Perceived Parental Emotional Warmth and Prosocial Behaviors among Emerging Adults: Personal Belief in a Just World and Gratitude as Mediators

Parental emotional warmth is exceptionally important for the development of prosocial behaviors. Considerable studies have focused on investigating the underlying relationship between perceived parental warmth and prosocial behaviors in children and adolescents. However, little is known about the relationship between these two variables during an individual’s transition into adulthood. Therefore, the current study explored how perceived parental emotional warmth was related to emerging adults’ prosocial behaviors via the sequential mediating effects of their personal belief in a just world (PBJW) and gratitude. We recruited 604 undergraduates (Mage = 19.81, SDage = 1.35) to complete the Emotional Warmth Scale, Personal Belief in a Just World Scale, Gratitude Questionnaire-Six-Item, and Prosocial Tendencies Measure. The results indicated that: (1) perceived parental emotional warmth was positively correlated with prosocial behaviors among emerging adults; (2) both PBJW and gratitude separately mediated the link between perceived parental emotional warmth and prosocial behaviors; and (3) PBJW and gratitude also sequentially mediated the relationship between perceived parental emotional warmth and prosocial behaviors. This study contributes to a better understanding of the mediation mechanism between perceived parental emotional warmth and prosocial behaviors among emerging adults. The findings suggest that if educators and professionals focus on creating favorable environments that elevate individuals’ PBJW and gratitude levels, they would predispose them toward engaging in prosocial behaviors. Additionally, encouraging and guiding parents to engage in emotionally warm parenting will be effective in promoting prosocial behavior.