The Effect of Gratitude on Youth’s Prosocial behavior: The Mediate Effect of Perceived Social Support and The Moderate Effect of Psychological Security
Objective: To explore the mediating role of perceived social support between gratitude
and prosocial behavior and the moderating role of psychological security. Methods: By convenient
sampling method, 572 young people are investigated with perceived social support scale (PSSS), security
questionnaire (SQ), adolescent gratitude scale (AGS) and prosocial tendencies measure (PTM). Of
these, there are 222 males (38.8%) and 350 females (61.2%); 262 are single (45.8%) and 310 are married
(54.2%); and the average age of the subjects is 28.47 years (SD = 6.11). Results: (1) The direct effect value
of gratitude on prosocial behavior is 0.50 (95% CI: 0.43 ~ 0.60); (2)The indirect effect value of perceived
social support between gratitude and prosocial behavior is 0.11 (95% CI: 0.05 ~ 0.16); The total effect is
0.61, and the mediating effect account for 18.03% of the total effect; (3) Psychological security regulates
the latter half of the intermediary process of gratitude influencing prosocial behavior through perceived
social support (β=0.15, p<0.001). Conclusion: Gratitude can not only directly affect prosocial behavior,
but also indirectly affect prosocial behavior through perceived social support; Compared with the youth
with low psychological security, the perceived social support of the youth with high psychological security
has a more significant impact on prosocial behavior.