CAREGIVING AND PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR: ATTACHMENT, EMPATHY AND AUTONOMOUS MOTIVES TO VOLUNTEER FOR PEOPLE IN NEED

Although most people probably care more easily for those to whom they are closely related, most caregiving motives and behaviors can be applied more widely to all suffering human beings. The Caregiving System (CS) has been hypothesized as a motivational key constituent of caring to others who are in need. The first aim of this study was to investigate whether differences in the activation of the CS (Hyperactivation, Deactivation), measured by means of the Caregiving System Scale (CSS), are related to individual’s attachment orientation and empathic tendency. The CSS (Italian version; Meneghini et al., 2015) has been administrated to 410 university students (Mage=22.08; SD=4.74; females=61.1%). Attachment orientation and empathic tendency have been assessed by means of the Attachment Style Questionnaire and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index. According to our expectations, correlations and multiple regressions indicated that an avoidant attachment orientation and low levels of Perspective Taking and Empathic Concern were significantly associated and made a significant contribution to CSS Deactivation scores. On the other hand, anxious attachment orientation and high level of Personal Distress (IRI) were also significantly associated and made a significant contribution to CSS Hyperactivation scores. A further goal of this study was to examine the associations between differences in CS functioning and the quality of individual’s motivation to volunteer for people in need (controlled, autonomous). For this reason some participants (N=40), more specifically those students who serve as volunteers with disadvantaged people at the Centro Disabili di Ateneo, were also asked to complete the Volunteer Motivation Scale (Meneghini, 2013). The correlation between the index of relatively selfdetermined motivation (Güntert et al., 2016) and the CSS scores showed that who volunteer on the basis of more autonomous motives report lower scores of CSS Deactivation (r= -.707; p<.01).