Young adults’ intergroup prosocial behavior and its associations with social dominance orientation, social identities, prosocial moral obligation, and belongingness

Sonya Xinyue Xiao, Qinxin Shi, Jeffrey Liew

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

In an increasingly diverse world, understanding young adults’ intergroup prosocial behavior toward diverse others may inform ways to reduce intergroup conflict and cultivate an equitable and inclusive society. The college years are often the first time that young adults begin to explore their social identities and intergroup relations independently from their parents. Thus, we focused on college students and examined social dominance orientation, social positions, prosocial obligation, and the sense of belongingness in relation to their intergroup prosocial behavior across four domains (i.e., age, gender, race/ethnicity, and department affiliation). Participants were 1163 young adults aged 18–24 years (63.2% females, 34.5% males, and 2.3% gender diverse; 50.7% White, 19.6% Latino, 25% Asian, 2.3% Black) from a large public Southwestern university. Four profiles of intergroup prosocial behavior (self-serving, altruistic, selfish, and reverse ethnic racial bias) were identified and they were differentially related to the social, cognitive, and contextual correlates we examined. Overall, findings highlighted the need to foster intergroup prosocial behavior and the benefits of intergroup prosocial behavior to young adults’ sense of belongingness.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)2809-2831
Number of pages23
JournalJournal of Social and Personal Relationships
Volume40
Issue number9
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2023
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • belongingness
  • intergroup
  • prejudice
  • prosocial behavior
  • social identity
  • social position

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Social Psychology
  • Communication
  • Developmental and Educational Psychology
  • Sociology and Political Science

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