THE ROLE OF SINCERE INTERPERSONAL BONDS AND EMPATHY IN PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR AMONG EMERGING ADULTS

Abstract

Understanding the factors that promote prosocial behavior is essential for explaining social development during emerging adulthood. The present study examined whether sincere interpersonal bonds, reflected in friendship quality and empathy contribute to prosocial behavior among emerging young adults. A purposive sample of (N = 200) participants with mean age  (M = 21.8 years) was recruited from public and private educational institutions. Data were collected using the Perth Empathy Scale (Eq et al., 2019), Friendship Quality Scale (Bukowski et al., 1994), and Prosocial Behavior Scale (Caprara et al., 2005). Statistical analyses were conducted using SPSS Version 26. The findings indicated a significant positive relationship between friendship quality, empathy and prosocial behavior. The Linear regression analysis indicated that friendship quality was found to be a significant positive predictor of prosocial behavior. Furthermore, significant gender differences were observed in friendship quality. Overall, the results suggested that although sincere interpersonal bonds and empathy are closely related, they may not independently explain prosocial behavior during emerging adulthood. Instead, developmental and contextual factors may play a more prominent role in shaping helping behaviors among young adults. These findings contribute to a broader understanding of the factors associated with prosocial behavior during this important developmental period.

Keywords: Empathy, emerging adulthood, friendship quality, sincere friendship, prosocial behavior.