Empathy In Children Research Articles

Firstborn's empathy and the sibling relationship quality: The moderating role of maternal emotional availability.

This study examined how a firstborn child's empathy interacts with maternal emotional availability (EA) to predict later positive sibling relationships. The study included 108 families expecting a second child who also had a 10- to 45-month-old firstborn child (M = 24.6 months, SD = 7.42; 58 girls). Before the second-born child arrived, the firstborn child's empathic abilities were measured, and a mother-child play interaction was videotaped and coded for maternal EA. At 16-18 months postpartum, mothers completed questionnaires assessing the quality of the sibling relationship. Maternal EA moderated the link between the firstborn's cognitive and emotional empathy and the quality of the sibling relationship. Higher levels of emotional and cognitive empathy predicted better sibling relationships for children whose mothers were more emotionally available. Implications for early interventions are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

The Mediating Role of Social Interactions and Early Psychopathological Symptoms in the Relationship Between Empathy and Prosociality in Young Children with ASD and Neurotypical Peers.

This study examined the relationship between empathy, prosocial behaviour, social interactions and early psychopathological symptoms (internalising and externalising behaviours) in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and typically developing (TD) children. A total of 506 parents of children aged 18-48 months participated in this study. The parents of 92 children with ASD and 414 neurotypical children completed the Empathy Questionnaire, the Child Prosocial Behaviour Questionnaire, and the Emotional and Social Development Questionnaire. The results confirmed the direct relationship between empathy and prosocial behaviour in both groups. However, the findings showed a different pattern of the indirect relationship between empathy and prosociality through the social dimensions in the children with ASD compared to their typically developing peers. In the children with ASD, there was only one significant indirect path from empathy to prosocial behaviour - through internalising behaviours (anxiety). Anxiety also played a moderating role in this relationship. The higher the anxiety, the stronger the relationship between empathy and prosociality. In the neurotypical group, social interactions were a significant mediator, strengthening the relationship between empathy and prosocial behaviour. Externalising behaviours weakened this relationship. Intergroup and gender differences were also examined. These findings may have practical implications for social skills training programmes based on behavioural interventions by highlighting the importance of prosocial behaviour for social interaction and protection against psychopathological problems in children with autism and typically developing children.

The Role of Folklore in Building Character and Early Childhood Language Skills

This study explores the role of folklore in shaping the character and language skills of early childhood learners. Folklore, rich in cultural values and moral lessons, serves as an effective medium for instilling virtues such as empathy, respect, and responsibility in young children. Through storytelling, children not only engage with the narratives but also enhance their linguistic abilities, including vocabulary acquisition, comprehension, and narrative skills. The research employs a qualitative approach, gathering data through observations, interviews with educators, and analyses of children's responses during storytelling sessions. The findings indicate that incorporating folklore into early education significantly promotes moral development and language proficiency among children. Furthermore, it highlights the necessity of integrating cultural narratives into educational practices to foster a holistic learning environment. The study underscores the importance of folklore as a vital tool for educators in nurturing the character and language skills of young learners, ultimately contributing to their overall development

“Empathy for children is often missing”: a mixed methods analysis of a German forum on COVID-19 pandemic measures

BackgroundThe pandemic and its preventive measures disrupted daily routines and posed unforeseen obstacles for families. Users of public online forums chronicled these challenges by freely expressing their sentiments in unrestricted text-length formats. We explored a German COVID-19 forum to understand family perspectives and experiences of pandemic measures, particularly in terms of testing and vaccinating children. Our findings aim to inform future epidemic health policies.MethodsWe retrieved all 11,207 entries from a COVID-19 forum during its lifespan (June 2020 - December 2021), posted during the height of the pandemic. We classified the entries into topic clusters including general pandemic situation, testing, or vaccination using state-of-the-art text embeddings and clustering algorithms. The clusters were selected based on the research’s aims and analysed qualitatively using a health policy triangle framework.ResultsUsers generally appreciated pandemic public health safety measures for everyone’s protection, yet voiced concerns about inconsistent policies and disproportional disadvantages for children compared to other societal groups, like the elderly. Non-compliers were overwhelmingly regarded with skepticism and critiqued. Users found COVID-19 (exit) strategies and information about the benefits of vaccination unclear. This created hurdles for parents and caregivers in navigating their children’s school and social life. Users endorsed vaccinating children mainly for “normalising” children’s lives rather than for their physical health benefits. Some users suggested prioritising teachers and early childhood educators on the vaccination eligibility list to speed up a return to “normality”.ConclusionsDuring pandemics, governments should prioritize addressing the societal and mental health needs of children by implementing participatory and family-oriented public health measures for schools and kindergartens. Clear communication coupled with consistent design and implementation of safety measures and regulations, would be crucial for building trust in the general population and for ensuring compliance regarding testing and vaccination. Communicating the benefits and risks of vaccinating children is of paramount importance for informed decision-making among parents. In future epidemics, computer-aided analysis of large online qualitative data would offer valuable insights into public sentiments and concerns, enabling proactive and adaptive epidemic responses.

