Objective: To investigate the sequential mediating effect of junior high school students' self-esteem and social support on the relation between their parental emotional warmth and network altruistic behavior.
Methods: From April to June in 2024, 860 first- and second-year junior high school students from a middle school in Luoyang, Henan Province, were recruited using the convenience sampling method. They were surveyed with the Internet Altruistic Behavior Scale, the Short-form Egna Minnen av Barndoms Uppfostran (parental emotional warmth dimension), the Self-Esteem Scale, and the Adolescent Social Support Rate Scale.
Results: (1) The self-esteem level of junior high school boys was higher than that of girls (t=2.621, p=0.009). First-year students received higher levels of parental emotional warmth and social support than second-year students (t=2.427, p=0.015; t=2.029, p=0.043), but their level of internet altruistic behavior was lower than that of second-year students (t=-2.363, p=0.018). (2) There was a positive correlation between parental emotional warmth and self-esteem, social support, and network altruistic behavior (r=0.403, p<0.001; r=0.502, p<0.001; r=0.199, p<0.001). Self-esteem and social support, as well as network altruistic behavior, were positively correlated (r=0.460, p<0.001; r=0.157, p<0.001); and social support and network altruistic behavior were positively correlated (r=0.288, p<0.001). (3) The promotion effect of parental emotional warmth on network altruistic behavior was significant, with the independent mediating effect of social support being significant (effect value=0.091, 95% CI: 0.056 to 0.130, accounting for 43.5% of the total effect), and the sequential mediating effect of self-esteem and social support was significant (effect value=0.029, 95% CI: 0.017 to 0.044, accounting for 13.9% of the total effect). The indirect effect of self-esteem was not significant.
Conclusions: Parental emotional warmth can positively influence junior high school students' online altruistic behavior not only through the independent mediating role of social support, but also through the sequential mediating pathway of 'self-esteem → social support.' Enhancing parental emotional warmth may help improve adolescents' self-esteem and social support, thereby promoting their online altruistic behavior.
LIU Yanfeng
,
QI Chunhui
,
ZHANG Zhen
. The Influence of Parental Emotional Warmth on Junior High School Students' Network Altruistic Behavior: The Sequential Mediating Effect of Self-esteem and Social Support[J]. Psychological Communications, 2026
, 9(1)
: 20
-26
.
DOI: 10.12100/j.issn.2096-5494.226005
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