The Relationship Between Parent-child Attachment And Altruistic Behavior In Senior Elementary School Students: The Mediating Role Of Peer Attachment And Empathy And Its Educational Implications

Altruistic behavior is behavior that an individual does from the heart to be helpful to others.Attachment is the close and stable emotional relationship that develops between an infant and his or her primary caregiver.Empathy is the individual's ability to perceive the thoughts and feelings of others with sensitivity.Numerous scientific studies have demonstrated that individual attachment can have a significant impact on altruistic behavior and that empathy is the root motivation for each individual to develop altruistic behavior.However,the developmental characteristics of attachment,empathy,and altruistic behavior in elementary school students and their associations are still unclear.Therefore,this study used a questionnaire to address these issues.A revised version of the Parent-Peer Attachment Scale,the Chinese version of the Interpersonal Reaction Pointer Scale and the Primary School Students' Developmental Status Questionnaire were used to measure 525 primary school students.SPSS 23.0 and Process 3.4 plug-ins were used to analyse the data,and the following results were obtained:(1)The results of the correlation analysis showed that primary school students' parent-child attachment,mother-child attachment and peer attachment,empathy and altruistic behaviour showed bivariate variables(1)The results of the correlation analysis showed that primary school students showed positive correlations between parent-child attachment,mother-child attachment and peer attachment,empathy and altruistic behaviour.Parent-child attachment,peer attachment and mother-child attachment all positively predicted altruistic behaviour in primary school students.Empathy positively predicted altruistic behaviour in primary school students.(2)The results of the simple mediation model analysis showed that peer attachment could partially mediate between parent-child(mother-child)attachment and altruistic behaviour;empathic competence could partially mediate between parent-child(motherchild)attachment and altruistic behaviour;peer attachment could fully mediate between parent-child attachment and empathic competence;and peer attachment could fully mediate between mother-child attachment and empathic competence.(3)The results of the chain mediation model analysis show that peer attachment and empathy play a significant chain mediation role between parent-child attachment and altruistic behaviour;peer attachment and empathy play a significant chain mediation role between mother-child attachment and altruistic behaviour.The main findings of this study are as follows:(1)Pupil attachment(parent-child attachment,peer attachment and mother-child attachment)can influence pupils' empathic ability and altruistic behaviour;pupils' empathic ability can influence pupils' altruistic behaviour.(2)Pupil attachment(parent-child,peer-peer and mother-child attachment)can influence altruistic behaviour through empathic competence.(3)Pupils' mother-child attachment can influence altruistic behaviour through peer attachment and empathic competence;Pupils' parent-child attachment can influence altruistic behaviour through peer attachment and empathic competence.