AUTHOR=Xiu Jing , Zhang Zhenduo , Fan Youqing , Zheng Junwei 

TITLE=Does Giving and Receiving Helping Behavior Fit Matter? The Role of Neighboring Behavior Fit in Working Residents' Mental Health

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=Volume 10 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.863327

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2022.863327

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=Ecological systems theory suggests that for individuals, the three domains of community, family, and work are connected and transfer resources among each other. In the community, residents receive and give helping behaviour from and to their neighbours. Neighbouring behaviour underlies interactions among residents in the community, thereby influencing the work and family domains. Building on ecological systems theory, the authors propose that the compatibility of receiving and giving helping behaviour among working residents is related to their mental health. Additionally, the authors propose that this congruence effect functions through work-family interference and meaning in life. Using a two-stage field questionnaire survey, this study collected data from 220 full-time Chinese working residents. Using polynomial regression and response surface analysis, receiving-giving neighbouring behaviour fit was found to be positively associated with mental health. Furthermore, receiving-giving neighbouring behaviour fit enhances mental health by decreasing work-family interference and promoting meaning in life. When giving and receiving neighbouring behaviour are imbalanced, working residents have higher levels of mental health when they received more neighbouring behaviour than they gave, in comparison to the condition when they gave more neighbouring behaviour than they received. Work-family interference represents inter-role conflict in which pressures from the family and work domains are mutually incompatible. Including both work to family interference and family to work interference, work-family interferences reflect the stress that working residents experience in their family and work domains. By exploring the mediating role of work-family interference, this study shows how the spillover of the benefits of neighbouring behaviour into the family and work domains enhances working residents’ mental health. This study highlights the importance of balancing receiving and giving neighbouring behaviour for maintaining mental health, thus contributing both theoretically and practically to ecological systems theory.