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Empathy in Parents and Children: Links to Preschoolers’ Attachment and Aggression

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Empathy in Parents and Children: Links to Preschoolers’ Attachment and Aggression ABSTRACT Title of Thesis: EMPATHY IN PARENTS AND CHILDREN: LINKS TO PRESCHOOLERS’ ATTACHMENT AND AGGRESSION Jessica A. Stern, Master of Arts, 2016 Thesis Directed By: Professor of Psychology, Jude Cassidy, Department of Psychology Though theory suggests that parents’ empathy is important for children’s empathic development, the transmission of empathy from parent to child remains poorly understood. The goals of this investigation were to test an intergenerational model of empathy with child attachment as a potential mediating mechanism and to replicate findings linking child empathy to reduced risk for aggression. Eighty-nine preschoolers and their mothers completed measures of parent empathy, as well as child attachment, empathy, and aggression. Parent empathy predicted child empathy, but associations varied by the measure of empathy employed. Attachment did not mediate the association between parent and child empathy, although secure attachment predicted greater child empathy. Child empathy predicted aggression, but the direction of the effect varied by the measure of child empathy and by child sex. Findings shed light on the intergenerational transmission of empathy and highlight the importance of multi-method assessment in the study of empathy. EMPATHY IN PARENTS AND CHILDREN: LINKS TO PRESCHOOLERS’ ATTACHMENT AND AGGRESSION by Jessica A. Stern Thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts 2016 Advisory Committee: Dr. Jude Cassidy, Chair Dr. Jonathan Beier Dr. Tracy Riggins © Copyright by Jessica A. Stern 2016 Dedication To those who have shown great kindness, empathy, and understanding in difficult times, especially Catherine Gould and Dennis Stern; Dr. Pepper Phillips; and Gabe, Nicki, and Dan Dayley. ii Acknowledgements I am deeply grateful to my colleagues, Dr. Bonnie Brett and David Martin, for their collaboration on this project; to Dr. Jude Cassidy for her support and mentorship; to the Maryland Child and Family Development Lab Research Assistants, especially the help of Daniela Lin, Udoka Oji, Suzanne Seehusen, as well as members of the Prosocial and ASCT coding teams; and to the mothers and children who gave their time to participate in our study. This research was supported in part by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF GRFP) Fellowship, awarded to the author. iii Table of Contents Dedication ....................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ iii Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................... iv List of Tables .................................................................................................................................. v List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ vi Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1 An Attachment Perspective on Empathic Development ............................................................. 2 Transmission of Empathy from Parent to Child ......................................................................... 4 Attachment as a Mechanism of Transmission ............................................................................ 9 The role of parent empathy in child attachment ..................................................................... 9 Attachment security and empathy for others ........................................................................ 13 Predicting Child Aggression ..................................................................................................... 15 The Present Study ..................................................................................................................... 19 Chapter 2: Method ........................................................................................................................ 21 Participants ................................................................................................................................ 21 Procedure .................................................................................................................................. 21 Measures ................................................................................................................................... 22 Parent Measures .................................................................................................................... 23 Child Measures ..................................................................................................................... 26 Chapter 3: Results ......................................................................................................................... 30 Exploratory analyses, descriptive statistics, and simple correlations ....................................... 30 Data reduction ........................................................................................................................... 31 Principal analyses...................................................................................................................... 32 Chapter 4: Discussion ................................................................................................................... 35 Hypothesis 1: Associations between Parent and Child Empathy ............................................. 35 Hypothesis 2: Attachment as a Mediator .................................................................................. 39 Hypothesis 3: Predicting Aggression ........................................................................................ 41 Study Strengths & Limitations.................................................................................................. 44 Directions for Future Research ................................................................................................. 45 Appendix A. Tables & Figures ..................................................................................................... 49 Appendix B. Questionnaire Measures .......................................................................................... 56 Parent measures ........................................................................................................................ 56 Child Measures ......................................................................................................................... 60 Appendix C. Behavioral Coding Manuals .................................................................................... 62 ASCT Coding............................................................................................................................ 62 Clipboard Task Coding ............................................................................................................. 74 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................. 88 iv List of Tables Table 1. Timeline of Measures Administered in Each Stage of the Study Table 2. Descriptive Statistics for Principal Study Variables Table 3. Bivariate Correlations among Study Variables Table 4. Hierarchical Regressions of Parent Empathy Predicting Child Empathy Table 5. Hierarchical Regressions of Child Empathy Predicting Aggression v List of Figures Figure 1. Proposed Model of Parent and Child Empathy, Mediated by Child Attachment, in the Prediction of Child Aggression Figure 2. Empirical Model of Parent and Child Empathy vi Chapter 1: Introduction Empathy is the capacity to understand and resonate with emotions beyond one’s own, and to care for others’ welfare (Decety & Meyer, 2008; Eisenberg, 2000; Hoffman, 2001). Evolutionary theory places empathy at the heart of humans’ ability to understand others’ intentions, to respond altruistically to the needs of kin and group members, and to forge cooperative social relationships (de Waal, 2008; Preston & de Waal, 2002). From a developmental perspective, nurturing this capacity to understand and care for others in childhood has long-term implications for building a kinder, more compassionate society (Greenberg & Turksma, 2015). Across development, individual differences in empathy predict the quality of children’s social interactions, with more empathic children demonstrating greater prosocial behavior (Eisenberg & Fabes, 1990; Eisenberg & Miller, 1987) and earning greater acceptance among peers (Denham, McKinley, Couchoud, & Holt, 1990). Conversely, lack of empathy has been associated with problems of aggression and bullying in childhood (e.g., Findlay, Girardi, & Coplan, 2006; see Miller & Eisenberg, 1988). These early aggressive tendencies place children at risk for more serious violent and delinquent behavior later in development (Coie & Dodge, 1998; Dadds et al., 2009; Moffitt, 1993). In turn, deficits in empathy in adulthood are associated with child abuse, violence, and psychopathy (e.g., Jolliffe & Farrington, 2004; Perez-Albeniz & de Paul, 2003, 2004). Given the significance of these outcomes, it is important
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