Development and validation of the Parental Affection/Warmth Scale (PAWS) in a sample of parents of 2- to 8-year-olds.

Parental warmth is a treatment target of emerging interventions for children with callous-unemotional traits. However, research to date has yet to examine the empirical structure of parental warmth toward young children due to the lack of clinically feasible, psychometrically sound, and comprehensive measures of warmth for this population. To address this knowledge gap, the present study developed and tested the psychometric properties of a self-report measure of parental warmth, the Parental Affection/Warmth Scale (PAWS). A sample of 899 parents of 2- to 8-year-old children (M = 4.77 years, SD = 1.95; 46.1% girls) was recruited online using Amazon's Mechanical Turk and CloudResearch. Exploratory factor analysis identified a novel three-factor structure: Warmth, Toddler-oriented Interaction, and Play-based Interaction, which was validated by a confirmatory factor analysis. However, only the PAWS Warmth subscale functioned consistently with theoretical expectations. PAWS Warmth scores were internally consistent; convergent with existing positive parenting scales; discriminant from negative parenting scales; and concurrent with child empathy, callous-unemotional traits, and conduct problems. Findings have implications for refining treatment targets for interventions focused on enhancing parental warmth. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Family cohesion moderates the inverted U-shaped curve between resting RSA and children’s empathy

Resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and family cohesion may jointly influence children’s empathy. Resting RSA has been found to exhibit an inverted U-shaped relation with empathy, and family cohesion is a psychosocial correlate of children’s empathy that may moderate this relation. The present study recruited 182 first-grade children as participants (87 girls, Mage = 7.02, SDage = 0.36). Parents completed questionnaires to assess family cohesion and children’s empathy. The SOMNOtouch RESP device was utilized to collect resting electrocardiogram data and calculate resting RSA. The results showed that family cohesion significantly moderated the inverted U-shaped curve between resting RSA and children’s empathy. High family cohesion served as a protective factor in mitigating the negative impact of high resting RSA on empathy but could not buffer the negative effect of extremely low resting RSA on empathy among children. The findings suggest a role for high family cohesion in promoting empathy in children with moderate to high resting RSA.

Playful enactive interventions can enhance agency, empathy and social integration in children

Theoretical frameworkPlay is vital for children's healthy development and growth. According to the enactive framework, play can foster socialization, self-regulation and cognitive processing. When children become active participants in pleasurable activities, they engage with their environment in diverse ways, engendering new meanings and transforming existing ones. Previous studies have shown that social integration and agency can be cultivated from an early age. Purpose or motivationIn the current study we review prior research, taking into consideration the enactive approach. From this perspective, we revalue play as a particularly fruitful activity, which enables embodied interactions between peers, contributing to participatory sense-making processes. This study examines the impact of playful enactive interventions on transformative agency and social integration. MethodsThe study involved 161 children aged 6–8 years, who attended four schools in Bariloche, Argentina. We conducted enactive interventions which propitiated playful affective instances through non-competitive play and self-awareness practices. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were performed to evaluate changes in social integration and agency in children. ResultsThe children showed changes both in the social domain - including peer relationships, empathy and classroom climate - and in their capacity for agency and emotional regulation. In addition, most children reported that they continued to use the self-awareness practices in stressful situations outside of school. ConclusionThe present study reveals that playful enactive interventions can foster agency and empathy during childhood. Embodied experiences within playful contexts may have enabled participatory sense-making processes that contributed to the recreation of peer relationships.

