Boost your wellbeing with more acts of kindness, study finds
Transitioning to university marks a significant milestone in a student's life. For many, it's a blend of excitement and stress. As approximately five million students embark on their post-secondary education journey each year in North America, finding ways to support their well-being becomes crucial.
New research published in Social and Personality Psychology Compass highlights a promising approach: everyday acts of kindness.
Exploring Well-Being Strategies
Traditionally, self-care methods like adequate sleep, nutritious diets, regular exercise, and mindfulness practices have been promoted to manage the stresses of university life. While these self-focused strategies are beneficial, they can sometimes backfire. Overemphasis on personal well-being can lead to rumination, where students excessively dwell on their thoughts and worries, potentially worsening their mental health.
In light of this, researchers sought to explore whether focusing outwardly on others, through acts of kindness, could enhance students' psychological well-being during the challenging transition to university life.
Previous studies have hinted at the positive impact of prosocial behavior—actions intended to benefit others—on happiness and well-being. However, whether these benefits would persist in the context of stressful life changes like starting university remained uncertain.
Tiara Cash, a PhD candidate at Simon Fraser University and the founder of Crowned Vitta LLC, led the study. "I started research in this area because I’m deeply interested in how people weather life transitions," said Cash.
"Life transitions can be an exciting but hard time for people. Big life changes are common, people move or start new jobs often. I was interested in how the life transition of beginning university might impact first-year students’ well-being, and whether people who helped others during this pivotal time experience better well-being," she continued.
Tracking Kindness and Well-Being
The research followed 193 first-year university students over the course of six weeks during their first semester. These participants were recruited from the Psychology Department’s participant pool, receiving course credit for their involvement.
Each week, the students filled out surveys evaluating their well-being and detailing their daily activities, with a particular focus on prosocial behaviors.
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To quantify these behaviors, the researchers provided a checklist of 47 common acts of kindness, ranging from sharing notes with classmates to holding doors open for others. Participants reported the types and frequencies of these actions weekly. Well-being was assessed using multiple validated scales that measured happiness, flourishing, thriving, resilience, optimism, anxiety, and loneliness.
By collecting repeated data from the same individuals, the researchers could analyze how variations in prosocial behavior correlated with changes in well-being over time.
The Power of Kindness
The results were telling. Throughout their first semester, the students consistently engaged in acts of kindness, averaging about seven different prosocial actions each week. More importantly, their well-being significantly improved in weeks when they performed more acts of kindness.
Across all seven well-being measures—happiness, flourishing, thriving, resilience, optimism, anxiety, and loneliness—students reported more positive outcomes during weeks of increased prosocial activity.
"We measured personal well-being in seven different ways in our study, and I was surprised to see people reported feeling more positive on all of them in the weeks that they did more kind acts," Cash remarked.
Interestingly, the benefits of kindness were observed regardless of whether the prosocial acts involved direct social interaction or were more solitary, such as writing a supportive message to a friend.
These findings underline the potential of prosocial behavior as a practical, yet often overlooked, strategy for supporting well-being during life transitions like starting university. "Helping others may be an effective, yet overlooked way to support your well-being when going through challenging times, like a life transition," said Cash. "In retrospect, this may not be surprising. Humans are a super-social species, so being in community and helping those in your community can be one way to feel connected and find greater happiness!”
Despite these promising results, the study has its limitations. Since it was observational, it cannot conclusively establish that prosocial behavior causes improved well-being.
Cash acknowledged this, stating, "We did not intervene to shape or alter behavior. As a result, we cannot say that prosocial acts cause higher well-being during life transitions. However, I am currently collecting data for a study that answers this exact question! And, the fact that the study was done over multiple weeks with consistent findings, this is a great first start to understanding how prosociality and well-being are connected during difficult times.”
Nevertheless, this research contributes to a growing body of evidence suggesting that helping others can be a powerful strategy for enhancing personal happiness and resilience, especially in the face of change and uncertainty.
Cash hopes that the insights from this study will extend beyond the university setting. "I would love for this research to be implemented in higher education and other institutions where people commonly face life transitions, such as addiction recovery, prenatal classes, and retirement communities," she said. "By providing people with a chance to help others as they move to a new life stage, they may find greater well-being and community.”
As new students navigate the transition to university, engaging in simple acts of kindness can be a valuable tool for fostering their psychological well-being. This approach not only benefits those who receive the kindness but also provides a meaningful boost to those who give it, reinforcing the importance of community and mutual support during times of change.
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