The longitudinal reciprocal relations among friendship quality, positivity and prosocial behavior in chinese early adolescents

Adolescents’ friendship quality and positivity have been shown to be related to their prosocial behavior. However, little is known about how friendship quality is associated longitudinally with positivity and prosocial behavior. To address this gap, this study examined longitudinal bidirectional relations among friendship quality, positivity, and prosocial behavior in early adolescents. A sample of 3944 Chinese early adolescents (Mage = 10.44 years; 54.4% male) completed multiple measurements of relevant constructs on four occasions at six-month intervals. After controlling for sex and family socioeconomic status (SES), cross-lagged path analyses revealed bidirectional relations between positive friendship quality and prosocial behavior; positivity and prosocial behavior; and positive friendship quality and positivity. Negative friendship quality predicted subsequent prosocial behavior and positivity more than the reverse relations. Furthermore, tests of indirect effects indicated that positive friendship quality indirectly predicted prosocial behavior via positivity and vice versa; negative friendship quality indirectly predicted prosocial behavior via friendship quality and vice versa. The findings provide a more comprehensive understanding of how friendship quality and positivity temporally interrelate with prosocial behavior in early adolescents from a positive youth development perspective, and they yield significant implications for prosocial behavior interventions.