Paper on self-concept clarity and prosociality

Recently we published in European Journal of Personality a paper examining (i) patterns of change and stability in self-concept clarity and prosociality; and (ii) over time associations between these constructs in the transition from late adolescence to emerging adulthood. In addressing both aims, we explored the moderating effects of gender. Participants were 244 emerging adults who completed six waves of data collection. Findings highlighted that (i) self-concept clarity developed nonlinearly, with an initial decline from T1 to T2 followed by an increase thereafter, while prosociality increased linearly over time and both self-concept clarity and prosociality were characterized by high rank-order consistency; (ii) self-concept clarity and prosociality were positively related over time, with the effect of prosociality on self-concept clarity being stronger than the reciprocal effect of self-concept clarity on prosociality. Gender differences were detected in mean levels of self-concept clarity and prosociality (male participants reported higher self-concept clarity and lower prosociality than female participants) but not in their developmental pathways nor in their reciprocal associations. Read more