Engaging in prosocial behavior explains how high self-control relates to more life satisfaction: Evidence from three Chinese samples

PLoS One. 2019 Oct 14;14(10):e0223169. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0223169. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

High levels of self-control are found to be associated with greater life satisfaction. To further understand this relationship, the current study examined two questions: (1) whether too much self-control reduces, rather than increases, life satisfaction, as argued by some scholars; and (2) whether engaging in prosocial behavior explains the "self-control-life satisfaction" link. To this end, we conducted survey research among adolescents (N = 1,009), university students (N = 2,620), and adult workers (N = 500). All participants answered the same self-control and life satisfaction measures, whereas prosocial behavior was assessed using different scales across samples. Results of two-line regressions failed to reveal significant inverted-U shaped association between self-control and life satisfaction across samples. Moreover, results of mediation analyses showed that across samples, high levels of self-control were related to greater life satisfaction and this association was partly mediated by prosocial behavior. In conclusion, there is no evidence showing that too much self-control impairs life satisfaction. Engaging in prosocial behavior partly explains how high self-control relates to greater well-being.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • China / epidemiology
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Personal Satisfaction*
  • Self-Control / psychology*
  • Social Behavior*
  • Students / psychology*
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Young Adult

Grants and funding

Kai Dou received support from the MOE (Ministry of Education in China) Project of Humanities and Social Sciences (No. 17YJCZH040), https://www.sinoss.net/, and the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (NO. 2018A030313406), http://edu.gd.gov.cn/English/EducationInGuangdong/. Yu-Jie Wang received support from the Characteristic and Innovation Project of Guangdong Province Office of Education (No. 2017GGXJK001), http://edu.gd.gov.cn/, and the Philosophy and Social Science Project of Guangdong Industry Polytechnic (No. KJRW001), http://www.gdqy.edu.cn/. Yan-Gang Nie received support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NO. 31671153), http://www.nsfc.gov.cn/, and the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China (No. 16JJD880006), https://www.sinoss.net/.