Emerging Adults & Prosocial Behaviour On- and Offline

Abstract

Poster presented at the 43rd Association for Moral Education Conference 2017, Saint Louis, MO.

Social media has become integrated into the daily lives of most emerging adults as a means of general communication as well as a source of social and global information; what is less well known is how emerging adults use social media to help others. Most literature on online prosocial behaviour focuses on traditional volunteerism and charitable giving, or on how online activities breed ‘slacktivism,’ i.e., acts that have only surface features of prosocial behaviour, but are of little benefit to others (Bucy & Gregson, 2001; Kristofferson, White, and Peloza., 2014; Penny, 2014). What is unique to emerging adults is that they, unlike previous generations, have ‘grown up with the Internet’ and they may engage in and express prosociality through less traditional actions and behaviours, such as, participation in online forums and communities, petitions, and advocacy.

This exploratory study aims to examine the various forms of prosocial and civic participation emerging adults may undertake in online contexts and its relation to more traditional forms of service and volunteering. Looking at data from approximately 100 undergraduate students, including those engaged in traditional service and volunteering, and others who are not, this study will examine how emerging adults express prosociality online and attempt to categorize these activities, and explore their relation to current levels of service and volunteering.