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The Social Dimension of Stress: Experimental Manipulations of Social Support and Social Identity in the Trier Social Stress Test
Published on: November 19, 2015
Identity, prosocial behavior, and generative concern in German and Cameroonian Nso adolescents
1University of Osnabrück, Institute of Psychology, Artilleriestr. 34, D-49069 Osnabrück, Germany. hobusch@uos.de
Abstract:
Little is known about whether ego identity statuses have the same developmental concomitants in different cultural contexts. Thus, 159 German and 158 Cameroonian Nso adolescents aged 15-18 were recruited to test if associations between identity and generativity (i.e. the desire to create a positive legacy) and prosocial behavior (i.e. helpful and supportive behavior), respectively, are comparable. In both cultural samples, only identity achievement was positively linked with generative concern and prosocial tendencies. Integrating these and previous findings on the association between prosocial behavior and generativity, a partial mediation of the relation between identity achievement and generative concern through prosocial tendencies was hypothesized and confirmed for both cultural groups. Thus, there is an equivalent association between identity achievement, prosocial behavior, and generative concern in adolescents with widely different cultural background.
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