SynthesisJournal of youth and adolescence2025
Empathy as a Mediator of the Relation between Peer Influence and Prosocial Behavior in Adolescence: A Meta-Analysis.
Synthesis in Journal of youth and adolescence, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Social-emotional competencies and health-related outcomes of health promotion in upper secondary education: a scoping review of German-speaking countries.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Pooled it
- The relationships among self-control, psychological resilience, and digital addiction in college students: a meta-analytic structural equation modeling.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Pooled it
- Emotional Valence Influences Empathic Capacity in Adolescence and Young Adulthood.Journal of adolescence · 2026Article
- Longitudinal Associations Among Teacher-Student Relationships, Academic Self-Efficacy, and Prosocial Behavior in Chinese Left-Behind Adolescents: A Three-Wave RI-CLPM Study.Journal of youth and adolescence · 2026Article
- Assessing Life Skills and Adolescent Mental Health: Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Psychometric Evaluation of the Life Skills Scale in Portugal.European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education · 2026Article
- Developmental Cascades Linking Academic Achievement, Prosocial Behavior, Peer Relationships and Teacher-Student Relationships in Chinese Early Adolescents.Journal of youth and adolescence · 2026Article
- A Prospective Study of the Association Between School Connectedness in Adolescence and Social Connection in Adulthood.The Journal of school health · 2026Article
- Perceived Social Support, Empathy, and Adolescents' Defending Behavior: Examining Between-Person and Within-Person Relations.Journal of youth and adolescence · 2026Article
- Teacher-Student Relationships, Empathy, and Prosocial Behaviors: Examining Between- and Within-Person Relations.Journal of youth and adolescence · 2026Article
- Article
- How social media shapes urban image and conative tourism behaviour among Chinese Generation Z: an extended SOR model.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- The influence of self-concept on prosocial behavior in delinquent juveniles: a chain mediation analysis involving belief in a just world and self-control.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Cumulative Dopaminergic Genetic Effects on Empathy Development in Emerging Adults.Journal of youth and adolescence · 2025Article
- The effect of exercise intervention on prosocial behavior in junior high school students: the chain mediation effect of empathy and interpersonal relationships.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Multiple mediating roles of physical and mental health in the effects of physical exercise on prosocial behavior in junior high school students.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- The Effect of Temporary Group Identity on Adolescent Social Mindfulness Decisions: An Empirical Study Using Team Sports Contexts.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
Abstract
During adolescence, empathy and prosocial behavior contribute to the establishment of positive interpersonal relationships and social connections, promoting holistic development in youth. A substantial amount of research has provided compelling evidence that there is a relationship between peer relationships and empathy and prosocial behavior. Empathy, as a key mediating factor, links the influence of peers with prosocial behavior in adolescents, yet there is currently a lack of robust meta-analytic evidence regarding this mediating role. This study employed a two-stage structural equation modeling approach to synthesize existing research on peer influence, empathy, and prosocial behavior during adolescence. Systematic searches were conducted across three databases (PubMed, Web of Science, and PsycINFO), identifying a total of 49 studies, with a systematic assessment of study quality. The results indicated that empathy plays a mediating role between peer influence and prosocial behavior. Positive peer influence is positively correlated with empathy and prosocial behavior, while negative peer influence is negatively correlated with empathy and prosocial behavior, and empathy is positively correlated with prosocial behavior. This meta-analysis demonstrates that during adolescence, empathy mediates the connection between peer influence and prosocial behavior, representing a potential process that can explain the relationship between peer influence and prosocial behavior.
Indexed as
Identifiers
39302609What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.