PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR IN THE CONTEXT OF MENTAL HEALTH OF UKRAINIAN ADOLESCENTS

Abstract

This article is an empirical study that was conducted to study 589 students’ prosocial behavior in the context of mental health. Analysis of the literature showed that the problem of prosocial behavior of adolescents is still not fully explored in Ukraine. Thus, the purpose of the study was to determine the relationships between prosocial behavior and the socio-psychological characteristics of high school students. At the first stage of the study we formed a scale of prosocial behavior of adolescents Then we analyzed the relationships between prosocial behavior and following parameters: age; gender, number of siblings; birth order; living with mother; living with father; faith in God; affiliation with religion; religious denomination; presence of chronic illnesses; presence of psychosomatic disorders; self-harm behavior; psychological bullying and physical bullying; overall health score; number of close friends; depression; overall Internet addiction score; parental involvement, objective loneliness and subjective loneliness, change of place of residence and statements: “On average, how many hours per night do you sleep?”, “How many hours per day on average do you use the Internet for non-essential purposes”, “Importance of friends and acquaintances”; “Have you ever had sexual intercourse?”; “For the last 2 weeks, most students have been kind and helpful”; “Sometimes people like me less than they may like others”.
As a result of the study of students of secondary schools in Odesa, it was determined that girls demonstrated a higher level of prosocial behavior. It was noted that adolescents of both sexes with a high level of prosocial behavior identified higher levels of parental involvement, were more religious, felt better, identified friends and their importance, and considered their peers kind and helpful. Adolescents with the lower level of prosocial behavior suffered from psychosomatic disorders more often, experienced depression and were addicted to the Internet. Male adolescents with low prosocial behavior were found to be more likely to have sexual intercourses.