Everyday acts of kindness predict greater well-being during the transition to university

Abstract

From becoming a teenager to starting university, life transitions are an inevitable part of human existence. While exciting, life transitions can be stressful because they involve changes in identity, routine, and expectations. What can support people during this period of change? Informed by past research demonstrating the emotional benefits of prosocial behavior, we examined whether everyday acts of prosociality might predict well-being during a life transition using a pre-registered 6-week diary study conducted with students starting university (N = 193; 1544 observations). Consistent with pre-registered hypotheses, participants experienced higher well-being on scales capturing happiness, flourishing, thriving, optimism, resilience, anxiety and loneliness during weeks in which they completed more prosocial acts than their personal average. This research extends our understanding of the relationship between prosociality and well-being to new theoretically relevant contexts, including extended, multi-faceted personal stressors, and suggests that one potentially useful route to well-being during life transitions could be helping others.