Parent attachment and prosocial behaviors in Asian Indian young adults : prosocial moral reasoning and respect for family as intervening mechanisms

Abstract

The primary goal of this study was to examine the intervening roles of prosocial moral reasoning and respect for family in associations between parent attachment and prosocial behaviors in Asian Indian young adults. Participants of this study included 281 Asian Indian young adults (60.5% female; M age [equals] 21.45 years). Path analyses were conducted to assess relations among parental attachment, prosocial moral reasoning, respect for family, and multiple types of prosocial behaviors. Parent attachment was positively associated with both respect for family and prosocial moral reasoning. In turn, respect for family was positively associated with emotional, compliant, dire, and anonymous prosocial behaviors, while prosocial moral reasoning was positively associated with altruistic and negatively associated with public prosocial behaviors. Prosocial moral reasoning and respect for family were positively intercorrelated with each other. Parent attachment was also directly related to emotional and compliant prosocial behaviors at the trend level. The findings of the study were robust across men and women. Discussion focuses on the importance of both general and culture-specific mechanisms in explaining links between parenting and prosocial behaviors in Asian Indian young adults.