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Research Article: Empathy in Preschoolers: Exploring Profiles and Age- and Gender-Related Differences

Date Published: 2023-11-29

Abstract:
Empathy is a key skill in the daily life of preschoolers, and it is important to understand how it evolves during this crucial period of development. This paper includes two studies. The first study, which had a cross-sectional design, examined affective, cognitive, and behavioral empathy in 354 children (aged from 3 to 6 years) through a performance-based measure and questionnaires completed by their mothers. Although girls tended to have better affective empathy than boys on the performance-based task, no difference was noted in the mothers’ perceptions of their children’s empathy. Empathy dimensions varied depending on the age of the children. The hierarchical cluster analyses of the cases identified differentiated subgroups of children, according to their empathic skills in the three dimensions. The second study, which was longitudinal, used the same measures and investigated the developmental trajectory of empathy in 69 preschoolers over one year. The results showed that each empathic dimension predicted itself one year later, but did not predict the two others. The implications for potential interventions are emphasized in this study.

Introduction:
At preschool age, it is common to see children who seem to be concerned when they witness the emotions of another child or adult. They may show sadness in response to a child who is crying, or happiness for another child who has done a beautiful drawing for his or her mother. Moreover, preschoolers can display prosocial behaviors to help or comfort a child in distress. These reactions relate to empathy, defined as an emotional response which comes from the sharing and the understanding of an emotional situation…

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