Menumbuhkan Empati dan Toleransi Mencetak Generasi Muda Bebas Bullying

Bullying behavior is now a special concern in all circles, especially in elementary schools. Starting from trivial teasing of his friend, in the long term it became a serious problem, because it had an emotional and psychological impact. Bullies are sometimes unaware of the actions they are taking, if they are very painful for the victim. In several cases found, children who bullied those who were older, more powerful, and felt famous among their friends. Meanwhile, those who are victims of bullying are those who are smaller in body size and come from economically disadvantaged families. There is a need to foster a sense of empathy and respect for children, whether they are perpetrators or victims.

Effects Of Bilingualism On Emotional Intelligence & Cognition Of Pakistani ESL Learners

This study draws a comparison between emotional intelligence & cognitive abilities of bilingual and monolingual English Language Learners in Pakistan. The sample was young learners having monolingual and bilingual/multilingual background. The model highlighted three perspectives of cognition and IQ in bilingual children, i.e. social, psychological and societal. The model deals with the idea that bilingualism is greatly affected by the socio-cultural phenomena and the way society values a language. The emotional intelligence portion[1] of our questionnaire is based on Kids’ Empathetic Development Scale. It assesses cognitive and behavioral components of empathy in children. Moreover, the ability model is used for emotional intelligence. This model has four different abilities which are interrelated such as the ability to perceive emotions, reasoning with emotions, understanding and managing emotions. Children’s emotional development is also assessed using parental responses to the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), which screens for children’s antisocial behavior, hyperactivity (inattention), emotional symptoms, and peer relationship problems. Inductive approach thematic analysis was done to analyse data (Braun & Clarke, 2021). The results imply that bilingual children have higher IQ and EQ as compared to monolingual English Language Learners.

Empathy in autistic children: Emotional overarousal in response to others' physical pain.

Different empathic responses are often reported in autism but remain controversial. To investigate which component of empathy is most affected by autism, we examined the affective, cognitive, and motivational components of empathy in 25 5- to 8-year-old autistic and 27 neurotypical children. Participants were presented with visual stimuli depicting people's limbs in painful or nonpainful situations while their eye movements, pupillary responses, and verbal ratings of pain intensity and empathic concern were recorded. The results indicate an emotional overarousal and reduced empathic concern to others' pain in autism. Compared with neurotypical children, autistic children displayed larger pupil dilation accompanied by attentional avoidance to others' pain. Moreover, even though autistic children rated others in painful situations as painful, they felt less sorry than neurotypical children. Interestingly, autistic children felt more sorry in nonpainful situations compared with neurotypical children. These findings demonstrated an emotional overarousal in response to others' pain in autistic children, and provide important implications for clinical practice aiming to promote socio-emotional understanding in autistic children.

Brazilian children’s theories of empathy: Exploring character through art

ABSTRACT Though academic research and public policy have directed much attention to how education can promote empathy in children, fewer studies have examined exactly how children define empathy. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Brazilian NGO Usina da Imaginação engaged in a long series of arts and storytelling workshops with children across the socioeconomic spectrum and then used research methods from ethnography, literary studies, and documentary film to hear children’s ideas and theories about alterity, solidarity, and empathy. These interviews showed that for this group of children, art is a transpersonal feeling: one girl described music as a synapse capable not only of connecting neurons within a brain, but of connecting one brain with another. A close genealogy of these children’s theories shows how they emerge from both indigenous and afro-Brazilian practices of esthetic sociality, valuing being-together as a principal element of human flourishing and valuing collective art as a privileged part of that process.

Validation of the Chinese Empathy Questionnaire for Pre-School Children

ABSTRACT Research Findings: Empathy plays an important role in children’s early social-emotional development. However, there are not many instruments available for measuring the different aspects/levels of empathy in preschool children. Moreover, few studies examined the validity of the existing measures for empathy in Chinese children. The present study tested the Chinese version of the Empathy Questionnaire (EmQue) upon a group of Chinese preschool children (N = 182) aged from 2 to 6 years. The Chinese EmQue is a parent-report translated from Dutch that assesses the behavioral manifestations of three distinct levels of empathy: emotion contagion, attention to others’ feelings, and prosocial behaviors among preschool children. Confirmatory factor analysis showed satisfactory goodness-of-fit indexes for a three-level structure with 19 loading items. The results of concurrent validity showed that the three levels of empathy were functioning differently in the early social-emotional development. Practice or Policy: We could conclude that the 19-item Chinese EmQue is a valid, reliable instrument for measuring empathy in 2- to 6-year-old children in the Chinese context.

