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The Mediating Effect of Empathy on the Relation Between Child Self-Expressiveness in Family and Prosocial Behaviors

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Abstract

Objective

The present study aimed to examine children’s self-expressivity in family and its relation to social emotional competence. Specifically, we examined the mediating effects of empathy on the relations between child self-expressivity in family and prosocial behaviors.

Methods

A sample of 982 (63% female) 7–9th grade students in Seoul, South Korea were given a survey, which measured self-expressivity in family, cognitive and affective empathy, and PSB towards strangers and acquaintances. Structural equation modeling was used to assess the hypothesized structural relationships among latent variables.

Results

Results indicated that children’s positive expressivity in family had significant indirect effects on PSB toward strangers via cognitive empathy for both males (β = 0.25, p < 0.05) and females (β = 0.17, p < 0.05), but only significant indirect effects on PSB toward acquaintances via cognitive empathy for females (β = 0.14, p < 0.05). Children’s negative expressivity in family had significant indirect effects on PSB toward strangers via cognitive empathy for only males (β = 0.12, p < 0.05), and no significant indirect effects on PSB toward acquaintances via cognitive empathy for both gender groups. Affective empathy did not significantly mediate relations between self-expressivity and PSB. Overall, children who showed more positive expressivity and less negative expressivity in family tended to show more PSB.

Conclusions

Our findings indicated the promotion of positive expressivity in the home would be associated with increased cognitive empathy, and in turn, with more PSB in children.

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Author Contributions

E.E.K.: designed the study, wrote the initial manuscript, and made the major revisions. S.Y.: collected data, ran analyses, and wrote the results. J.K.: collaborated with writing some sections of the initial manuscript and worked on the minor revisions for the final revision.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, North Carolina State University, 640 Poe Hall, Campus Box 7650, Raleigh, NC, 27695-7650, USA

    Eui Kyung Kim & Jerica Knox

  2. College of Education, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Seoul, South Korea

    Sukkyung You

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  1. Eui Kyung Kim
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Correspondence to Eui Kyung Kim.

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Kim, E.K., You, S. & Knox, J. The Mediating Effect of Empathy on the Relation Between Child Self-Expressiveness in Family and Prosocial Behaviors. J Child Fam Stud 29, 1572–1581 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-019-01676-2

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