Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Comment
  • Published:

Prosociality should be a public health priority

Nature Human Behaviour volume 7, pages 2051–2053 (2023)Cite this article

Subjects

An Author Correction to this article was published on 09 November 2023

This article has been updated

Hopelessness and despair threaten health and longevity. We urgently need strategies to counteract these effects and improve population health. Prosociality contributes to better mental and physical health for individuals, and for the communities in which they live. We propose that prosociality should be a public health priority.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: A conceptual model of prosociality and population health.

Change history

References

  1. Maffly-Kipp, J., Eisenbeck, N., Carreno, D. F. & Hicks, J. Soc. Sci. Med. 285, 114275 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  2. Shanahan, L. & Copeland, W. E. JAMA Psychiatry 78, 695–696 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. Sachs, J. D. et al. Lancet 400, 1224–1280 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Hui, B. P. H., Ng, J. C. K., Berzaghi, E., Cunningham-Amos, L. A. & Kogan, A. Psychol. Bull. 146, 1084–1116 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Lamont, M. Br. J. Sociol. 70, 660–707 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. UN DESA. The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2022 - July 2022 (UN DESA, 2022).

  7. Levine, G. N. et al. J. Am. Heart Assoc. 6, e002218 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  8. Schreier, H. M. C., Schonert-Reichl, K. A. & Chen, E. JAMA Pediatr. 167, 327–332 (2013).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Hirshberg, M. J. et al. J. Educ. Psychol. 114, 1895–1911 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  10. Carlson, M. C. et al. Alzheimers Dement. 11, 1340–1348 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  11. Van Doesum, N. J. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 118, e2023846118 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  12. Berwick, D. M. J. Am. Med. Assoc. 324, 225–226 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Paarlberg, L. E., Nesbit, R., Choi, S. Y. & Moss, R. Voluntas 33, 1-7-20 (2022).

  14. Flook, L., Goldberg, S. B., Pinger, L. & Davidson, R. J. Dev. Psychol. 51, 44–51 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Ogilvie, D. et al. J. Epidemiol. Community Health 74, 203–208 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors thank J. Farmer for his invaluable assistance with reviewing and synthesizing relevant literature.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Elissa S. Epel

    Present address: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    Laura D. Kubzansky

  2. Center for Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA

    Richard J. Davidson

Authors
  1. Laura D. Kubzansky
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Elissa S. Epel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Richard J. Davidson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Laura D. Kubzansky.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

R.J.D. is the founder and president of the non-profit corporation Healthy Minds Innovations. The remaining authors declare no competing interests.

Peer review

Peer review information

Nature Human Behaviour thanks Gustavo Carlo, Roxanne Keynejad, and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Kubzansky, L.D., Epel, E.S. & Davidson, R.J. Prosociality should be a public health priority. Nat Hum Behav 7, 2051–2053 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-023-01717-3

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-023-01717-3

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing