The Relationship Between Childhood Socioeconomic Status and Prosocial Behavior in Middle School Students: The Mediating Role of Attachment Avoidance and Emotion Regulation Strategies

doi:10.12139/j.1672-0628.2024.04.012

Abstract

Abstract:

A survey study was conducted on 612 middle school students. Based on the ecological systems theory, childhood socioeconomic status, parent-child attachment, and emotion regulation strategies were considered as variables at different system levels. Using the family stress model and attachment theory, this study systematically investigated the formation and influencing mechanism of adolescents’ prosocial behavior. Mediation analyses showed that: 1) there was a significantly positive correlation between childhood socioeconomic status and adolescents’ prosocial behavior; 2) insecure attachment and adaptive emotion regulation strategies respectively mediated the relationship between childhood socioeconomic status and prosocial behavior, and together they constituted a sequential mediation pathway. These findings expand relevant theories and provide practical guidance for effectively promoting the cultivation and development of adolescents’ prosocial behavior.

Key words: childhood socioeconomic status, attachment, emotion regulation strategies, prosocial behavior

摘要：

采用问卷法对612名初中生进行调查研究。根据生态系统理论，将童年社会经济地位、亲子依恋、情绪调节策略作为不同系统水平变量，同时基于家庭压力模型和依恋理论，系统考察青少年亲社会行为的形成与影响机制。结果发现：(1)童年社会经济地位与青少年亲社会行为显著正相关。(2)不安全依恋和适应性情绪调节策略在童年社会经济地位与亲社会行为之间起中介作用：一是依恋回避的单独中介作用；二是适应性情绪调节策略的单独中介作用；三是依恋回避和适应性情绪调节策略的链式中介作用。研究结果拓展了相关理论，为有效促进青少年亲社会行为的培养与发展提供实践指导。

关键词: 童年社会经济地位, 依恋, 情绪调节策略, 亲社会行为

Liqing ZHANG, Lu QIU, Nianxin WANG, Fang LIU, Bo YUAN, Wen LIU. The Relationship Between Childhood Socioeconomic Status and Prosocial Behavior in Middle School Students: The Mediating Role of Attachment Avoidance and Emotion Regulation Strategies[J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2024, 22(4): 516-522.

张丽晴, 裘璐, 王年馨, 刘方, 袁博, 刘文. 童年社会经济地位与初中生亲社会行为：亲子依恋回避与情绪调节策略的中介作用[J]. 心理与行为研究, 2024, 22(4): 516-522.

