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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Positive Psychology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1431861
This article is part of the Research Topic The Impact of Psychological Well-Being on University Students View all 33 articles

Prosocial behavior associated with trait mindfulness, psychological capital and moral identity among medical students: A moderated mediation model

Provisionally accepted
Nana Liu Nana Liu 1Yanjun Cao Yanjun Cao 2Haibo Xu Haibo Xu 1*
  • 1 Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, China
  • 2 Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Purpose: As future doctors, medical students' prosocial behaviors may affect the relationship between doctors and patients. This study aims to explore the effects of trait mindfulness on prosocial behaviors, as well as the mediating role of psychological capital and the moderating role of moral identity among medical students.A cross-sectional survey was conducted between July and October 2023 across four medical colleges in China, using cluster random sampling. The questionnaire included general demographic information, the Prosocial Tendencies Measurement Scale, the Five-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, the Psychological Capital Questionnaire, and the Moral Identity Scale. The SPSS 25.0 and PROCESS v3.4 macro were used for descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and mediation and moderation analyses.Results: A total of 2,285 samples were included. The analyses showed that prosocial behavior was positively correlated with trait mindfulness, psychological capital, and moral identity (r = 0.293, 0.444, and 0.528, p < 0.01); trait mindfulness predicts prosocial behavior (β = 0.292, 95% CI [0.253, 0.332]); and psychological capital played a partial mediation role between trait mindfulness and prosocial behaviors (β = 0.413, 95% CI [0.368, 0.459]). Furthermore, moral identity played the moderating roles between trait mindfulness and prosocial behavior (β = 0.049, 95% CI [0.011, 0.087]) and between PsyCap and prosocial behavior (β = 0.062, 95% CI [0.032, 0.092]).Trait mindfulness, psychological capital, and moral identity are conducive to the development of medical students' prosocial behavior. These findings provide evidence for the cultivation of prosocial behaviors and for the development of mental health courses, which should be tailored to medical students.

    Keywords: Prosocial Behavior, Trait mindfulness, Psychological Capital, Moral identity, Medical students, moderated mediation model

    Received: 13 May 2024; Accepted: 05 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Liu, Cao and Xu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Haibo Xu, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.