Early childhood is a period to form the foundation for human development. Empathy, which is the ability to understand other people’s feelings and learn to become considerate of others, is an important capability for preschoolers not only to form relationships with their peers, but also to create a healthy community. This study aims to identify the empathy levels of preschoolers and define factors affecting their empathy using 10 Empathy Story Tasks for Preschoolers(ESTP), focusing on preschoolers aged 4 and 5 years. In detail, the study selected variables related to preschoolers such as sex, age, temperament, and mother-related variables including empathy, parenting behavior, emotional expression, so as to investigate the relationship between these variables and empathy of preschoolers and then analyze the relative importance of the variables on the cognitive and emotional empathy of preschoolers.
The subjects are 102 preschoolers-mother pairs from four institution of early childhood education located in Jeollabuk-do, South Korea. The preschoolers are four to five years old. The instrument used in the study include an interview to assess the empathy of preschoolers and a survey for mothers. First, the interview to assess the empathy of preschoolers was based on Ryu’s(2015) story and pictures, a validation of Feshbach & Roe’s(1968) verbal empathy assessment and Eigenberg & Lemmon’s(1980) nonverbal empathy assessment. The present author edited and complemented Ryu’s story and pictures for the study. After a literature review, preliminary research to select story tasks, and a content validity test, a total of 10 Empathy Story Tasks for Preschoolers were selected. After making a PowerPoint presentation and picture cards of the selected story tasks, an individual interview with each preschooler was conducted.
The variables related to mothers(empathy, parenting behavior, emotional expression) and those related to preschoolers (temperament, empathy) were assessed using a survey. To assess the empathy of mothers, a translated and adapted version of Davis''s (1994) Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) was used. The index developed by Yu (1998) was used to assess the parenting behavior, and as for the emotional expression, Yeo’s translated and adapted version (2009) of the Short Form of the SEFQ developed by Halberstadt et al.(1995) was used. The temperament of preschoolers was assessed using Han’s translated and adapted version of EAS (Buss & Plomin, 1984), and their empathy was assessed using a translated version of My Child-Empathy Scale developed by Kochanska et al. (1994).
After assessing the appropriateness of the interview through preliminary research, the main research was conducted from April 3, 2022 to August 6, 2022. Only the parents who signed the <Agreement to Participate in Research> took part in the survey, and the interview was performed with their children. All processes of the study, as well as the data collection, were approved by the IRB of Jeonbuk National University. The collected data were analyzed as follows using SPSS 25.0. First, to identify the general characteristics of the study participants, a descriptive analysis was performed to calculate the frequency, percentage, and M(SD). Second, to identify the differences in empathy of preschoolers based on the preschooler-related variables (sex, age, temperament), a t/F analysis was performed. Third, to examine the correlation between the variables, the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was used. Fourth, to verify the relative effects of a variable of preschoolers (sex) and the variables of mothers (empathy, parenting behavior, emotional expression) on the empathy of preschoolers, a multiple regression was used.
The major findings are as follows. First, after assessing the empathy levels of 102 four to five-year-old preschoolers using the interview for preschooler’s empathy, it was found that their cognitive empathy ranges from 23.43 to 28.52, with an average of 26.55 (SD = 1.81). The range of emotional empathy was 25.00 to 28.23, with an average of 26.34 (SD = 1.19). Considering the range of empathy of preschoolers, it can be concluded that the preschoolers who participated in this study can cognitively understand the emotional situations of other people and empathize with them.
Second, after conducting a t-test to identify the differences in empathy of preschoolers based on the variables of preschoolers (sex, age), it was found that girls had higher empathy levels in general than boys. In terms of the sub-variables of empathy, there was no gender difference in cognitive empathy, and girls showed higher levels of emotional empathy than boys. After analyzing the differences in empathy of preschoolers by age, it was found that there was no statistically significant difference. An analysis of the correlation between the temperament and empathy of preschoolers showed that the temperament of preschoolers did not have a significant correlation with their cognitive and emotional empathy.
Third, to identify the relationship among the variables of mothers related to the empathy of preschoolers, a correlation analysis was carried out. In terms of the relationship between the empathy and parenting behavior of mothers, empathy had a significant positive correlation with affectionate parenting behavior, but no correlation with rejecting or controlling parenting behavior. As for the relationship between the empathy and emotional expression of mothers, empathy had a significant positive correlation with positive emotional expression, but no correlation with negative emotional expression.
Fourth, the relationship between the variables of mothers (empathy, parenting behavior, emotional expression) and the empathy of preschoolers is as follows. First, the total empathy levels of the mother had positive correlations with the cognitive and emotional empathy of preschoolers. In terms of the relationship between the mother’s parenting behavior and the preschoolers’ empathy, affectionate parenting behavior showed a positive correlation with the empathy of preschoolers, but rejecting or controlling parenting behavior had a negative correlation with the preschoolers’ empathy. As for the relationship between the emotional expression of the mother and the empathy of the preschoolers, the mother’s positive emotional expression had a positive correlation with the empathy of the preschoolers, whereas the mother’s negative emotional expression had a negative correlation with the empathy of the preschoolers.
Fifth, the influence of the variables related to the empathy of preschoolers is as follows. Sex, among the variables of preschoolers, and empathy and emotional expression, among the variables of mothers, were found to have an effect. In detail, if the preschooler is a girl, the higher her empathy, the higher the emotional empathy levels of the mother. Also, the higher her empathy, the higher the positive emotional expression of the mother, and the lower the negative emotional expression of the mother.
The main conclusion of this study is as follows. After assessing the empathy levels of four to five-year-old preschoolers using the <Empathy Story Task for Preschoolers> edited and complemented in this study, the preschoolers who participated in this study showed higher-than-average empathy levels. That is, it can be seen that preschoolers can understand the thoughts and emotions of other people and empathize with them. After investigating the effects of the variables related to preschoolers and those related to mothers on the empathy of preschoolers, the gender of preschoolers, and the empathy and emotional expression of mothers were found to be the most influential variables.
In this study, interview for preschooler’s empathy, which presents stories and pictures of everyday life situations for preschoolers who lack language skills and cognitive development, was used. This study is significant as it assessed the empathy levels of preschoolers using assessment tools appropriate for their development level. Also, the study defined the effects of variables related to preschoolers (sex, gender, temperament) and mothers (empathy, parenting behavior, emotional expression) on the empathy of preschoolers. The findings contributed to a deeper understanding of empathy of preschoolers, and will serve as basis for developing intervention programs for preschoolers to enhance their empathy skills as well as parent counseling.