DETERMINANTS OF THE ONLINE PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

The COVID-19 pandemic has a signifi-cant negative impact on people's life and behavior. This happens due to circum-stances beyond the control of people, which lead to social isolation, increase in fear, anxiety, and other negative feelings and states. However, these negative feel-ings and states may have not only nega-tive consequences, but also trigger proso-cial behavior as a coping strategy. Prosocial behavior online is a relatively new domain of prosocial behavior devel-oped due to an increase in ICT use in recent decades. Prosocial behavior online is more safe and less costly than offline one, and thus can be more relevant in times of the pandemic. This research was aimed at identifying the relationship between negative emotional states actu-alized by the COVID-19 pandemic (fear of COVID-19, stress, anxiety, depres-sion) and prosocial behavior online. Cross-sectional study was conducted on a Russian sample (N=215) with the help of such instruments as Scale of Prosocial Behavior in an Online Context, Fear of COVID-19 scale and DASS-21. Regres - sion analysis has shown that fear and anxiety contributed to prosocial behav-ior online, while depression inhibited it. The relationship between stress level and prosocial behavior online was not statis-tically significant. The results are dis-cussed considering arousal potential of different negative emotional states.