Figures/Tables 4

References 0

	邓衍鹤, 陈云祥, 岳艳春, 乎唤, 黄宇琛, 刘翔平. 儿童亲密关系经历量表简明修订版在我国初中生中的信、效度检验. 中国临床心理学杂志, 2017, 25 (6): 1022- 1026.
	胡小勇, 杜棠艳, 李兰玉, 王甜甜. 低社会经济地位影响自我调节的神经机制. 心理科学进展, 2022, 30 (10): 2278- 2290. DOI
	寇彧, 洪慧芳, 谭晨, 李磊. 青少年亲社会倾向量表的修订. 心理发展与教育, 2007, 23 (1): 112- 117.
	赖晓璐, 江永强, 刘学兰, 黎莉, 张小樱, 张彩霞. 父母成人依恋、怜悯与亲子关系质量: 主客体互倚分析. 心理发展与教育, 2019, 35 (4): 411- 420.
	袁博, 廖苏霞, 郭俏俏, 高奇扬, 陈思宇. 流动儿童的社会善念水平及其提升. 心理与行为研究, 2022, 20 (2): 268- 273. DOI
	张妮, 刘文, 刘方, 郭鑫. 8~12岁儿童抑郁与认知重评的关系: 悲伤面孔注意偏向的中介作用. 心理学报, 2022, 54 (1): 25- 39.
	Aldao, A., & Nolen-Hoeksema, S. The influence of context on the implementation of adaptive emotion regulation strategies. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 2012, 50 (7–8): 493- 501. DOI
	Andersen, S. H., Richmond-Rakerd, L. S., Moffitt, T. E., & Caspi, A. Nationwide evidence that education disrupts the intergenerational transmission of disadvantage. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2021, 118 (31): e2103896118.
	Bian, F., & Wu, D. M. The impact of family socioeconomic status on prosocial behavior: A survey of college students in China. Current Psychology, 2023, 42 (14): 12257- 12266. DOI
	Bowlby, J. Attachment and loss: Retrospect and prospect. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 1982, 52 (4): 664- 678. DOI
	Brenning, K., van Petegem, S., Vanhalst, J., & Soenens, B. The psychometric qualities of a short version of the experiences in close relationships scale-revised child version. Personality and Individual Differences, 2014, 68, 118- 123. DOI
	Brethel-Haurwitz, K. M., Stoianova, M., & Marsh, A. A. Empathic emotion regulation in prosocial behaviour and altruism. Cognition and Emotion, 2020, 34 (8): 1532- 1548. DOI
	Bronfenbrenner, U. Toward an experimental ecology of human development. American Psychologist, 1977, 32 (7): 513- 531. DOI
	Carlo, G., & Padilla-Walker, L. Adolescents’ prosocial behaviors through a multidimensional and multicultural lens. Child Development Perspectives, 2020, 14 (4): 265- 272. DOI
	Chen, W., Niu, G. F., Zhang, D. J., Fan, C. Y., Tian, Y., & Zhou, Z. K. Socioeconomic status and life satisfaction in Chinese adolescents: Analysis of self-esteem as a mediator and optimism as a moderator. Personality and Individual Differences, 2016, 95, 105- 109. DOI
	Coulombe, B. R., & Yates, T. M. Attachment security predicts adolescents’ prosocial and health protective responses to the COVID‐19 pandemic. Child Development, 2022, 93 (1): 58- 71. DOI
	De France, K., & Evans, G. W. Expanding context in the role of emotion regulation in mental health: How socioeconomic status (SES) and developmental stage matter. Emotion, 2021, 21 (4): 772- 782. DOI
	Eisenberg, N., VanSchyndel, S. K., & Spinrad, T. L. Prosocial motivation: Inferences from an opaque body of work. Child Development, 2016, 87 (6): 1668- 1678. DOI
	Elsayed, N. M., Luby, J. L., & Barch, D. M. Contributions of socioeconomic status and cognition to emotion processes and internalizing psychopathology in childhood and adolescence: A systematic review. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 2023, 152, 105303.
	Gambin, M., Woźniak-Prus, M., Konecka, A., & Sharp, C. Relations between attachment to mother and father, mentalizing abilities and emotion regulation in adolescents. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 2021, 18 (1): 18- 37. DOI
	Garnefski, N., Rieffe, C., Jellesma, F., Terwogt, M. M., & Kraaij, V. Cognitive emotion regulation strategies and emotional problems in 9-11-year-old children. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 2007, 16 (1): 1- 9.
	Griskevicius, V., Ackerman, J. M., Cantú, S. M., Delton, A. W., Robertson, T. E., Simpson, J. A., ... Tybur, J. M. When the economy falters, do people spend or save? Responses to resource scarcity depend on childhood environments. Psychological Science, 2013, 24 (2): 197- 205. DOI
	Griskevicius, V., Delton, A. W., Robertson, T. E., & Tybur, J. M. Environmental contingency in life history strategies: The influence of mortality and socioeconomic status on reproductive timing. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2011, 100 (2): 241- 254. DOI
	Gross, J. T., Stern, J. A., Brett, B. E., & Cassidy, J. The multifaceted nature of prosocial behavior in children: Links with attachment theory and research. Social Development, 2017, 26 (4): 661- 678. DOI
	Hein, S., Röder, M., & Fingerle, M. The role of emotion regulation in situational empathy-related responding and prosocial behaviour in the presence of negative affect. International Journal of Psychology, 2018, 53 (6): 477- 485. DOI
	Herd, T., & Kim-Spoon, J. A systematic review of associations between adverse peer experiences and emotion regulation in adolescence. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 2021, 24 (1): 141- 163. DOI
	Huang, S. L., Han, M. Y., Sun, L., Zhang, H. C., & Li, H. J. Family socioeconomic status and emotional adaptation among rural‐to‐urban migrant adolescents in China: The moderating roles of adolescent’s resilience and parental positive emotion. International Journal of Psychology, 2019, 54 (5): 573- 581. DOI
	Long, F. F., Zhou, W. Y., Zhang, T., Zhang, Z. Y., & Zhou, R. L. Effects of working memory training on different goals of cognitive reappraisal. Emotion, 2024, 24 (1): 150- 163. DOI
	Masarik, A. S., & Conger, R. D. Stress and child development: A review of the family stress model. Current Opinion in Psychology, 2017, 13, 85- 90. DOI
	Mikulincer, M., & Shaver, P. R. (2015). An attachment perspective on prosocial attitudes and behavior. In D. A. Schroeder & W. M. Graziano (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of prosocial behavior (pp. 209–230). New York: Oxford University Press.
	Morris, A. S., Criss, M. M., Silk, J. S., & Houltberg, B. J. The impact of parenting on emotion regulation during childhood and adolescence. Child Development Perspectives, 2017, 11 (4): 233- 238. DOI
	Neppl, T. K., Senia, J. M., & Donnellan, M. B. Effects of economic hardship: Testing the family stress model over time. Journal of Family Psychology, 2016, 30 (1): 12- 21. DOI
	Nie, Y. G., Li, J. B., & Vazsonyi, A. T. Self-control mediates the associations between parental attachment and prosocial behavior among Chinese adolescents. Personality and Individual Differences, 2016, 96, 36- 39. DOI
	Piff, P. K., Kraus, M. W., Côté, S., Cheng, B. H., & Keltner, D. Having less, giving more: The influence of social class on prosocial behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2010, 99 (5): 771- 784. DOI
	Powell, P. A. Individual differences in emotion regulation moderate the associations between empathy and affective distress. Motivation and Emotion, 2018, 42 (4): 602- 613. DOI
	Rosa, E. M., & Tudge, J. Urie Bronfenbrenner’s theory of human development: Its evolution from ecology to bioecology. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 2013, 5 (4): 243- 258.
	Sanger, K. L., & Dorjee, D. (2015). Mindfulness training for adolescents: A neurodevelopmental perspective on investigating modifications in attention and emotion regulation using event-related brain potentials. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 15(3), 696–711.
	Schoemann, A. M., Boulton, A. J., & Short, S. D. Determining power and sample size for simple and complex mediation models. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 2017, 8 (4): 379- 386. DOI
	Silvers, J. A. Adolescence as a pivotal period for emotion regulation development. Current Opinion in Psychology, 2022, 44, 258- 263. DOI
	Spinelli, M., Lionetti, F., Setti, A., & Fasolo, M. Parenting stress during the COVID-19 outbreak: Socioeconomic and environmental risk factors and implications for children emotion regulation. Family Process, 2021, 60 (2): 639- 653. DOI
	Terrier, C., Chen, D. L., & Sutter, M. COVID-19 within families amplifies the prosociality gap between adolescents of high and low socioeconomic status. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2021, 118 (46): e2110891118.
	Thompson, R. A. Emotion dysregulation: A theme in search of definition. Development and Psychopathology, 2019, 31 (3): 805- 815. DOI
	Wentzel, K. R., Filisetti, L., & Looney, L. Adolescent prosocial behavior: The role of self-processes and contextual cues. Child Development, 2007, 78 (3): 895- 910. DOI
	Yao, Z. J., & Enright, R. Social class and prosocial behavior in early adolescence: The moderating roles of family and school factors. Journal of Moral Education, 2023, 52 (3): 310- 324. DOI
	Yu, G. L., Li, S., & Zhao, F. Q. Childhood maltreatment and prosocial behavior among Chinese adolescents: Roles of empathy and gratitude. Child Abuse & Neglect, 2020, 101, 104319.

