Kindness Counts: Promoting Well-Being and Peer Acceptance Through Prosocial Behavior

S. Katherine Nelson,1 Kristin Layous,1 Eva Oberle,2 Kimberly A. Schonert-Reichl, 2 & Sonja Lyubomirsky1 1University of California, Riverside 2 University of British Columbia
Background
Research suggests that goals for happiness, prosociality, and popularity are not incompa6ble. Happy people are more likely to engage in prosocial behavior (Krueger et al., 2001), par6cipate in community service (Magen & Aharoni, 1991), and have sa6sfying friendships (Lyubomirsky, Tkach, & DiMaIeo, 2006). Although the ecacy of happiness-increasing strategies is beIer established in adults (Sin & Lyubomirsky, 2009), some interven6ons have successfully boosted well-being in adolescents (e.g., Froh, Kashdan, Ozinkowski, & Miller, 2009; Froh, Seck, & Emmons, 2008). Performing kind acts might be an especially helpful posi6ve ac6vity for youth to increase happiness and promote posi6ve rela6onships. Prosocial behavior has a strong posi6ve associa6on with peer acceptance (Caprara et al., 2000; Schonert-Reichl, 1999; Wentzel, 1991), and we expected this rela6onship to be bidirec6onal, as students who feel accepted might be more likely to do things for others, and, in turn, students who do things for others might also gain the acceptance and liking of their classmates. We sought to inves6gate whether performing acts of kindness and visi6ng places (i.e., whereabouts ac6vity) lead to increases in well-being and peer acceptance among 9- to 11-year-old children.

Results
Well-Being

No signicant dierences between condi6ons on any WB variables (all ps > .23) Collapsing across condi6on, one- sample t-tests revealed improvements in well-being for everyone: PA: t(318) = 4.189, SHS: t(377) = 2.759, SWLS: t(371) = 3.692,
p = .0003, r = .19 p = .006, r = .14 p = .00004, r = .26

Peer Acceptance

Mul6level analyses yielded nearly iden6cal results. All students increased in the raw number of peer nomina6ons they received from classmates (00=0.68, S.E.=0.27, t(17)=2.37, p=. 02). Those who performed kind acts increased signicantly more than those who tracked their whereabouts (Ms = 1.57 vs. 0.71), 01=0.83, S.E.=0.39, t(17)=2.10, p=. 05 , gaining an average of about 1.5 friends.

Method
Par$cipants aPar6cipants (N = 4 15, M = 10.6, 48.2% female) recruited from 19 nd Procedure age

Before and aaer the 4-week interven6on, students reported their life Discussion sa6sfac6on, subjec6ve happiness, posi6ve aect, and nominated Par6ally suppor6ng Hypothesis 1, par6cipants in both condi6ons showed classmates with whom they would like to be in school ac6vi6es (a comparable improvements in well-being. measure of peer acceptance; see graphic at lea) Suppor6ng Hypothesis 2, par6cipants in the kindness condi6on Pre-post changes in self-reports and peer nomina6ons were analyzed demonstrated greater improvements in peer acceptance, gaining between using t-tests and mul6level modeling to account for students nes6ng one to two friends. within classrooms. Considering the benets of peer acceptance in youth (Wentzel, 2005; Hypotheses Wentzel et al., 2009), it is noteworthy that we succeeded in increasing peer acceptance among preadolescents through a simple prosocial ac6vity. Hyp 1: Par6cipants in both condi6ons will show gains in well-being, with the biggest gains observed in the kindness group. Teachers and interven6onists can build on this work by introducing inten6onal prosocial ac6vi6es into classrooms and recommending that Hyp 2 : Par6cipants in the kindness group will show greater gains in peer such ac6vi6es be performed regularly and purposefully. acceptance. For more informa6on, please contact Katherine Nelson at snels007@ucr.edu

classrooms in Vancouver were randomly assigned to perform 3 acts of kindness or visit 3 loca6ons and to report what they had done.