Trajectories of prosocial behavior from adolescence to early adulthood: associations with personality change

Bernadette P Luengo Kanacri; Concetta Pastorelli; Nancy Eisenberg; Antonio Zuffianò; Valeria Castellani; Gian Vittorio Caprara

doi:10.1016/j.adolescence.2014.03.013

Trajectories of prosocial behavior from adolescence to early adulthood: associations with personality change

J Adolesc. 2014 Jul;37(5):701-13. doi: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2014.03.013. Epub 2014 Apr 17.

Authors

Bernadette P Luengo Kanacri¹, Concetta Pastorelli², Nancy Eisenberg³, Antonio Zuffianò⁴, Valeria Castellani², Gian Vittorio Caprara²

Affiliations

¹ Psychology Department, Sapienza University of Rome, Via dei Marsi 78, 00185 Roma, Italy. Electronic address: paula.luengo@uniroma1.it.
² Psychology Department, Sapienza University of Rome, Via dei Marsi 78, 00185 Roma, Italy.
³ Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, AZ, USA.
⁴ University of Toronto, Canada.

PMID: 24746895
DOI: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2014.03.013

Abstract

The goal of this study was to identify heterogenic longitudinal patterns of change in prosocial behavior from adolescence to early adulthood and their association with change in Big Five Factor (BFF) personality traits from adolescence until early adulthood. Participants were 573 Italian adolescents aged approximately 13 at the first assessment and 21 at the last assessment. Using growth mixture modeling, low increasing (LI; 18%), medium quadratic (MQ; 26%), and high quadratic (HQ; 54%) trajectories of prosocial behavior were distinguished. Generally, the LI trajectory group predicted an increase in Conscientiousness over time, whereas the HQ trajectory group predicted greater change in Agreeableness and Openness. In addition, positive changes in Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, and Openness between ages 13 and 21 predicted a higher probability of belonging to the HQ prosocial group. Findings support a malleable perspective on personality and identify longterm positive pathways for youths' prosocial development.

Keywords: Adolescence; Early adulthood; Growth mixture modeling; Prosocial behavior; personality traits.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Age Factors
Altruism*
Female
Humans
Longitudinal Studies
Male
Personality
Personality Development*
Personality Inventory
Surveys and Questionnaires
Young Adult