Childhood Environmental Unpredictability and Prosocial Behavior in Adults: The Effect of Life-History Strategy and Dark Personalities

Abstract

Purpose

Childhood environments have an impact on an individuals’ behavior and cognition. We explored the relationship and possible mechanisms between childhood environmental unpredictability (CEU) and prosocial behavior (PSB) in adults.

Participants and Methods

We recruited Chinese college students (N = 1035) and adopted a questionnaire survey and structural equation modeling.

Results

The results showed that CEU negatively predicted PSB in adults. Life-history strategy and dark personality chains mediated this relationship. Higher CEU facilitated faster development of life-history strategies in individuals, and dark personalities, via fast life-history strategies, further influenced PSB in adults. The mediating pathways of Machiavellianism, narcissism, and sadism were significant, while psychopathy was not. Women were more prosocial than men, and there was no sex difference in the influence mechanism of CEU on PSB.

Conclusion

This study has practical significance as it emphasizes the importance of shaping a stable childhood environment and that individuals’ prosociality can be improved by intervening in the mediation.

Keywords:

• childhood environmental unpredictability
• prosocial behavior
• life-history strategy
• dark personality

Abbreviations

CEU, childhood environmental unpredictability; PSB, prosocial behavior; CEH, childhood environmental harshness; SD4, Short Dark Tetrad; PTM, Prosocial Tendencies Measure.

Data Sharing Statement

The measurement materials, results, data, and Mplus codes for this paper have been deposited in the Open Science Framework (OSF) repository (https://osf.io/r8svb/). For peer review: https://osf.io/r8svb/?view_only=9d5a06b35a5840278aa5af2165aeb500.

Ethics Approval and Informed Consent

This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Hunan Normal University and complied with the Declaration of Helsinki. All participants read and signed the informed consent form and received remuneration (about 6 RMB) after completing the questionnaire.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to all those who contributed to this study.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this study.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by National Social Science Foundation of China (19BSH127).