Psychological Characteristics of Helpers and Non-helpers in Different Stages of Adulthood: A Comparative Study

The present study examined psychological factors associated with helping behaviour in different stages of adulthood. An attempt has been made to investigate whether there are any significant differences in wellness, distress, personality factors, personal meaning in life, and self-esteem between non-helpers and helpers who contribute either money or time to different types of organisations, namely orphanages and old age homes, across various stages of adulthood. The sample consisted of 624 men and women between 30 and 60 years of age, comprising 312 social helpers who regularly contributed to an orphanage or an old-age home by giving their time or money, and 312 non-helpers. The PGI Wellness Scale (Verma & Verma, 1989), General Health Questionnaire-12 (Goldberg, 19821), NEO Five Factor Inventory (Costa & Mc Crae, 1992), Wong’s Brief Personal Meaning Profile (Wong, 1989) and Rosenberg’s Self Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965) were individually administered to the participants. analysis of Co-variances (ANCOVA) and three-way ANOVA was used for statistical computation. Results indicated that ageing has a significant effect on helping behaviour. Helpers tend to have higher levels of wellness, personal meaning, and self-esteem, whereas non-helpers tend to have lower levels of distress. Regarding ageing, wellness and personal meaning are high in late adulthood (50 to 59), whereas distress is high in early adulthood (30 to 39). There is also a significant effect of ageing on the nature of help given and the institution. Individuals belonging to late adulthood who donate money to old age homes tend to have higher wellness and personal meaning in life. Implications are discussed in terms of prosocial behaviour contributing to the mental health of helpers, which can facilitate the inclusion of altruism as a therapeutic technique.