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Altruism and Existential Well-Being

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Abstract

Recent empirical research has established that a strong purpose in life, what has been called existential well-being, has important implications in many health and behavioral outcomes. However, what factors contribute to a strong purpose in life, and the role of altruistic values and behaviors specifically, has not been well-studied. A body of literature has emphasized having a strong sense of a common bond with all humanity as the “heart” of altruism. Does a strong sense of a common bond lead to a strong purpose in life? If it does, will it do so directly or through altruistic values and behaviors generated by it? Using a national survey of 1207 US adults, this study aims to investigate links between the sense of a common bond, altruism, and existential wellbeing. We elaborate altruism into four levels of extensity, depending on whether it is directed towards family, friends, the local community, or the entire world. Results from structural equation modeling indicated that altruism at different levels of extensity accounted for over half of the variation in existential well-being. Altruistic acts and values that extended beyond family, friends, and local community offered greater benefits for existential well-being than those focusing on the “near and dear”. We also found that the sense of a common bond underlay altruism at all levels of extensity. However, this bond mattered to existential well-being only when it was realized in altruistic attitudes and acts, especially ones toward the whole world.

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Notes

  1. It is possible that our results might be different if we had used a scale that incorporated these types of items. The most we can say is that it is at least plausible that a belief in a common bond would support the feeling that one is connected with others, as well as an identity that defines self in terms of connection to others. Our single-item measure was inspired by Monroe’s (1996, 2004) nuanced qualitative research and we hope to use a broader range of measures in future work, such as the Identification With All Humanity Scale (McFarland, Webb, and Brown 2012).

  2. There was a motivation item used in measuring altruism toward the whole world. Because none of other extensity constructs had a motivation item, we conducted additional sensitivity analysis on this item. Specifically, we deleted this item from the analysis and compared results with the reported ones. The path coefficients reported in Fig. 2 were barely changed. The full model without the item still had a good fit to the data. The only difference we have noticed was that the reliability for the factor “World” dropped to .57, which meant the internal consistency among the items for “World” was not as high after we deleted the motivation item. Because the item did not change the main results, but including it improved the internal consistency of the construct “World”, we kept it in the analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, University of Akron, Akron, OH, 44325-1905, USA

    Juan Xi, Matthew Lee, William LeSuer, Peter Barr, Katherine Newton & Margaret Poloma

Authors
  1. Juan Xi
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  2. Matthew Lee
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  3. William LeSuer
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  4. Peter Barr
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  5. Katherine Newton
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  6. Margaret Poloma
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Correspondence to Juan Xi.

Appendices

Appendix 1

Existential Well-Being Instrument

Respondents were asked whether they “Strongly agree” (coded 4), “Agree” (3), “Disagree” (2), or “Strongly disagree” (1) with the following statement:

Mematter: I believe my life matters to others.

Mepurpos: I have a strong sense of purpose that directs my life

Altruism Instrument

Respondents were asked whether they “Strongly agree” (coded 4), “Agree” (3), “Disagree” (2), or “Strongly disagree” (1) with the following statement:

Altruism towards family (Fam)

Famhelp: When my loved ones are having problems, I do all I can to help them.

Famkind: When someone in my family is upset or discouraged, I make a special effort to be kind.

Altruism towards friends (Frd)

Frdfavor: I enjoy doing favors for people I know.

Frdhelp: It is important to me personally to be helpful to friends, neighbors.

Altruism towards local community(Com)

Comasist: I go out of my way to assist people in my community who are struggling.

Comaid: I have often come to the aid of a stranger who seemed to be having difficulty.

Altruism towards the whole world (Wrd)

Wrdbetter: It is important for me to leave this world better than I found it.

Wrdsuprt: I actively support causes around the world that seek to help the less fortunate.

Wrdhuman: My efforts are motivated by a desire to help humanity in some way.

Appendix 2

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Xi, J., Lee, M., LeSuer, W. et al. Altruism and Existential Well-Being. Applied Research Quality Life 12, 67–88 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-016-9453-z

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