The relationship between moral sense of life and prosocial behavior among medical students: the multiple mediating effects of meaning in life and empathy
10.3760/cma.j.cn371468-20210329-00171
- VernacularTitle:医学生亲社会行为与生命道德感的关系：生命意义感和共情的多重中介效应
- Author:
Yingying LIU
1
;
Nengzhi JIANG
;
Hongwei SUN
Author Information
1. 潍坊医学院心理学院 261053
- Keywords:
Moral sense of life;
Prosocial behavior;
Meaning in life;
Empathy;
Multiple mediating effects
- From:
Chinese Journal of Behavioral Medicine and Brain Science
2021;30(10):944-948
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
Objective:To explore the relationship between moral sense of life and prosocial behavior among medical students, and the multiple mediating effects of meaning in life and empathy.Methods:A total of 721 medical students from Weifang Medical University were tested with moral sense of life scale (MSLS), meaning in life questionnaire (MLQ), interpersonal reactivity index-C (IRI-C) and prosocial behavior tendency scale (PBTS). Common method bias test, Spearman correlation analysis and hierarchical regression analysis were conducted to analyze the data using SPSS 22.0 software, and PROCESS macro program was used to test the mediating effect of meaning in life and empathy between moral sense of life and prosocial behavior.Results:Moral sense of life, meaning in life, empathy and prosocial behavior were significantly positively correlated with each other( r=0.24-0.56, all P<0.01). Analysis of mediating effects revealed that moral sense of life affected prosocial behavior through three indirect pathways: the separate meditating effects of both meaning in life and empathy (the effect size=0.11, 0.06), accounting for 57.89% and 31.58% of the total indirect effect respectively), the chain mediating effect of meaning in life and empathy (the effect size=0.02), accounting for 10.53% of the total indirect effect. Meaning in life and empathy play a full mediating role in the relationship between moral sense of life and prosocial behavior. Conclusion:Moral sense of life can indirectly increase medical students′ prosocial behavior through meaning in life and empathy. Meaning in life and empathy exert a chain-mediating effect between moral sense of life and prosocial behavior.
