Prosocial behaviour and psychological wellbeing

Abstract

Prosocial actions that are freely undertaken not done and expressions of well-internalised values may result in positive emotions in the actor. Various studies have found that helping behaviour such as community service and voluntary work increases psychological wellbeing, self-esteem, life satisfaction and happiness. This chapter will discuss whether the positive relation between helping and wellbeing can be supported in the Maltese context. In this study a questionnaire was administered online. It consisted of two standardised tools, one assesses prosocial behaviour using the Helping Attitude Scale (Nickell, 1998) and the other assesses wellbeing by using the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (Hills & Argyle, 2002). Four hundred and ninety-one respondents answered the questionnaire. Relationships between prosocial behaviour and wellbeing were analysed. Age and gender were also discussed with regard to this relationship. Results support existing research and shows that there is a correlation between prosocial behaviour and wellbeing.