Emerging Adults & Prosocial Behaviour On- and Offline

Poster presented at the 43rd Association for Moral Education Conference 2017, Saint Louis, MO. Social media has become integrated into the daily lives of most emerging adults as a means of general communication as well as a source of social and global information; what is less well known is how emerging adults use social media to help others. Most literature on online prosocial behaviour focuses on traditional volunteerism and charitable giving, or on how online activities breed ‘slacktivism,’ i.e., acts that have only surface features of prosocial behaviour, but are of little benefit to others (Bucy & Gregson, 2001; Kristofferson, White, and Peloza., 2014; Penny, 2014). What is unique to emerging adults is that they, unlike previous generations, have ‘grown up with the Internet’ and they may engage in and express prosociality through less traditional actions and behaviours, such as, participation in online forums and communities, petitions, and advocacy. This exploratory study aims to examine the various forms of prosocial and civic participation emerging adults may undertake in online contexts and its relation to more traditional forms of service and volunteering. Looking at data from approximately 100 undergraduate students, including those engaged in traditional service and volunteering, and others who are not, this study will examine how emerging adults express prosociality online and attempt to categorize these activities, and explore their relation to current levels of service and volunteering.本海报发表于2017年第43届道德教育协会（Association for Moral Education）年会，举办地为美国密苏里州圣路易斯市。社交媒体已深度融入多数成年初期群体（emerging adults）的日常生活，成为日常沟通、获取社会与全球资讯的重要渠道；但目前学界对成年初期群体如何借助社交媒体助人的相关研究仍较为匮乏。现有关于在线亲社会行为（online prosocial behaviour）的文献多聚焦于传统志愿服务与慈善捐赠，或是探讨网络活动如何催生“懒动主义（slacktivism）”——即仅具备亲社会行为表面特征、却对他人几乎无实质益处的行为（Bucy & Gregson, 2001; Kristofferson, White, & Peloza, 2014; Penny, 2014）。与前代群体不同，成年初期群体是“在互联网环境中成长起来的一代”，他们可能通过非传统的行为方式参与并表达亲社会行为，例如加入在线论坛与社区、发起请愿及开展倡导活动。本探索性研究旨在考察成年初期群体在网络情境中可能参与的各类亲社会与公民参与形式，及其与更传统的服务与志愿服务形式之间的关联。本研究基于约100名本科生的数据展开，样本涵盖参与过传统服务与志愿服务的群体与未参与该类活动的群体，将分析成年初期群体在网络中表达亲社会行为的方式，尝试对这些网络活动进行分类，并探讨其与当前服务与志愿服务参与程度之间的关联。