Empathy and juvenile delinquency: A meta-analytic review

Abstract

The primay aim of this review was to study existing knowledge on the relationship between empathy and juvenile official delinquency. We conducted a meta-analytic review taking into account the differences between cognitive empathy and affective empathy. Only those studies based on official delinquency records in the applicable country were included. Therefore, all studies focusing on antisocial behaviors, traits such as aggressiveness and/or behavioral problems were excluded. As a result, we retrieved a total of 39 studies about the relationship between cognitive empathy and delinquency, and 52 studies about the affective empathy. The results found a moderated effect size (r = -.220) in the case of cognitive empathy and quite lower effect size for the affective empathy (r = -.140). We also analyzed a set of moderating variables such as methodologic and sociodemographic variables. These variables have a potential moderating effect. Its importance on future researches as well as on the sociopsychological development of this population are disscussed.