Are older adults more prosocial than younger adults? A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Prosociality refers to voluntary behaviors that intend to benefit others. Most of the existing literature suggests that older adults tend to act more prosocially compared to younger adults, whereas some studies show that older adults might not be that prosocial under certain conditions. The current study aimed to summarize the mixed findings and quantify the age difference in prosociality by conducting a qualitative systematic review and a quantitative meta-analysis. Research Design and Methods: Literature search was conducted based on 5 databases. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines were followed and this review was registered at PROSPERO (CRD42022333373). Results: Based on the qualitative synthesis of 51 studies, older adults (n = 109,911) were more prosocial than younger adults (n = 68,501). The meta-analysis of 46 studies further supported this age effect (Hedges’ g = 0.31, 95% confidence interval [0.24, 0.37]), and this age effect might be moderated by the types of prosociality. We discovered a moderate age effect in sharing (Hedges’ g = 0.53), but a nonsignificant age effect in helping (Hedges’ g = 0.11), comforting (Hedges’ g = −0.20), or mixed prosociality (Hedges’ g = 0.15). Additionally, the age effect was only significant when older adults had higher socioeconomic status than younger adults. Discussion and Implications: Future research should develop more comprehensive measures of prosociality, examine more variables that influence aging and prosociality, and investigate the neural mechanism(s) of prosociality to achieve a thorough understanding of the age difference in prosociality.