Environmental contributions to empathy development in young children

Initially referred to as Einfühlung or “feeling into” (Lipps, 1905, 1926), empathy is considered to be one of the most important human qualities. It is an integral means of knowing and relating to others (Eisenberg & Mussen, 1989; Feshbach, 1982), and has been shown to mediate aggression (Feshbach, 1975b, 1984) and facilitate prosocial behavior (Eisenberg, 1987; Sezov, 2002). Theoretically, empathy, which is proposed to facilitate the internalization of guilt, has been viewed as the primary motivator of moral behavior and justice (Hoffman, 2000). Considering its importance, it is necessary to achieve an understanding of its development and those environmental influences that facilitate its development.;Thus, the goal of this study was to investigate the relationships between various environmental factors and empathy development in the young child. These factors include parenting style, parent empathy, and prior formal socialization experiences. This study sought to understand (1) the relationships between these variables and empathy development in young children, and also (2) the interrelationships among the factors to ascertain how they combine to influence empathy development. Demographic variables, such as family income, age of the child, education level of the parents, and the number of siblings and adults in the home were also considered.;One hundred and seven children ages four through seven and their parents participated in this study. Children completed an affective empathy measure in the form of a picture storybook. They were read eight short stories depicting either a child or a dog experiencing one of four emotion-provoking situations (happiness, sadness, anger, fear). In addition, 86 mothers and 46 fathers completed the Parenting Practices Questionnaire (PPQ)(Robinson, Mandleco, Olsen & Hart, 1995), based on Baumrind's (1971) authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive parenting typologies, and Mehrabian's (2000) Balanced Emotional Empathy Scale (BEES). Parents also completed a demographic information sheet that included questions about the child's attendance in a preschool/daycare program, family income level, parent age and education level, and employment status. Pearson correlations and a series of stepwise multiple regression equations were conducted to ascertain the relationships between the variables.;Results indicate that a few component parenting practices, as opposed to a particular broad parenting typology, related to empathy development, and that the parenting factors differed according to parent gender and the gender of the child. A significant main effect was found for paternal warmth and involvement as a positive predictor of empathy development, particularly for sons. Other significant paternal variables included directiveness and the use or nonuse of corporal punishment. Mother's parenting variables had weaker relationships, overall. One unexpected finding was that maternal warmth and involvement was negatively related to empathy development in girls. Predictors varied slightly according to the emotion (happiness, sadness, anger, fear) depicted in the story, the story protagonist, and type of empathy assessed (cognitive, affective, or combined). Parent empathy was not found to be related to child empathy, but was significantly related to some maternal parenting factors in the predicted direction. Possible explanations for the outcomes are discussed as well as directions for future research.