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE STORYTELLING METHOD USING FOLKTALES ON EARLY CHILDHOOD EMPATHY BEHAVIOR AT VILLA BETA KINDERGARTEN PADANG CITY

Storytelling provides opportunities for children to develop empathy for the world around them. This study was conducted with the aim of seeing the effectiveness of the storytelling approach on early childhood empathy behavior at Villa Beta Kindergarten, Padang City. Respondents in this study were 7 students of Villa Beta Kindergarten with 5 female respondents and 2 male respondents. The research design used in this study is an experimental design of the One-Group Pretest-Posttest Design type. Data collection was carried out using an empathy scale modified from Davis (1980), the empathy scale consists of four main aspects, namely perspective taking, fantasy, empathic concern, and personal distress. The resulting significance is p = 0.028 <0.05 so that the results obtained from this study are that there are significant differences in children's empathy behavior after treatment in the form of storytelling methods.

Rethinking child aggression beyond traditional labels: A ‘shared victimhood’ approach to child-to-child violence in Nigeria

Child-to-child violence is a pervasive problem in schools and communities worldwide. Traditional models for understanding this violence often present a clear dichotomy between aggressive children and passive victims. However, this binary approach has proven largely inadequate in recognizing the power dynamics and potential victimization of both parties involved, resulting in interventions that have little to no success in rehabilitation. Alternatively, this paper proposes a "shared victimhood" approach, arguing that violent behavior may result from a cycle of negative experiences in which both the aggressor and the victim are positioned as products of their environment. In essence, the paper explores the limitations of binary labeling and the potential of the shared victimhood framework. It reviews relevant research on the ecological factors influencing child aggression, highlighting the impact of family background, early childhood experiences, and social learning. Drawing on ecological theory, the paper emphasizes the importance of early intervention and prevention strategies that address the root causes of aggression while fostering empathy and resilience in children. It also recommends that states in Nigeria establish LGA-specific child counseling centers and rehabilitation facilities attached to the health care system that cater exclusively to the needs of abused children. Finally, the paper suggests areas for future research to further develop and refine the shared victimhood perspective.

Empathy across three generations: From maternal and peer support in adolescence to adult parenting and child outcomes.

This study examined the development of empathic care across three generations in a sample of 184 adolescents in the United States (99 female, 85 male; 58% White, 29% African American, 8% mixed race/ethnicity, 5% other groups), followed from their family of origin at age 13 into their parenting years (through their mid-30s). Mothers' empathic support toward adolescents at age 13 predicted teens' empathy for close friends across adolescence (13-19 years). Participants' empathic support for friends in late adolescence predicted more supportive parenting behavior in adulthood, which in turn was associated with their children's empathy at age 3-8 years. Results suggest that individuals "pay forward" the empathic care they receive from parents, and that skills developed in adolescent friendships may inform later parenting.

Enhancing perspective-taking and empathy in children with autism spectrum disorder through asymmetric VR games and peer collaboration

ABSTRACT Children with ASD experience pervasive social cognitive impairments, primarily manifested as challenges in social communication and reciprocal social behavior. These inherent deficits indirectly affect the development, based on the Theory of Mind, and empathy capacity in children with ASD, which are crucial in developing social skills and communicative interaction abilities. Research suggests that children with ASD struggle to judge and interpret the intentions, behaviors, and metaphors involved in social interaction. This impacts their abilities to engage in effective interpersonal communication and social interaction. Therefore, the present study developed a tool called Share VR. This asymmetric VR technology combines peer collaboration and cooperative games to hone the empathetic abilities in children with ASD. The objective is to stimulate the application of their abilities while enhancing their understanding of others’ behavioral intentions. In the experimental verification phase, the study recruited five children with ASD and three typically developing children to participate in Asymmetric VR multiplayer games. The games involved cooperation, competition, and exploration across three different game levels. Further, we used a three-stage experimental validation using a multiple-baseline across subjects design to confirm whether this method effectively enables children with ASD to acquire empathy through peer collaboration, game participation, and cooperative assistance.

