Maternal Behavior and the Development of Empathy in Preschool Children

Abstract

60 preschool children were administered the Borke Empathy Scale. Their mothers completed a modified version of the Rollins Child-rearing Scale. The mothers' child-rearing scores plus children's age and sex were used in a multiple regression analysis to predict the children's empathy scores. Intelligence, female gender, high support, use of reasoning, and low-rule-orientation in the home predicted higher empathy scores among preschool children. The finding that low use of rules or inconsistency was associated with high levels of empathy appears significant for understanding the relationship between child-rearing and the development of empathy. Because the Rollins Child-rearing Scale is new and psychometric analysis is limited, replication is required.