Internet altruistic behavior among Chinese early adolescents: Exploring differences in gender and collective efficacy using a latent growth modeling

Internet altruistic behavior (IAB) is a kind of positive behavior on the Internet, which plays a certain positive role in individuals, interpersonal relationships, organizations and society. However, its developmental trend over time among adolescents is still unclear. To further explore the trajectory, in this study, 267 adolescents were tracked for 4 times by questionnaires in three years. Latent growth modeling was used to explore the development trajectory of IAB, the differences in IAB changes between different genders, and the effect of collective efficacy on IAB changes among Chinese early adolescents. The results showed that, in early adolescents, (a) The IAB of individuals decreased linearly in three years, and there were significant individual differences at the initial level and growth rate. (b) There was no significant gender difference in the development trajectory of IAB over time. (c) The initial level of collective efficacy can positively predict the initial level of IAB, and the growth of collective efficacy can positively predict the growth of IAB. (d) The initial level of IAB can negatively predict the growth of collective efficacy, which was the protective factor for the development of adolescents’ collective efficacy. In a word, the present study provided a theoretical guidance for the development of IAB in early adolescents.