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Children’s Peer Victimization, Empathy, and Emotional Symptoms

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Abstract

This study investigated the concurrent and longitudinal relations among children’s peer victimization, empathy, and emotional symptoms. The sample consisted of 175 children (85 girls, mean age = 6.1 years) recruited from kindergartens in Switzerland and followed for 1 year (Time 2). Parents and teachers reported on the children’s emotional symptoms, empathy, and victimization. Children reported their empathy and victimization experiences. Peer victimization was a predictor of emotional symptoms at Time 1; this association was stronger for children with average or high levels of empathy. Increases in peer victimization predicted increases in boys’ emotional symptoms, and increases in victimization were related to decreases in empathy. The results emphasize the role of negative peer relations and children’s social-emotional information processing for the development of emotional symptoms.

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Notes

  1. Data aggregation significantly improved reliabilities: Cronbach’s α for the emotional symptom scale was .73 at T1 and .66 at T2; for victimization, α was .77 at T1 and .84 at T2; for aggression, .82 at T1 and .86 at T2, and for empathy, .78 at T1 and .83 at T2.

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Acknowledgments

This research is part of the Jacobs Center for Productive Youth Development at the University of Zurich (director, Marlis Buchmann) and was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. The authors would like to express their sincere thanks to the children, primary caregivers and teachers for participating in the study.

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  1. Jacobs Center for Productive Youth Development, University of Zurich, Culmannstrasse 1, 8006, Zurich, Switzerland

    Tina Malti, Sonja Perren & Marlis Buchmann

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  1. Tina Malti
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Correspondence to Tina Malti.

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Malti, T., Perren, S. & Buchmann, M. Children’s Peer Victimization, Empathy, and Emotional Symptoms. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 41, 98–113 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-009-0155-8

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