Exploring the effects of prosocial and self-kindness interventions on mental health outcomes.

IF 3.6 2区 心理学 Q1 PSYCHOLOGY, EXPERIMENTAL
Emotion Pub Date : 2025-08-28 DOI:10.1037/emo0001577
Maria Naclerio, Lee Lazar, Erica A Hornstein, Naomi I Eisenberger
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Abstract

A growing body of literature suggests that prosocial behavior, or behavior intended to help others, benefits well-being. However, modern society often places a greater emphasis on self-focused acts in the pursuit of well-being. To understand the effects of these differing forms of kindness (to others or the self), we conducted a 2-week intervention study of a community sample during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Participants were randomly assigned to a prosocial (other-kindness), self-kindness, or control condition, and those in the active conditions were asked to perform three acts of kindness each week. Of those who completed the intervention (N = 777), we found that participants in the other-kindness (vs. control) group experienced significant decreases in depression, anxiety, and loneliness from pre- to postintervention, offering compelling evidence for the mental health benefits of prosocial behavior. Furthermore, we found that participants in the self-kindness (vs. control) group experienced significant decreases in depression, but no differences in anxiety and loneliness. While the self-kindness group reported experiencing more positive feelings during their acts of kindness, the other-kindness group felt more connected. Exploratory mediation analyses revealed that, for the prosocial group, the effect of condition on depression, anxiety, and loneliness was mediated by increases in feelings of social connection, whereas for the self-kindness group, the effect of condition on depression was mediated by increases in positive feelings. Overall, these findings reaffirm the benefits of prosocial behavior on well-being and suggest unique pathways to mental health benefits for these two forms of kindness. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

探讨亲社会和自我友善干预对心理健康结果的影响。
越来越多的文献表明,亲社会行为,或旨在帮助他人的行为,有益于幸福。然而,现代社会往往更强调以自我为中心的行为,以追求幸福。为了了解这些不同形式的善良(对他人或对自己)的影响,我们在2020年COVID-19大流行期间对社区样本进行了为期两周的干预研究。参与者被随机分配到亲社会(对他人友善)、对自己友善或控制条件下,而那些在积极条件下的参与者被要求每周做三次友善的行为。在那些完成干预的参与者中(N = 777),我们发现,从干预前到干预后,他人友善组的参与者抑郁、焦虑和孤独感显著减少,这为亲社会行为对心理健康的益处提供了令人信服的证据。此外,我们发现自我友善组(与对照组相比)的参与者抑郁程度显著降低,但焦虑和孤独感没有差异。自我友善组报告说,在他们的友善行为中体验到更多积极的感觉,而他人友善组则感觉更有联系。探索性中介分析发现,在亲社会组中,情境对抑郁、焦虑和孤独的影响是通过社会联系感的增加来中介的,而在自我友善组中,情境对抑郁的影响是通过积极感受的增加来中介的。总的来说,这些发现重申了亲社会行为对幸福感的好处,并提出了这两种形式的善良对心理健康有益的独特途径。(PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA,版权所有)。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
Emotion
Emotion PSYCHOLOGY, EXPERIMENTAL-
CiteScore
8.40
自引率
7.10%
发文量
325
审稿时长
8 weeks
期刊介绍: Emotion publishes significant contributions to the study of emotion from a wide range of theoretical traditions and research domains. The journal includes articles that advance knowledge and theory about all aspects of emotional processes, including reports of substantial empirical studies, scholarly reviews, and major theoretical articles. Submissions from all domains of emotion research are encouraged, including studies focusing on cultural, social, temperament and personality, cognitive, developmental, health, or biological variables that affect or are affected by emotional functioning. Both laboratory and field studies are appropriate for the journal, as are neuroimaging studies of emotional processes.
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