Intergenerational Perspectives on Prosociality and Forgiveness Across Adulthood: A Mixed-Method Study

Abstract

Healthy relationships, emotional well-being and social cohesion are supported by the psychological traits of prosocial behaviour and forgiveness. This study explored prosocial behaviour and forgiveness and their impact on various adult age groups. A mixed-method approach was employed and 75 adult participants from India, with 25 participants from each age group: young adults (18 to 40), middle-aged adults (41 to 60) and older adults (61 to 80) were assessed. The Prosociality scale for adults (PSA) was used to quantify prosocial behaviour and the Heartland Forgiveness Scale (HFS) was used for measuring forgiveness. The participants were also asked to answer open-ended questions about their experiences with helping and forgiveness. Quantitative analysis revealed a statistically significant and positive correlation between forgiveness and prosocial behaviour with prosocial behaviour predicting forgiveness and accounting for 16% of the variance. There were no notable differences in the three age groups and age failed to significantly predict either variable, indicating that the given qualities remain constant in adulthood. Thematic analysis of responses from 10 participants in each age group revealed developmental differences in motivation, emotional outcomes, types of helping and attitude towards forgiveness. It was observed that emotional reactions and personal distress were the main factors that motivated young adults to engage in prosocial behaviour. Middle-aged participants tended to frame their actions in terms of duty and the maintenance of social relationships whereas older aged participants tended to frame their actions in terms of love, religion and achieving a state of inner peace. The study found that while forgiveness and prosocial behaviour were generally similar across the three age groups, there were some different dynamics at play.