | −0.10 ** | −0.13 *** | −0.14 *** | −0.18 *** | −0.12 *** |
Factor Loadings | |
---|---|
Attachment avoidance | |
I want to get close to my partner, but I keep pulling back. | 0.718 |
I am nervous when partners get too close to me. | 0.694 |
I try to avoid getting too close to my partner. | 0.538 |
Attachment anxiety | |
I worry that romantic partners won’t care about me as much as I care about them. | 0.603 |
My desire to be very close sometimes scares people away. | 0.457 |
I need a lot of reassurance that I am loved by my partner. | 0.570 |
I do not often worry about being abandoned. | 0.271 |
I find that my partner(s) don’t want to get as close as I would like. | 0.606 |
I get frustrated if partners are not available when I need them. | 0.441 |
Empathic concern | |
I often have tender, concerned feelings for people less fortunate than me. | 0.669 |
Sometimes I don’t feel sorry for other people when they are having problems. | 0.411 |
When I see someone being taken advantage of, I feel kind of protective toward them. | 0.618 |
When I see someone being treated unfairly, I sometimes don’t feel very much pity for them. | 0.341 |
I am often quite touched by things that I see happen. | 0.509 |
I would describe myself as a pretty soft-hearted person. | 0.410 |
Perspective taking | |
I sometimes find it difficult to see things from the “other guy’s” point of view. | 0.255 |
I try to look at everybody’s side of a disagreement before I make a decision. | 0.549 |
I sometimes try to understand my friends better by imagining how things look from their perspective. | 0.619 |
If I’m sure I’m right about something, I don’t waste much time listening to other people’s arguments. | 0.273 |
I believe that there are two sides to every question and try to look at them both. | 0.597 |
When I’m upset at someone, I usually try to “put myself in his shoes” for a while. | 0.586 |
Before criticizing somebody, I try to imagine how I would feel if I were in their place. | 0.650 |
Personal distress | |
In emergency situations, I feel apprehensive and ill-at-ease. | 0.650 |
I sometimes feel helpless when I am in the middle of a very emotional situation. | 0.587 |
Being in a tense emotional situation scares me. | 0.762 |
I tend to lose control during emergencies. | 0.625 |
When I see someone who badly needs help in an emergency, I go to pieces. | 0.307 |
Altruistic behavior | |
I offered to give my seat to someone in need, such as “the old, the sick, and the pregnant”. | 0.625 |
When my classmate fell ill, I sent him to the school doctor’s office. | 0.727 |
I will help my classmates make up lessons or teach them to play basketball. | 0.616 |
I am happy to donate money and materials to the disaster area. | 0.686 |
Indirect Effect | β (Standardized Indirect Effect) | SE | p | 95% CI Standardized Indirect Effect |
---|---|---|---|---|
Attachment avoidance and altruistic behaviors | ||||
via Empathic concern | −0.229 | 0.074 | 0.002 | −0.432, −0.026 |
via Perspective taking | −0.051 | 0.030 | 0.091 | −0.128, 0.026 |
via Personal distress | 0.003 | 0.011 | 0.761 | −0.043, 0.043 |
Attachment anxiety and altruistic behaviors | ||||
via Empathic concern | 0.185 | 0.071 | 0.009 | −0.012, 0.381 |
via Perspective taking | 0.001 | 0.020 | 0.964 | −0.052, 0.054 |
via Personal distress | −0.069 | 0.038 | 0.071 | −0.170, 0.032 |
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Pan, Y.; Liang, S.; Shek, D.T.L. Attachment Insecurity and Altruistic Behavior among Chinese Adolescents: Mediating Effect of Different Dimensions of Empathy. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 10371. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191610371
Pan Y, Liang S, Shek DTL. Attachment Insecurity and Altruistic Behavior among Chinese Adolescents: Mediating Effect of Different Dimensions of Empathy. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2022; 19(16):10371. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191610371
Chicago/Turabian StylePan, Yangu, Shuang Liang, and Daniel T. L. Shek. 2022. "Attachment Insecurity and Altruistic Behavior among Chinese Adolescents: Mediating Effect of Different Dimensions of Empathy" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19, no. 16: 10371. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191610371