Childhood Adversity and Prosocial Behaviour in Adolescence: Testing Mediating Pathways in Ondo State

This study investigates the pathways through which childhood adversity influences prosocial behaviour in adolescence among secondary school students in Ondo State, South West Nigeria. While research predominantly examines adversity's links to negative developmental outcomes, growing evidence suggests that adversity may activate altruistic and prosocial tendencies in some individuals, contingent on mediating psychological and social factors. This research employed a cross-sectional mediation design with 420 SS1 to SS3 students in Akure and Ikare-Ekiti. Childhood adversity was assessed retrospectively using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, prosocial behaviour using the Prosocial Tendencies Measure-Revised, and hypothesised mediators including empathic concern, moral identity, and peer belonging were assessed with validated instruments. Bootstrapped mediation testing within a structural equation modelling framework was applied. Results indicate that childhood adversity does not predict prosocial behaviour directly but operates through two distinct pathways: a positive pathway through empathic concern and a negative pathway through reduced moral identity. Peer belonging moderated the empathy-prosocial behaviour relationship, amplifying prosocial tendencies in adolescents with high empathy and strong peer group membership. These findings offer nuanced insight into resilient prosocial development following adversity and recommend that school-based social-emotional learning programmes in Ondo State leverage empathy cultivation as a dual strategy for prosocial promotion and adversity buffering. Keywords: childhood adversity, prosocial behaviour, adolescence, Ondo State, empathic concern.