Perceived significant others’ values: Are they important in the relationship between personal values and self-reported prosociality?

Abstract

BackgroundPersonal values have been extensively found to be relevant variables linked to prosociality; they are desirable and trans-situational goals that serve as guiding principles in people’s lives to select modes, means and actions, these reflecting what people consider relevant and worthy. Research has investigated how cultural background influences people’s personal values and prosociality, but little is known about the influence of the perception of the values en-dorsed by significant others, namely the people belonging to the micro-relational context with whom daily interac-tions and exchanges are possible. Based on Schwartz’s theory of basic human values, we analyzed the moderating role of the perceptions of significant others’ values in the relationship between personal values and self-reported prosociality.Participants and procedureTwo hundred and forty-five Italian young adults (66.9% women) aged between 18 and 30 years (M = 22.58, SD = 2.53) completed a self-report questionnaire.ResultsSpecifically, openness to change values were a significant positive predictor of self-reported prosociality when re-spondents perceived low importance assigned both to openness to change and self-transcendence by significant oth-ers, whereas conservation values were a significant positive predictor of self-reported prosociality when respondents perceived low importance assigned to self-enhancement by significant others.ConclusionsOur findings show a complex interplay between personal values and perceived significant others’ values in shaping young adults’ self-reported prosociality.