Fostering empathy through critical literacy in early childhood education in Colombia

ABSTRACT In Colombia, some educational settings, particularly territories with high levels of educational inequality, uphold conventional teaching strategies where emotional education and critical thinking receive little attention. This study is rooted in our intention to contribute to peace education in early childhood educational environments by fostering critical thinking and empathy, a predictor of prosocial behavior in children. The aim of this study is, first, that young children develop empathy by recognizing situations of oppression and injustice in children’s literature using critical literacy practices; and second, to contribute to young children’s development of critical thinking. Utilizing Critical Discourse Analysis, we suggest that critical literacy practices enhance empathy and critical thinking in young children through three strategies: reading selected children’s literature aloud, responding through multimodal texts, and having an open dialogue about critical issues that affect children in local communities. This article contributes to the literature about literacy, empathy development, and peace education with young children.

Guidance Counseling Techniques Through Muhasabah Qur'an and It’s Implication For Altruism Attitudes

This article aims to explain guidance and counseling techniques through muhasabah Qur'ani in strengthening children's empathy at the Madrasah Aliyah Negeri 03 Jember. The researcher used a case study approach. The research instrument is the researcher himself (key information) using data collection techniques, interviews, observation, and documentation. Data analysis uses three stages: data condensation, data display, description, and conclusion, by testing the validity of the data through data triangulation and dependability. The research results concluded that the initial process carried out by the school and guidance and counseling teachers was identifying the problems and needs that occurred to students. The second is to give an analogy with the stories in verse in the Koran. The third is group counseling. The group guidance implemented at the Madrasah Aliyah Negeri 03 Jember helps new students to be able to carry out teaching and learning activities optimally and to become students who excel, have good morals, and have faith and piety. In the theoretical framework above, it has been explained that children with muhasabah qur'ani counseling techniques can have a confident attitude, can control their emotions, can get along well with friends, are independent, successful in learning, are socially responsible and care about the environment.

Early Empathy: Impact of Digital Storytelling, Traditional-Storytelling, and Gender on Early Childhood

Stories are good media for enhancing emotional intelligence and empathy. Therefore, early childhoods know how to empathize with the figure of the story through storytelling. This research objective is to investigate the impact of digital storytelling and traditional storytelling as a learning media and gender on empathy in early childhood. This research is experimental with treatment by level 2 x 2 research design. The data collection instrument uses an observation sheet in the form of an early childhood empathy Rating Scale. The results of this research showed children who got the digital storytelling intervention had more empathy than children who got the traditional storytelling. Moreover, digital storytelling is more suitable for fostering empathy in the male gender compared with traditional storytelling. On another hand, traditional story-telling is more suitable for enhancing empathy in the female gender.

Measuring dispositional empathy in South African children.

Empathy is a key factor to examine in development, because of its predictive associations with both aggression and successful prosocial behaviour. However, established measures of empathy for Low-to-Middle Income Countries, including South Africa, are lacking. In children, parent-report measures are key. However, a local study examining empathy and aggression (Malcolm-Smith et al., 2015) found poor psychometric performance for a widely used parent-report measure of dispositional empathy, the Griffith Empathy Measure (GEM). We thus investigated which of two questionnaires measuring dispositional cognitive and affective empathy perform better in this context. We contrasted internal consistency reliability of a simplified version of the GEM (SGEM; n = 160) and a parent-report version of the Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy (QCAE; n = 440) in a low-mid socio-economic status sample. Convergence between the measures and factor structure were also assessed. The parent-report version of the QCAE performed well as a measure of child dispositional cognitive and affective empathy, with good reliability (overall α = 0.90 vs. SGEM α = .63), and confirmatory factor analysis supporting the two-factor structure. The SGEM's reliability and failure to correlate with QCAE indicated poor psychometric performance. This is the first psychometric evaluation of the QCAE as a parent-report measure, and our results indicate that it should prove useful for future assessments of dispositional empathy in children across a variety of contexts.