Longitudinal associations between relationship quality and prosocial behavior in Chinese adolescents: the mediating role of meaning in life

Abstract

Objective Positive youth development (PYD) can be enhanced through dynamic interactions between individuals and their environments. While previous research has primarily focused on its social-emotional learning mechanisms, the cognitive and motivational pathways of PYD were seldom explored. To address this gap, this study investigated the associations of parent -child relationships, teacher–student relationships, and friendships with adolescents' prosocial behavior, with a focus on the mediating role of meaning in life. Methods A three-wave temporally ordered mediation analysis was conducted using three waves of data collected at six-month intervals from 671 Chinese junior high school students. Results The findings revealed that the quality of parent–child relationships and friendships at Wave 1 was positively associated with both the presence and search for meaning in life at Wave 2, with friendships showing stronger associations, whereas teacher–student relationships were not significantly associated with either dimension of meaning in life. Furthermore, only the presence of meaning in life at Wave 2 was positively associated with prosocial behavior at Wave 3, while the search for meaning in life was not significantly associated with prosocial behavior. Conclusion These findings provide practical insights into China's moral education framework, rooted in Confucian doctrine, by suggesting that high-quality relationships are associated with adolescents' sense of societal contribution as an aspect of life's meaning. Possible reasons for the nonsignificant roles of teacher–student relationships and the search for meaning in life were discussed, along with the study's limitations and directions for future research.