Guilt feelings and prosocial behavior from adolescence to young adulthood

Empirical evidence suggests that empathic self-efficacy, “which refers to individuals’ perceived capability to experience emotions from another’s perspective, to respond emotionally and compassionately to others’ distress and misfortune, and to be sensitive to how one’s actions affect others’ feelings” (Bandura et al., 2003, p. 774), contributes to increasing prosocial behaviors (Alessandri et al., 2009; Caprara et al., 2010). That is, in the presence of empathic self-efficacy, it is more likely to express the capability and motivation to perform actions intended to meet others’ needs for help, comfort, and support. However, the relation between empathic self-efficacy and prosocial behavior has been limitedly explored in intensive longitudinal studies with an ecological perspective. This study aimed to understand the predictive role of empathic self-efficacy on daily prosocial behavior at intraindividual (i.e., within) and interindividual levels (i.e., between). The sample was composed of 254 Italian young adults (18-35 years; Mage=25.4; SD=3.4; 56.3% females) who completed baseline and daily questionnaires for 21 days. X A multilevel regression analysis was performed. The results indicated that empathic self-efficacy positively predicts prosocial behavior at the between (β=.34; p=.006) and within levels (β=.12; p=.000;). Specifically, young adults who, on average, reported more empathic self-efficacy also reported more prosocial behaviors over 21 days (interindividual differences). Moreover, the results showed that reporting more empathic self-efficacy than usual on a specific day positively predicted higher-than-expected peaks in prosocial behaviors on the same day (intraindividual changes). This implies that higher perceived empathic self-efficacy is associated with greater prosocial tendency in general (i.e., between level) and in daily fluctuations of prosocial behaviors (i.e., within level). This finding highlights the importance of fostering perceived empathic self-efficacy through psychological and educational interventions to promote prosociality in this important life phase.