The contribution of agreeableness and self‐efficacy beliefs to prosociality

Abstract

The present study examined how agreeableness and self‐efficacy beliefs about responding empathically to others' needs predict individuals' prosociality across time. Participants were 377 adolescents (66% males) aged 16 at Time 1 and 18 at Time 2 who took part at this study. Measures of agreeableness, empathic self‐efficacy and prosociality were collected at two time points. The findings corroborated the posited paths of relations to assigning agreeableness a major role in predicting the level of individuals' prosociality. Empathic self‐efficacy beliefs partially mediated the relation of agreeableness to prosociality. The posited conceptual model accounted for a significant portion of variance in prosociality and provides guidance with respect to interventions aimed at promoting prosociality. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.