Pro-Social Behavior: Contributions of Religiosity, Empathic Concern, and Spirituality

Abstract

The aim of the present study is to examine the relationship between empathy, antisocial behavior, religiosity, and spirituality as causal variables of pro-social behavior. The study has also considered the influence of other variables such as age, sex, religious creed, and ethnicity in a Catholic sample of Bolivian university students. A preliminary conceptual model of empathic concern was proposed based on the studied variables. While the relationship between religiosity and pro-social behavior did not prove to be very sound, the results did show strong ties between pro-social behavior, empathy, and spirituality, revealing how these variables contribute to explaining such behavior. The output of the modeling process indicates (verified through standardized weights) that at least three of the four latent variables included in the model showed a relevant influence on pro-social behavior (empathy, religiosity, and spirituality). Antisocial behavior was dismissed as a source of an endogenous variable explanation. Although the model seems to be acceptable, some adjustments are needed to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of the empathy—a pro-social conceptual framework.