Four- and ten-month lagged effects of individual counseling on the prosocial behavior of young people

• A panel study surveyed 1735 and 1490 young people in two waves respectively.
• It examined individual counseling received in the youth service and school.
• The counseling showed positive lagged effects on prosocial behavior.
• The effect was weaker on the youth recruited from the youth service.

Promoting the prosocial behavior of young people is desirable. The individual counseling sessions held in schools and in youth centers can effectively promote prosocial behavior among the youth. Given the lack of relevant research on this topic, this study aims to examine how individual counseling in a natural setting contributes to the formation of prosocial behavior among the youth after four and ten months. Data from 1735 and 1490 young people came from a two-wave panel survey. The individual counseling sessions held in both schools and youth centers demonstrated significant positive effects on the prosocial behavior of young people after four and ten months. However, such an effect was weaker on those young people recruited from youth centers. These results indicate that the contributions of individual counseling are both generic and attenuated because of the abundance of functions provided in youth centers.