	M	SD	1	2	3	4	5
1.童年社会经济地位	15.26	4.30
2.不适应性认知情绪调节策略	10.38	2.29	0.01
3.适应性认知情绪调节策略	16.37	2.73	0.14**	0.37***
4.亲子依恋焦虑	22.91	7.38	−0.10**	0.29***	−0.02
5.亲子依恋回避	15.07	8.83	−0.11**	0.25***	−0.10**	0.32***
6.亲社会倾向	91.56	14.50	0.13**	−0.02	0.26***	−0.11**	−0.18***

	M	SD	1	2	3	4	5
1.童年社会经济地位	15.26	4.30
2.不适应性认知情绪调节策略	10.38	2.29	0.01
3.适应性认知情绪调节策略	16.37	2.73	0.14**	0.37***
4.亲子依恋焦虑	22.91	7.38	−0.10**	0.29***	−0.02
5.亲子依恋回避	15.07	8.83	−0.11**	0.25***	−0.10**	0.32***
6.亲社会倾向	91.56	14.50	0.13**	−0.02	0.26***	−0.11**	−0.18***

模型	χ²/df	CFI	TLI	RMSEA	SRMR	ΔCFI	ΔTLI
Model 1	1.43	0.962	0.918	0.026	0.029
Model 2	1.16	0.984	0.965	0.016	0.026	0.022	0.047
Model 3	1.48	0.943	0.904	0.028	0.024	−0.059	−0.039

模型	χ²/df	CFI	TLI	RMSEA	SRMR	ΔCFI	ΔTLI
Model 1	1.43	0.962	0.918	0.026	0.029
Model 2	1.16	0.984	0.965	0.016	0.026	0.022	0.047
Model 3	1.48	0.943	0.904	0.028	0.024	−0.059	−0.039

路径	效应值	相对效应(%)	95% CI
路径	效应值	相对效应(%)	下限	上限
中介效应
童年社会经济地位→亲子依恋回避→ 亲社会倾向	0.015	12.93	0.004	0.035
童年社会经济地位→适应性认知情绪调节→亲社会倾向	0.031	26.72	0.009	0.063
童年社会经济地位→亲子依恋回避→ 适应性认知情绪调节→亲社会倾向	0.002	1.72	0.001	0.007
总中介效应	0.049	42.24	0.020	0.085