UC Riverside

Though adverse life events are most often studied in their relation to negative outcomes, experiencing adversity has also been related to a number of positive outcomes such as post traumatic growth, resilience, and altruistic and prosocial behavior. The current study examined the relationship between prior adverse life experience and engagement in several types of prosocial behavior, and explored the related concepts of empathy, trust, reasons for emergency helping, and steps to emergency helping. The primary goal of the study was to investigate the previously unexplored relationship between prior experience of adverse life events and subsequent engagement in emergency helping (bystander intervention). The study used a mixed quasi-experimental and survey design with a diverse sample of undergraduate students (N = 161). Using a modified “lady in distress” paradigm for emergency helping, the findings demonstrated that recent experience of adversity is positively related to subsequent engagement in emergency helping behavior. Prior findings from a nationally representative sample of the positive relationship between experiencing adversity and engaging in prosocial behavior were confirmed with regard to organizational but not interpersonal helping in the current sample. Empathy was found to be negatively related to emergency helping, and positively related to organizational helping, while trust was found to be positively related to interpersonal helping only. In examining the relationship between the emotional impact of adverse experience and engagement in helping behavior, the findings demonstrated that emotional impact was related to organizational helping only and that this relationship was positive. There were differences in relevant outcomes related to types of adversity experienced as well as primary reasons selected for engaging in emergency helping. Additional findings showed there is complexity in personal perceptions of steps to helping. These findings confirm and expand on the relationship between adversity and prosocial behavior, and suggest there are multiple and varied pathways from adversity to prosocial engagement.