The suppression effect of subjective social status and tolerance for uncertainties on the relationship between family socioeconomic status and prosocial risk taking

Abstract

BackgroundThe influence of social status on the prosocial behavior of adolescents is very profound, especially in China, where the socioeconomic development is very rapid and the social class is constantly evolving. Prosocial risk-taking (PSRT) behavior is a kind of prosocial behavior which also involves many potential risks, leading to difficulty for adolescents in decision making. Therefore, this study determined the relationship between family socioeconomic status and prosocial risk taking and the mechanism. MethodsTo explore the influence mechanism of family socioeconomic status (FSS) on adolescent prosocial risk taking (PSRT), 2313 adolescents were surveyed using FSS questionnaire, subjective social status (SSS) questionnaire, tolerance for uncertainties (TFU) questionnaire, and PSRT questionnaire. Then, descriptive data analysis was conducted using SPSS software, and a structural equation model was constructed using Mplus software to verify the relationship between variables. ResultsThe results showed that (1) FSS could positively predict adolescents’ PSRT. (2) SSS not only had a suppression effect on the influence of FSS on PSRT alone, but also had a suppression effect on the influence along with TFU. Besides, the mediating effect of TFU was not significant. (3) There were significant gender differences in the structural models. The FSS had a greater impact on the SSS of females than that of males. ConclusionFor adolescents, the development of PSRT behavior is greatly influenced by their subjective perception of their social status and tolerance to uncertainties. This study deepens our understanding of the development of adolescent PSRT behavior.